Moscow Metro: How to Use It, Ticket Prices, and the Most Stunning Stations

The Moscow metro is the fastest, cheapest and most comfortable way to get around the city, and it’s also a tourist attraction in its own right. Even if you don’t speak a word of Russian, you’ll learn how to use it in less than an hour: buy a Troika card at the ticket office, load it with credit and you’re ready to go. Signs are in Russian and English, trains come every 90 seconds, and as you travel from Red Square to Gorky Park you’ll see some of the most spectacular stations in the world.

In this guide I’ll walk you through what you need to know before heading down to the platform: how it works, how much each ticket costs in 2026, which payment methods still work and which don’t (important: your foreign Visa or Mastercard does not work), how to get in step by step, and which stations are worth a visit for their architectural beauty. And at the end, how to book a guided tour of the metro if you’d rather have a guide explain everything in your language.

Key facts about the Moscow metro

Before we get into how to use it, a few facts so you understand what you’re dealing with. The Moscow metro opened in 1935 in the middle of the Stalin era and was designed as a “Palace of the People”: stations decorated with marble, mosaics, chandeliers and epic bas-reliefs. Today it’s the busiest metro system in Europe.

• More than 250 stations and around 415 km of network, spread across 14 conventional lines plus the Big Circle Line (line 11), the Central Ring (MCC) and the Central Diameters (MCD). The latest line opened is Troitskaya (line 16), inaugurated in September 2024.
• More than 7 million passengers a day on the metro alone. It’s the fifth-longest metro system in the world and the longest outside China.
• The deepest station is Park Pobedy (Victory Park), 84 metres underground, with a 126-metre escalator that feels like it never ends.
• Frequency: trains arrive every 90 seconds at peak times. If you hear one coming, don’t run, the next is right behind.
• Hours: stations are open for entry and transfers from 5:30 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. every day. The first trains depart between 5:28 and 6:05.

Practical information to have ready

Before going underground it’s worth having three resources at hand:

Official Moscow metro website: mosmetro.ru. It’s only in Russian (the English version has been down for years), but your browser will translate it without any trouble.

Official interactive map: mosmetro.ru/metro-map. It calculates the route between any two stations, with estimated time and transfers.

Mobile apps: the essential one is Yandex Metro, free, in Latin script, with an offline map and route calculator. I also recommend Yandex Maps for door-to-door routes and 2GIS as an alternative with detailed offline maps. The official “Метро Москвы” app is very complete, but it was pulled from the App Store and Google Play because of the sanctions, so it can only be downloaded from the Russian RuStore (for Android) and almost all its features require a Russian account and phone number. As a short-stay tourist, just ignore it.

Moscow metro prices in 2026

Here’s a summary of the current fares from the official metro website. As a tourist, two options matter: loading the Troika in Kosheliok mode (e-wallet) if you’ll only make a handful of trips a day, or a 1-day or 3-day Edinyi pass if you’re planning to move around a lot.

Paper “Edinyi” ticket (no card)

If you only need 1 or 2 trips and you don’t want to pay the 150 ₽ Troika deposit, you can buy the paper “Edinyi” ticket at the ticket office: 1 trip costs 90 ₽ and 2 trips 180 ₽, valid for 5 days from the date of purchase. It works for metro, MCC and surface transport, but not for the MCD (suburban trains). From 2-3 trips upwards the Troika is the better deal: with credit you pay 75 ₽ per trip, 15 ₽ less than on paper.

Troika card with credit (Kosheliok)

• Card deposit: 150 rubles (refunded when you return the card).
• 1 trip on metro, MCC, MCD Central zone, bus, e-bus, tram or electric river boat: 75 ₽.
• 1 trip on MCD Пригород (suburban) zone: 102 ₽.
• “90-minute” fare: 112 ₽ for one metro or MCC trip plus unlimited surface transfers within 90 minutes. It activates automatically when you transfer.

Edinyi passes (unlimited)

Unlimited trips on metro, MCC, MCD Central zone, monorail, bus, e-bus, tram and electric river boats.

The 1- and 3-day passes start counting from the first tap at the turnstile, not from when you buy them. You have 10 days to activate them. The old 60-trip ticket was discontinued in January 2025.

If you want to dive deeper into which ticket suits you based on how many days you’re in Moscow, with the full breakdown of the card, I’ve covered it in this guide on the Troika card and Moscow public transport.

How to pay: what works and what doesn’t

The payment system in Russia changed radically in March 2022 with the sanctions, and what worked four years ago no longer does.

