Moscow Subway Stations: Russia's Underground Palace
When you think of Moscow, Red Square or St. Basil's Cathedral might come to mind, but another unique attraction is the subway stations. Nicknamed the "Underground Palace," the Moscow Metro is as famous for its history, rumors, and massive number of passengers as it is for its name. The unique charm of the Moscow subway—which some know and others don't—starts with its incredibly deep stations that make you feel like you're entering a coal mine, and the high-speed escalators that take you all the way down. (As many know, they became even more famous for being used as air-raid shelters during World War II.)
When you first ride it, it's so fast that it's hard to even time your step onto the escalator, but you get used to it after a couple of tries. (Even hunched-over grandmas ride it just fine, so if you can't, you might have some serious coordination issues.) Once you get a bit more accustomed to it, you'll start walking or running on these fast-moving escalators. People say Koreans are impatient, but they might be less so than Russians.
When transferring subways or switching to the airport railway in Moscow, just keep your eyes on the floor. In Korea, transfer directions are written on the walls, but in Moscow, they are marked on the ground. Unlike Korea, the names of the transfer stations are often different from each other. For example, in Korea, Line 2 Jamsil Station (near the baseball stadium in Seoul) and Line 8 Jamsil Station are both just "Jamsil Station," but in Russia, the station name on Line 2 is different from the one on Line 8. Therefore, when transferring, it's easier to look for the color of the subway line you need to switch to rather than trying to memorize all the station names.
Ticket prices as of 2016 are as follows:
- 1-ride ticket: 50 rubles
- 2-ride ticket: 100 rubles
- 20-ride ticket: 650 rubles (32.5 rubles per ride)
- 40-ride ticket: 1,300 rubles (32.5 rubles per ride)
- 60-ride ticket: 1,570 rubles (approx. 26.2 rubles per ride)
Unlimited passes:
- 1-day pass: 210 rubles
- 3-day pass: 400 rubles
- 7-day pass: 800 rubles
- 30-day pass: 2,000 rubles
- 90-day pass: 5,000 rubles
- 1-year pass: 18,200 rubles
You can ride the subway, bus, and tram with these. If you're traveling for about a week and your hotel is far from the tourist spots (like Red Square), making subway travel essential, the 20-ride ticket I used is the safest bet. However, if your hotel is close enough to Red Square to walk, single-ride tickets will be more useful than a 20-ride pass. (Considering hotels near Red Square cost around 400,000 to 500,000 KRW a night, I doubt anyone staying there would even worry about this pocket change anyway.)
Buying a ticket is simple. Just hand the ticket agent roughly the right amount of money and hold up your fingers to show how many you want, and they'll figure it out. You might get lucky and find an agent who understands English, but I suggest saving that kind of luck for something more important.
You'll receive a stiff red paper ticket, which you just tap at the gate to pass through. If you're not sure what to do, just watch carefully how other people do it. As a side note, they might occasionally ask to inspect your bags, but they usually just do this if your luggage is big and you look like a foreigner, so don't let it bother you too much. Also, if you fare-evade, I don't know exactly how much you'll be fined or if you'll be dragged to the police station, but I can tell you that you will absolutely get caught. A person guarding the subway entrance, a person checking for fare evasion, a person monitoring the CCTV for escalator issues, and a person selling tickets—these four roles are always staffed, and they do not slack off. So if you're coming over from Western Europe and lazily think "just once will be fine," you might end up on a special tour featuring a one-on-one with a genuinely angry Muscovite, or perhaps a real-life Moscow police station holding cell tour.
The reason the Moscow subway uniquely earned the nickname "Underground Palace" is because its interior decorations are absolutely incredible. The older subway stations boast such outstanding aesthetics that they can be considered historical works of art in their own right. Even the recently built stations are so beautifully crafted that they seem to be showing off Russia's current design standards. It's not just a matter of throwing in a statue or two and a single mural. They plaster the place with marble or cover it in sculptures, turning the station itself into an art museum. In my next post, I'll upload a continuous stream of photos from the amazing ones I visited.
Moving on from the stations to the experience of actually riding the subway, at first you'll be amazed by the arrival times (the next train always comes within 2 minutes and 30 seconds) and shocked by how fast and incredibly loud the trains are. Then, you'll be startled to see them throw the windows wide open, as shown in the photo above, to ventilate the stuffy interior with musty underground air. Compared to Korea's Lines 5, 6, 7, and 8, it's quite old, but considering their subway history is more than twice as long as ours, I think that's unavoidable.
Another surprising sight is that whenever an elderly person enters the subway, someone younger will unconditionally stand up for them. It's a behavior you rarely see these days even in Korea (traditionally known as the Eastern Nation of Courtesy), but it was something I saw every time I rode the Moscow subway. Also, unlike in Korea, absolutely no one boards before everyone has gotten off. (Even the middle-aged ladies wait until everyone is off before getting on!!) Ilya, the Russian representative on the Korean TV show 'Non-Summit', once pointed this out as a negative aspect of Korea, and they observe basic public order well enough to justify him saying that. Having come here only thinking of Russia as a scary place, I couldn't help but be surprised, and I think they are far ahead of Korea when it comes to public etiquette. As an aside, I saw a crazy guy yelling and causing a scene on the Moscow subway. In Korea, people would quietly inch away, but in Russia, everyone glares at them in a truly chilling way. Of course, most women and students glare while moving to the next car, but in the case I saw, a few of the people glaring actually confronted him, and the crazy guy got kicked out at the next station.
And this goes without saying, but you need to watch out for pickpockets on the subway. (A Russian friend told me that even Russians get robbed.)
PS: If you plan on mainly taking the subway in Russia, make sure to download the Yandex Metro app. It's written in both Russian and English so you can figure out the pronunciation, and above all, it's very easy to read and use. Yandex Maps is also fantastic in Moscow and St. Petersburg (it works offline too), so I highly recommend using it. (For offline maps, I also recommend maps.me. If you're traveling across multiple countries and regions without roaming or a local SIM card, maps.me is an absolute must.)