Bikini Bottom is the main setting in SpongeBob SquarePants. Bikini Bottom is a moderately sized city which, according to Squidward in th episode Pizza Delivery, is in the middle of nowhere. It consists of many businesses, including restaurants, stores, and manufacturers. This city also has a booming economy, balanced educational and health systems, a well-structured government, and an exceptional law enforcement system. There are even stadiums, amusement parks, and other recreational facilities.
Rock Bottom is a deep sea trench located beneath Bikini Bottom. The road down to Rock Bottom is exactly 90˚. Everything is pitch black except for a few street lights, and everyone in Rock Bottom speaks a language the same as English, except they blow a raspberry in between every two to four syllables. There is also a Kandy Machine as well as restrooms (though foreigners can't tell which room's for men and which is for women). A Bus Station is present, in which SpongeBob had a hard time catching one (as it kept arriving just as he looked away from the stop). Merlin's Cave is the residence of the weather magician of the sea which is difficult to access. There is also the WSEA news headquarters, the Rusty Anchor, which sells Coral Col and Diet Kelpsis with a lemon twist. Known customers are Patrick, Plankton, and Mermaidman. In the SpongeBob SquarePants: Baseball Trench, the Rock Bottom Museum is shown. It features a lot of art work and has an advanced security system; Barnacle Boy works as a security guard there also. The Trench of Advanced Darkness is a trench that is lower than the city itself. Rock Bottom is located past Jellyfish Fields, which is past the Chum Bucket and Krusty Krab. Creatures in Rock Bottom are extremely strange looking, and resemble Deep Sea Creatures and Deep Sea Marine Life. Some resemble the Angler Fish, while others are rather abnormal. Many of them resemble the typical "sea monster" people would describe.
Bottom's Up is a very fancy city seen in the SpongeBob SquarePants: Employee of the Month video game. The only thing that's not fancy is Cowfish Craig's shack. Other establishments include the Sublime Seafoods, Oxygen Springs, and the Waverly Hills neighborhood. Waverly Hills is a wealthy district on the cliffs of the Kelp Forest. The sky and water murk seems to be different here; it is always as if it is sunset. Once Sandy has been to this city.
Tentacle Acresis a gated community of octopi living in Easter Island Heads. Sponges and starfish aren't allowed to even set foot in this town, but SpongeBob and Patrick got in thanks to fried oyster skins that Patrick had eaten earlier. Activities here include bike riding, clarinet playing, croquet, and interpretive dancing. However, childish games such as playing with reef blowers are not allowed in Tentacle Acres. Establishments besides the Easter Island heads, include the Full of Health grocery store, an Interpretive Dance Academy, a Park, Le Cafe (Food Stand) an Ice Cream Stand, and the Security Office. Only one street name was revealed, in which Squidward stayed on, was New Life Street (containing houses 302, 303, and 304) most of the people living there look like Squidward, just with different features (eyes, hair, etc.)
Shell City, despite the name, is a gift shop called Shell City: Marine Gifts and Sundries. It is located on the surface owned by a Cyclops (in reality, a man in a diving suit), selling dried-out dead sea creatures. The road to Shell City is dangerous and no one has ever returned from there, which makes it the perfect place for Plankton to sell Neptune's crown. It is located on a beach where SpongeBob and Patrick meet David Hasselhoff. In a deleted scene of the movie, (which can only be seen in the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie DVD), Shell City is actually a city and is where Sandy constantly gets pursued all over the place by squirrel exterminators in black suits. She also mentions that there are buses that arrive here going to Bikini Bottom. Although Shell City was filmed in Florida, the location in SpongeBob's world would land Shell City in Australia most likely because a sign in a SpongeBob book based on the movie says that Shell City is 3,000 miles away from the Thug Tug. The Thug Tug is not that far from Bikini Bottom. Bikini Atoll is approx. 5,000 miles from the United States, which couldn't mark Shell City in California.
Alone Realm- It only appears in "SB-129". It is pure white and has colored squares.
Apple World - Mentioned by a worm in "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve". Inside any apple where there is a worm.
Bikini Atoll - Bikini Atoll is the signature island above Bikini Bottom. The opening sequence of every episode of the show has the island shown right after Painty the Pirate (a painting) starts off the theme song. Sandy also dared SpongeBob, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, and Squidward to go on dry land here and survived in the episode Pressure (although birds did attack the group). Some episodes also start off and end with Bikini Atoll shown. To humans (like David Hasselhoff), the island also signals the way down to its aquatic counterpart. The place name is an ironic double entendre, as the bikini two piece swimsuit took its name from the atoll, specifically to the connection between the nuclear bomb test at Bikini around the time that the sexy new swimsuit hit the public "like a bomb".
Ukulele Bottom - Nothing much we know of this town, apart from being the home of the annual jellyfish convention, located at the Jellyfishers Convention Center. Appeared in "I Was a Teenage Gary" is another.
Atlantis - Home of King Neptune's castle and the Poseidome. In "Atlantis SquarePantis", SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Sandy, and Mr. Krabs journey to Atlantis. It is based off the real-life Atlantis.
Leisure Village - Not much is known about this place, except that Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy went there on vacation while SpongeBob and Patrick watched the Mermalair.
Palm Bay - Palm Bay is home to the legendary master fry cook who wields a golden spatula. Grease fires engulf this civilization. Palm Bay spoofs Pompeii, another ancient city. Mentioned in SpongeBob SquarePants: Legend of the Lost Spatula. Mount Kabloovious erupts and covers Palm Bay. It is the equivalent of Mount Vesuvius.
