The St Petersburg Metro (marked with blue letter «M” on the top — don’t confuse it with McDonald’s yellow “M”) is considered by the locals as the most convenient (it covers most parts of the city) means of transportation and is, at the same time, one of the city’s attractions — many of the metro station vestibules and platforms are adorned with marble, granite, bas-reliefs and mosaics which give them a view of real underground palaces. The very first 10 stations appeared after WWII (in 1955) and have various military and Soviet symbols reminding visitors about the glorious victory over Nazi Germany. Owing to the cities many rivers and swampy subsoil, most of the lines (there are 5 of them right now) were built extremely deep underground (sometimes it takes more time to travel down into the station than from one station to another), with vertiginous escalators that most passengers never venture to walk up, although the left-hand side is designated for that purpose.
We offer you a metro tour as a complimentary excursion (no extra charge) as part of our St Petersburg Tours or St Petersburg Shore Excursions.
We can either show you several metro stations with a short 10 minute ride in the most beautiful subway under the sun or offer you unusual 1 hour excursion in St Petersburg Metro.
You (and especially your curious children & grandchildren) will get to know:
- Why the walls of the St Petersburg Metro are faced with marble and the floor with granite
- How the metro trains run (including different interesting technical parameters)
- Why on some stations in summer you can clearly feel the smell of candy
- How we protect our metro from floods
- Why the St Petersburg Metro is the deepest metro in the world
- And the last, but definitely not the least why we consider it to be one the most beautiful metro systems in the world (with its crystal columns, beautiful mosaics, and platforms designed as underground palaces. The St Petersburg Metro is a paradise for amateur photographers and art & architecture lovers; you can to take pictures for free but without flash)
Click on the image for a printable St Petersburg Metro Map