However story-driven Persona 4 Golden is, a good chunk of the game comes from dungeon crawling.
Dungeons, for the most part, are randomly generated. This means that the layout of each floor and the monsters you find are placed when you enter the floor. There are some exceptions to this; pre-formatted floor layouts and mini-bosses will be discussed in the walkthrough section.
You will find a map at the bottom left corner of the display. This auto-populates as you move throughout each floor of the dungeon, making backtracking and seeing what is ahead easy. You can pull up the entire floor map by pressing start.
Each dungeon must be completed to progress in the plot. There are certain time restrictions for the dungeons, which are also discussed in the walkthrough section. After completing a dungeon, you can come back at any time to grind for experience, money, loot, Personas, or to complete Side Quests.
Every dungeon will have Shadows in it. These are the main monsters of each game. Walk to them and swing your weapon to initiate a battle. For more info, see the Combat section.
Treasure Chests can be found in each Dungeon, as well. Regular colored Treasure Chests can easily be opened, but a shadow may or may not be inside and attack before getting the Item. Golden Treasure Chests, on the other hand, must be opened up with Treasure Chest Keys that are obtained from Shuffle Time or various Side Quests. Shadows will never be inside Golden Treasure Chests.
After Rise Kujikawa joins the party, increasing her Social Link and adding special skills will allow you to see both Treasure and Enemies on the map before filling in the map.