Barnacle Bay - A city that was mentioned in the episode, "Fools in April". The only know establishment is the Art Museum, which also awards artists monthly. Also, as revealed in the SpongeBob book, "The Amazing SpongeBobini," a circus called the Stingray Brothers and Barnacle Bay Shrimp's Circus comes from this city and they performed in Bikini Bottom.
Quittersville - As Mentioned in "Chimps Ahoy". One of the three places in which those have no where else can go to.
Failuretown - One of the three places in which those have no where can else to go. As seen in "Chimps Ahoy".
Loserburg - One of the three places in which those have no where can else to go. As seen in "Chimps Ahoy".
Stupidtown - It was mentioned is when Patrick was sweeping the Krusty Krab floor with the bottom of the broom, and Nat said "Hey pal, you just blow in from Stupidtown?"
China Sea - A place where one of SpongeBob's Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy toys were manufactured in. This location is likely a play on how all manufacturing for the United States takes place in China.
BassCar Baytona 400 - a huge race track that is neighboring the Bikini Bottom Outskirts Outlet Mega-mall. The SquarePants family won first place in a race there after Patrick distracted Harold SquarePants while driving. It has only had one appearance in "A SquarePants Family Vacation." It is a parody of NASCAR and the Daytona 500, a famous race of NASCAR.
Servis Stashun - a very poorly put together, hillbilly service station that has only appeared in "A SquarePants Family Vacation."
The Moon - the moon has had its very brief debut in the episode "Sandy's Rocket." It was then later seen many seasons later in "Mooncation" and a cameo in "A SquarePants Family Vacation."
Vats of Acid "R" Us - a parody of "Toys R Us," this odd building was build right beside the apartment building of the original home town of Mermaidman and Barnacle Boy. It was featured in "Mermaid Man Begins."
Winchell Apartments - an apartment building from the 1950s that was the original home of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. It only appeared in "Mermaid Man Begins."
Secret Bomb Testing Facility - a Government bomb testing sight that Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy land at after being brought by an acid wave that was carrying them. It was featured in "Mermaid Man Begins".
The Outs Bounds Area - A part of the Battle for Bikini Bottom game, its a place that you get to by going on sand and doing some sort of sliding move, you eventually get palled away by Hans.
Make out Reef - This was mentioned in Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V, and seen in the episode. There are a few people making out there, including one unusual person, making out with a pillow. It has also been said that Squidward has been there before, because of his quote "Ah, make out reef. Good times, good times."
Karate Island - An island where the so-called "King of Karate" is supposedly crowned, but was later found out to actually be a scam from real estate agents who were trying to force people into buying time-share plans on the island. The "Karate Tower" is located on the island. It appears in "Karate Island".
The Remote Island - the island where SpongeBob, Patrick and Squidward end up after being hit by a giant wave in "SpongeBob SquarePants vs. The Big One". The island is also home to teenage surfers and Jack Kahuna Laguna who lives in Kahmamoku Cove. The island looks like it has a huge surfboard-shaped mountain on it from a distance. The island also has a long dangerous river full of waterfalls which leads to the Cove. The island is also full of vegetation and forest, perfect for surviving.
Sandy's Island - An island that Sandy got stranded on after being hit by the same giant wave in the episode "SpongeBob SquarePants vs. The Big One". For survival, Sandy built a five-star hotel, a steam-powered generator, a car that runs on coconut milk, an espresso bar, an airport tower with satellite and a helicopter that probably also runs on coconut milk, too. The island is also home to Dennis . The island has three volcanos on it and much vegetation.
- The floating island that was featured in the Spongebob special, "The Clash of Triton". This was the place where Triton was locked in a cage by his father, King Neptune until he became a proper god. Much of the island has not been seen, and the rest of the island will probably be left unseen. The island has a forest, a mountain, a bus stop and a phone booth.
Pamper Island - this island has only one extremely brief appearance in the episode "Clams."
Monster Trench - The Monster Trench is a large trench in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, described as deep, dark, hazardous, and monster infested. A parody of the Mariana Trench. The trench includes gulper eels, monsters, and other deep-sea creatures whom suffer from Deep-Sea Gigantism.
County Line - This is next to the gas station outside Bikini Bottom operated by two hillbillies. Past the line is very dangerous, and overrun with criminals.
Alternate Realities - There are also two alternate dimensions shown in the series: The Fly of Despair, a reality which is apparently endless, which the Flying Dutchman can open, and close freely and an area inside the time machine, the Alone Realm, seen in SB-129, which is also infinite, and nothing but stark white. It may be a reference to Purgatory. The Eighth and Ninth Dimensions are mentioned by Patrick Star in "Big Pink Loser", which are apparently tyrannically ruled by the Mini-Monkey Man and Giant Monkey Man, respectively.
Squidward entered it in Squidward in Clarinetland when SpongeBob made a filing room out of Mr. Krabs's old locker. There was a small crawlspace where a filing drawer should have been, and on the other side is a stage, and the curtain opens up to Clarinetland. Clarinetland is ruled by the Clarinetlanet Bird, which resembles a giant balled eagle,and speaks in a very deep and powerful tone. During his time in Clarinet Land, Squidward is swallowed by the Clarinet Bird, and then goes through a very complex realm, which consists of many hills, rocks, mountains, and long-drops. For some reason, the entire land inside of Clarinet Bird is yellow. When Squidward comes to what he thinks is the end of the realm inside The Clarinet Bird, he sees SpongeBob playing his clarinet, and dives on top of him, hoping to get his clarinet back, when the end of the realm is revealed to be the peak of an extremely long-drop, which both Squidward and SpongeBob fall down. When Squidward hits the bottom, he discovers that SpongeBob has disappeared and that he is suddenly in a small room,with mirrors on either side of him.
Unknown Space: After Squidward got passed Giant Patrick, and the A.U Squidward, he then chases SpongeBob in space, unknown where they can be in space.