In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, you can visit other players towns locally or over the Internet. You can do this by visiting the train station in your town. This page explains how to use the train station to visit towns and invite other players to your town.
Train Station Color
The train station can have blue, green, red, or brown coloring. This is decided randomly when you create your save file.
Adding Internet Friends
To allow other players to visit your town over the Internet, and to visit other players' towns over the Internet, you have to exchange 3DS Friend Codes.
To do so, go to the Home Screen of your 3DS, tap the smiling face icon near the top of touch screen, then tap Register Friend in the top right.
If you are in the same room with the person you want to exchange friend codes with, choose Local.
If you want to add a friend over the Internet, choose internet, then enter the other player's Friend Code. The other player must also manually enter your Friend Code on his or her 3DS. Otherwise, he or she will not show up in your friend list.
Opening Your Gate to Invite Others to Your Town
To allow another player to visit your town, you have to go to the Train Station in your village and talk to Porter the monkey. Tell him that you want to invite others to play in your town. He gives you the option to open your town to nearby players or far away players. Nearby players can visit using the 3DS wireless connection, and far away players can visit if you and the other players' 3DSs are connected to the Internet.
Opening the Gate to Nearby Players
If you open your ticket gate to nearby players, Porter will ask if it's okay to turn off your Internet connection and switch to wireless. Then he will open the train station gate. Anyone playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf nearby can visit your town even if you haven't exchanged friend codes. To send everyone home, talk to Porter.
Opening the Gate to Far Away Players
Talk to Porter and tell him that you want to open the ticket gate for far away players. Only people who have exchanged friend codes with you will be able to visit your town if you open the gate to faraway players. To send everyone home, talk to Porter.
Visiting Other Players' Towns
To visit another player's town, that player has to open his or her gate as described in the previous section.
Visiting a Nearby Town
If you are visiting a nearby town, Porter will search for players nearby who have their gates open to nearby players. He will list any that he finds, and you can tell him to check for more if he mentions a different town from the one that you want to go to. You can visit a nearby town even if you haven't exchanged friend codes with that player.
Visiting a Far away Town
To visit a far away town, your 3DS has to be connected to the Internet. Also, a player with whom you have exchanged friend codes must have his or her gate open to far away players. When you tell Porter that you want to visit a far away town, he will list all of the towns of your friends that are open, if any. Choose one from the list to visit it.
Going Back Home
To go back to your town, just talk to Porter and say that you are going back home. You will ride the train back to your town.
Animal Crossing Friends List
Animal Crossing has its own friend list in the game. The friend list can be accessed by tapping the orange button near the top right of the touch screen.
Adding Friends in the Game
To add friends to your Animal Crossing friends list, you have to visit someone else's town or have another player visit your town. Whenever your gate is open or you are visiting another player's town, there will be a green button in the bottom left of the touch screen that has icons of people on it. Tap that button to show a list of everyone in the current town. In that list, tap the name of the person to add that person to your Animal Crossing friend list.
Best Friends
After you add someone to your friend list, that person can choose to add you as a best friend. When you are on each other's friend lists, that person can tap the heart next to your name to add you as a best friend.
Best Friend Chat
If you and a Best Friend are playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf at the same time, and both of your 3DSes are connected to the Internet, you and your Best Friend can send chat messages even if you are not in the same town. Just tap the orange button in the top right of the touch screen, then tap the name of the player you want to chat with. Type in a chat message and click send, and your friend will see the message.