What DOES work as a foreign tourist

• Cash at the ticket office or vending machine. Bring rubles in small notes (100 or 500 ₽).
• Physical Troika card loaded with cash: the recommended option for 99% of travellers.
• Russian MIR bank card, if you’ve managed to open one before or during your trip. You tap it straight at the turnstile and it deducts 75 ₽ per trip. I explain how to get one in this guide on how to open a MIR card as a foreigner.

What DOESN’T work since 2022

• Visa, Mastercard, American Express and JCB cards issued outside Russia. Not at the turnstile, not at the ticket office, not in machines.
• Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay with foreign cards.

Methods that require registration in Russia (not for tourists)

• Virtual Troika on your smartphone (via the official “Метро Москвы” app using QR or NFC on Android). It normally requires a Russian phone number and the app isn’t on Western stores. For a short trip, forget the virtual version and buy the physical one at the ticket office.
• Fast Payment System by QR (SBP): 83 ₽ per trip. Only if you have an account at a Russian bank with its app installed.
• Face Pay (biometric facial payment) at the metro turnstiles. To register you have to go physically to a service centre in Moscow with your linked MIR card. It doesn’t make sense for a tourist trip.

Summary for the tourist: arrive with rubles in cash, buy a Troika at the ticket office, load it, and forget about the problem.

How to use the Moscow metro step by step

Let me walk you through how to get around the Moscow metro as simply as possible. If you’re used to other metros around the world, a lot of it will seem obvious; some things less so, especially if it’s your first time with Cyrillic script.

1. Find the entrance

From the street, stations are marked with a big red M. The entrance is usually at street level or down a flight of stairs. At the bottom of the stairs you’ll see:

• A set of doors with green signs, used as entrances (marked “Entry to the metro” in Russian and English).
• Another set of doors with red signs, exit only.

Once inside, you’ll see a big metro map in the vestibule, ticket vending machines and the staffed ticket office.

2. Buy the Troika (or the ticket)

There are two basic ways to buy your ticket:

• Vending machines: they have a Russian and English interface and aren’t hard to use. They take cash (rubles) and MIR cards. They do not accept Visa or Mastercard.
• Staffed ticket offices (marked “КАССА”): much easier, especially if you don’t speak Russian. For a Troika just say “Troika” and the amount you want to load. For example, for a card with 500 rubles of credit, you hand over 650 rubles (150 ₽ deposit + 500 ₽ credit). Handy trick: write down on a piece of paper “Тройка + 1000 ₽”; show it at the ticket office and they’ll get it instantly.

3. Get to the platform through the turnstiles

Next to the ticket office you’ll see the entry turnstiles, with a circular contactless reader on top. You hold your Troika against the reader and the light turns from red to green. The small screen shows your remaining credit or the days left on your pass. If the turnstile doesn’t open, it’s usually either low credit or a pass that hasn’t been activated.

At each row of turnstiles there’s a booth with staff controlling access and letting children under 7 (free travel) and people with reduced mobility through. Watch out if you’re thinking of sharing a card: in Kosheliok mode the turnstile deducts the fare each time, but with a 1-day Edinyi pass there’s a 20-minute lockout between taps precisely to stop two people using the same card. The fine for travelling without a valid ticket is 5,000 rubles.

Once you’re past the turnstile you’ll find the escalators, which in many central stations are brutally long: stand on the right and leave the left clear for people in a hurry. Running on the escalator and sitting on the steps is forbidden.

4. Get your bearings on the platform

At the bottom you’ll see signs with the lines and direction of travel. Since the 2018 World Cup most central stations are signposted in English (Latin script) too, but in the outer districts you’ll see a lot of Cyrillic. That’s why the Yandex Metro app is a lifesaver: it gives you the map in Latin transliteration.

5. Board the train and travel

When the train arrives, let people get off before you get on. At peak times it’s packed, so you need to be quick: the doors close with a fair amount of force and don’t forgive. Once on board, find a seat or grab a handrail, the trains move quite a bit. Some carriages are still from Soviet times and are noisy; others have been refurbished, with screens, air conditioning and Wi-Fi.

Inside the carriage, by each door, you’ll see a metro map and a map of the line you’re on. If you can’t read Cyrillic, count the stops on your app until you reach your destination. Announcements are made in Russian and English, and there’s a nice trick: on the radial lines, a male voice indicates the direction towards the centre and a female voice the opposite. On the circular line (line 5, brown), male voice clockwise and female voice anticlockwise.

6. Transfers and exit

If you need to transfer, when you get off the train follow the signs to the line you need. They’re colour-coded, so even if you don’t understand the name, just follow the colour. A transfer may involve going up or down stairs and walking through underground passageways. With a single ticket you can make as many transfers as you want until you leave the metro.

