UNDERGROUND MOsCOW

NEWS & VIEWS FROM THE RAILS

WHY YOU SHOULD DO A MOSCOW METRO TOUR

There are so many options of tours in Moscow but a Metro tour should be the top of everyone’s list!

A hugely popular 2 hour tour of Moscow’s beautiful and historical metro stations is easily combined with any of our other tours such as a Moscow walking city tour. This tour is a MUST for history and photography buffs!

I was very lucky to have a guide who had been doing Metro tours for over 20 years and was clearly very passionate and knowledgeable about the various stations we visited.

The chief architect of Moscow’s metro system once said “they used to build palaces for kings, we are going to build palaces for the people” and it is very clear to see that they succeeded!

Some of the best Moscow Metro Stations to Visit

We started in the breathtaking Arbatskaya metro station. Almost resembling more a palace then a metro station this was a great start to see some of the magnificent arches that make this station so photogenic. Originally this station was designed as a bomb shelter and a great example of baroque architecture that was so popular at the time complete with some very symmetrical chandeliers!

Moving on to Mayakovskaya, this is another station that was designed as a bomb shelter and was used as a command HQ during the war. This station is far simpler then the previous station but still has a sense of symmetry offered by the numerous arches that feature in the station. Stalin used this station to celebrate there Bolshevik revolution and this is where the guide really came into her element as each of the domes features a different mosaic which tells the story of the revolution and the guide told me the stories of each and really made the history come alive.

The station at revolution square again allowed the guide to come into her element and tell me the stories of all the life sized bronze statues that adorn the foyer of there station, each one a replica of a real life person who was affected by the war.

One of my favourite stations was the almost Grecian looking Belorusskaya, Instantly photogenic it is very easy to miss all the soviet images and that present all over the station.
blog moscow metro 1
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The metro tour is a perfect addition to any Moscow stay

There are so many metro stations to look at but we managed to see around 8 within our 2 hours and the tour whet my appetite so much that I continued to explore a few other stations after my guide had left. My top tip would be to avoid the peak times. The stations can get incredibly crowded which not only makes the stations more difficult to navigate and to read the station names whilst on the train but it of course makes getting the perfect photo much more difficult. If there are any stations that you particularly wanted to see then of course the guide is flexible to try and include it in your tour.

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