Moscow Metro

Moscow Metro ticket prices and how to pay

A single ride on a Troika card costs 75 ₽ (the “Wallet” fare, from 2 January 2026, per the metro’s official site). A ride means one pass through the turnstile: change lines as often as you like, and it’s still one fare until you walk out onto the street.

The Troika itself carries a 150 ₽ deposit, refundable at a ticket office. Top it up with cash at the ticket office. For a busy sightseeing day, the unlimited tickets are simpler: 415 ₽ for 1 day, 800 ₽ for 3 days.

Locals tap Russian bank cards or phones (83 ₽) or use Face Pay (71 ₽), but both need a Russian-issued card, so for most visitors the Troika with cash is the only realistic option.

Moscow Metro opening hours

The metro runs from about 5:30 until 1:00 every day. First trains vary by station, so a few open at 5:20–5:35. At 1:00 entrances and transfer passages close; you can still leave a station for a while after that.

For a station tour, go between 10:00 and 16:00 on a weekday or on a weekend morning. Rush hours in the centre — roughly 8:00–10:00 and 17:00–20:00 — pack Komsomolskaya and Kievskaya so tightly that you won’t see the halls, let alone photograph them.

Is the Moscow Metro worth visiting?

Yes — and it costs less than a coffee. No other metro in the world has this many stations designed as showpieces: bronze statues, stained glass, mosaics in smalt and gold, chandeliers above the platforms. Ninety minutes underground show you more Soviet art than most museums in the city.

It’s also the perfect rainy-day or winter plan. Skip it only if you hate crowds and can’t avoid rush hour, or if you’ve already ridden the Circle line and seen Komsomolskaya — the rest is variations on the same grand style.

The most beautiful Moscow Metro stations

• Komsomolskaya (Circle line, 1952) — the showstopper: a 190-metre hall with a yellow baroque ceiling, huge bronze chandeliers and eight ceiling mosaics by Pavel Korin of Russian military heroes. Designed by Alexey Shchusev, who died before it opened.
• Mayakovskaya (Green line, 1938) — the city’s first deep-level station with columns, and 34 small ceiling mosaics by Alexander Deineka; you only see each one when you stand directly beneath its dome. It won the Grand Prix in New York in 1939.
• Ploshchad Revolyutsii (Dark blue line, 1938) — 76 bronze figures by Matvey Manizer: workers, soldiers, students. Students rub the nose of the border guard’s dog for luck before exams, so every dog’s nose shines gold.
• Novoslobodskaya (Circle line, 1952) — 32 glowing stained-glass panels made in Riga, and Korin’s mosaic “Peace Throughout the World” at the end of the hall.
• Kievskaya (Circle line, 1954) — smalt mosaics on 18 pylons on Russian–Ukrainian themes; the station that closed the Circle line loop.
• Elektrozavodskaya (Dark blue line, 1944) — built in wartime, with 318 round lamps set into the ceiling in six rows and reliefs of workers.
• Arbatskaya (Dark blue line, 1953) — 220 metres long, red marble, ceramic flower garlands and two rows of gilded chandeliers.
• If you have time: Belorusskaya and Prospekt Mira on the Circle line, both on the route below.

Can you get around the Moscow Metro without Russian?

Mostly, yes. Station names on signs and maps are written in Cyrillic and Latin letters, and many trains announce stations in English as well as Russian. Lines have numbers and colours — the brown Circle line is Line 5 — which makes transfers easy to follow.

Download an offline metro map before you go and note the Cyrillic spelling of your stations: the big platform signs list stations in Cyrillic first.

The Moscow Metro Museum

The metro’s museum and career centre is on the upper level of Delovoy Tsentr station next to Moscow City — ride in the first carriage from the centre. It opens daily 10:00–18:00, and the metro says its guided tours on transport history are free; you just pay the ride.

Expect models, old turnstiles, tokens and tickets and parts of old trains; the driver simulators are for pre-booked groups. It’s small — if your time is short, the stations themselves are the better museum.

Moscow Metro vs VDNKh vs Zaryadye Park

The metro is the cheapest way to see Stalin-era grandeur and the best plan for rain or snow. VDNKh has the same style above ground but needs half a day; Zaryadye is the modern contrast right by the Kremlin.

Moscow’s historic sights compared

Every historic place in Moscow rated by YesGo. Tap a column heading to sort.

Nearby — add to your day

64

Moscow Kremlin

Moscow, Russia

2 h 30 min · from 1,100 ₽ · 3 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Moscow Kremlin

44

Kremlin Armoury

Moscow, Russia

1 h 30 min · 1,400 ₽ · 6 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Kremlin Armoury

65

St Basil's Cathedral

Moscow, Russia

45 min · 2,000 ₽ for foreign visitors · 7 min walk

Yes — add to my route: St Basil's Cathedral

72

Lenin's Mausoleum

Moscow, Russia

20 min · Free · 7 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Lenin's Mausoleum

How to do it right

• One fare, one loop: stay underground and the whole station tour costs 75 ₽.
• At Mayakovskaya, walk the hall slowly looking up — each mosaic is visible only from directly below its dome.
• At Komsomolskaya, step into the central hall rather than staying on the platform: that’s where the chandeliers and mosaics are.
• Rain or snow? This is the best indoor plan in central Moscow.
• Want the stories behind the stations? Book a guided metro tour — guides also know the details you’d walk past.
• Leave Mayakovskaya for Tverskaya Street, or Arbatskaya for Arbat Street.

Questions