To exit, look for the white sign with black letters “Выход в город” (exit to the city). Many stations have several exits: if you check the station map you’ll see which street each one comes out on, which saves you walking two blocks in the wrong direction.

And if you miss your stop, no problem: get off and take the train going the other way. No extra charge.

Which metro stations are worth visiting

The Moscow metro is an underground museum in its own right. Which ones are the most beautiful is subjective, but there’s a fairly consensual ranking by the Russian architect Yuri Gridchin, who divides them into “magnificent” (5 stars) and “beautiful” (4 stars). Here’s the Top 20 “magnificent” ones, which I’d recommend prioritising if you have a day (or half a day) to spend on this:

• Line 1 (red): Komsomolskaya, Krasnye Vorota, Kropotkinskaya, Vorobyovy Gory.
• Line 2 (green): Mayakovskaya, Novokuznetskaya, Avtozavodskaya.
• Line 3 (dark blue): Park Pobedy, Kievskaya, Arbatskaya, Ploshchad Revolyutsii, Elektrozavodskaya.
• Line 5 (brown circle line): Taganskaya, Komsomolskaya, Prospekt Mira, Novoslobodskaya, Kievskaya.
• Line 7 (purple): Pushkinskaya, Kuznetsky Most.
• Line 9 (grey): Nagatinskaya.

If you want to see the complete list (including the 46 four-star “beautiful” stations), it’s available at news.metro.ru/thebest.html.

The 4 must-sees if you only have 2 hours

If you’re short on time, my recommendation is a route linking these four stations, all in the centre and with short transfers:

• Ploshchad Revolyutsii (Revolution Square, line 3): the famous 76 bronze sculptures of Soviet soldiers, sailors, peasants and workers. There’s a local tradition of rubbing the nose of the border guard’s dog (next to the base of a column) for good luck. The nose is shiny from decades of being touched.
• Mayakovskaya (line 2): pure Soviet art deco, with 35 oval ceiling niches filled with mosaics by Aleksandr Deyneka set against a sky background. Considered one of the most beautiful metro stations in the world.
• Novoslobodskaya (line 5, circular): 32 lead-framed stained-glass panels lit from within, in an atmosphere that feels like an underground cathedral.
• Komsomolskaya (line 5, circular): the most imperial of them all, with a baroque yellow ceiling and mosaics about the victory in the Second World War. It’s the station that welcomes travellers arriving at Moscow’s three train terminals.

Guided tours of the Moscow metro

You can explore the metro on your own without any problem, but if you’d like to understand the history and the symbolism behind each station, a 2-hour guided tour is worth it. You have two options:

• Guided tour with a local guide: the most comfortable option. I explain it all, including how to book and pay without a foreign card, in this guide on guided tours in Moscow.
• Official metro excursions via tour.mosmetro.ru: the metro itself runs themed tours with accredited guides from 1,200 rubles. Most are in Russian but there are also some in English.

Basic rules worth knowing

The Moscow metro has an extensive set of rules and plainclothes inspectors who fine. Most are common sense, but here’s a summary of the most relevant ones so you don’t get caught out:

• Luggage: you can take hand luggage for free as long as the sum of its dimensions (height + width + length) doesn’t exceed 120 cm. Between 120 and 150 cm there’s a surcharge. Above 150 cm (or long items over 220 cm) it’s not allowed. In practice, a large suitcase passes without any issues.
• Escalators: don’t sit on the steps, don’t run, don’t leave items on the handrail and don’t go barefoot. Stay on the right and leave the left clear.
• Children under 7: travel free when accompanied by an adult (entry through the side booth with staff).
• Animals: only inside carriers or cages; guide dogs may travel on a lead without a carrier.
• Selfie sticks: officially forbidden, as are tripods (prior permission required). Taking photos with a phone without a tripod is allowed and no one will say anything.
• Music, speakerphone calls, eating and drinking in a disruptive way are forbidden. Smoking (or vaping) is also banned anywhere in the metro.
• Scooters, bikes and skateboards: only in a cover. Folding bikes and children’s bikes can travel freely.

One interesting fact worth knowing: the metro is heavily monitored, there are cameras, luggage scanners at many stations and visible police. It’s one of the safest places in the city, including at night.

The metro and Moscow’s airports

Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo airports are connected to the centre by the Aeroexpress train, which arrives at central metro stations (Belorusskaya, Paveletskaya and Kievskaya respectively). You can also pay for the Aeroexpress with your Troika credit. I cover each route in detail in this guide on how to get from the airport to the centre of Moscow.

Frequently asked questions about the Moscow metro