I had read a lot of warnings and advice about the Moscow Metro before the trip. And I am told that the Metro is bewildering even for Russians. Without a working knowledge of Cyrillic, navigating the Metro is not for the faint hearted. It makes the London Underground seem like child's play.* Still, it is the easiest way to get around Moscow, and my preferred mode of transport, rather than having to haggle with taxi drivers, worry about fake taxis, and whatnot. When I was in Beijing, we assumed the metro would be incomprehensible and therefore used taxis instead. When we finally took the metro, it turned out to be easy as anything, fast and cheap. So, I was determined to at least try taking the Metro is Moscow.
Cyrillic
The Cyrillic alphabet is obviously the biggest obstacle. Indeed a seemingly insurmountable one. While some maps at the stations do have the names in Roman lettering written in tiny and grey (translation: barely visible) font under the Cyrillic letters, not all do. Some trains seem to have announcement in English as well, including the direction of the train and next station, but again, not all do.
Many people seem to give it up for lost, forever categorised as incomprehensible. The Cyrillic, and by extension the Moscow Metro. With a little bit of effort though, it does not have to be so. My first brush with Cyrillic was many years ago when I mentioned to a Ukrainian friend that I might one day in the vague unforeseeable and very hypothetical future, I might be interested to learn Russian. She tried to teach me a few things once in a while, but as I was also learning Chinese and Swedish at the time, or maybe French depending on when it was, I was never really interested. Then I had a Russian housemate who randomly spoke Russian to me and also tried to teach me a few things. That never really stuck either. Years later came a day, I found myself having a lesson in Cyrillic by an Australian in Bulgaria! All of a sudden, it started to make sense! I had a context to put the letters in and I was constantly exposed to Cyrillic, which made a world of difference!
Cracking the code
I didn't learn the whole alphabet, and still haven't. Nor did I learn the bit I do know all at once. I started with a few simple ones, and I had my own names for what they were: the reversed N (И) is an "I", the P is our "R", the B is our "V" and the backwards R, and the upside down L and so on. I saw it as a cipher code and so the game was on! Everywhere I went, every sign I saw, I tried to decipher the code. Sometimes I managed, though not always because they were too many letters I couldn't decipher. But every sign, every word a challenge, and every word understood a victory!
So my Top Tip to anyone not Cyrillic-literate, wanting to take for the Moscow Metro is this:
Learn a few letters in Cyrillic
Starting with those that have an equivalent in the Roman alphabet, would be your best bet. And the ones that are most common, I suppose. The letters is PECTOPAH is a good example. P=R, C=S and H=N. So PECTOPAH is basically RESTORAN. No prizes for guessing what that means.
So my Top Tip to anyone not Cyrillic-literate, wanting to take for the Moscow Metro is this:
Learn a few letters in Cyrillic
Starting with those that have an equivalent in the Roman alphabet, would be your best bet. And the ones that are most common, I suppose. The letters is PECTOPAH is a good example. P=R, C=S and H=N. So PECTOPAH is basically RESTORAN. No prizes for guessing what that means.
Mapping the Metro
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| The Metro map you want |
The different lines are helpfully numbered and assigned different colours, so the chances of finding the right line is quite high. As long as you can figure out the last station in the direction you need to go, chances are you'll get on the right train in the right direction too.
Knowing where to look
The alphabet is just one of the few things you'll need to get a hang of though. The Metro is supposedly confusing even for Russians who read and speak the language. Even some who have lived in Moscow are not always clear about which way to go.
Having managed to get onto the (hopefully) right train, heading in the right direction, you race along underground. Race you do, because the trains are quite face. Or at least they seem to be. I am not sure what the speed is compared to other underground trains and I don't really care. They are frequent and for the days when I took the Metro, no disruptions in service of any kind. So anyway, you are on the train racing along. A few stops later, you've lost tracked of where you are so you look out the window as the train pulls into the next stop to see where you are. Most people naturally look forwards the platform for some indication. The signs telling you the name of the station though are unhelpfully located ONLY on the walls of the tunnel at the stops, and never in the middle of the platform with all the other signs. One of Muscovites I met helpfully explained this to me, which was a big help.
The alphabet is just one of the few things you'll need to get a hang of though. The Metro is supposedly confusing even for Russians who read and speak the language. Even some who have lived in Moscow are not always clear about which way to go.
Having managed to get onto the (hopefully) right train, heading in the right direction, you race along underground. Race you do, because the trains are quite face. Or at least they seem to be. I am not sure what the speed is compared to other underground trains and I don't really care. They are frequent and for the days when I took the Metro, no disruptions in service of any kind. So anyway, you are on the train racing along. A few stops later, you've lost tracked of where you are so you look out the window as the train pulls into the next stop to see where you are. Most people naturally look forwards the platform for some indication. The signs telling you the name of the station though are unhelpfully located ONLY on the walls of the tunnel at the stops, and never in the middle of the platform with all the other signs. One of Muscovites I met helpfully explained this to me, which was a big help.
Knowing where to look, doesn't solve all problems though. If you are on the train, it's not always easy to read a sign on the wall on the side of the tunnel you are on, if you get what I mean. The wall that is immediately next to the window of the train. You'd have to be carefully looking out for it and be able to read really fast - not easy if you are still on code deciphering mode. Or hope that the trains stops with your window right next to the sign. You could look across the platform to the other side, but if there happens to be another train there at the same time, well then... bad luck. But all is not lost! There is usually a LED lighted diagram on the train (above the doors) to tell you where you are along the line, and another LED display between the carriages telling you the next stop and the final stop of the train, sometimes even in English as well. And sometimes, there are announcements. If you are really lucky, the announcements are even in English.
Getting out
Having arrived at the station you wanted, it's not over yet. Getting out of the station was for me the second most complicated part of taking the Metro - and I will get to the most complicated part next. Having disembarked the train, you'll need to find the right exit. Many blogs and travel guides warn travelers about this and advise people to be careful to choose the right exit, because otherwise, you could be in for a long walk.
More often than not, there were helpful colour-coded numbers pointing you to connecting Metro lines making connections at the smaller stations rather straightforward. To get out of the station though, you'll need to know which exit you want already at the platform itself, as it could be the difference between turning left or right as you get off the train. At some point you'll find some stairs and another junction with more signs and another decision to be made. This happens a few times before you finally emerge into daylight. So it helps to also know the names of a few landmarks around the place you are heading and how these names look like in Cyrillic, so you'll know which exit you want.
"I'll figure it out when I get outside" is in general not the best approach, unless you have ample of time and are not afraid of a walk. In my case, I made a mistake when I took the Metro for the first time on my own. I go off the train and turned left instead of right. I hadn't realised at that time that I needed to make a directional decision already then, and followed the current of people heading towards an exit. After that, I thought I made reasonable decisions as to where I needed to go. I say decisions, I mean wild guesses. I emerged on street level to find myself on the wrong side of the street from where I needed to be. To go back underground to the other side meant that I would have to pay for another ticket. I chose not to thinking it would be a simple matter to cross the street. I say street, it was from 5 to 7 lanes (including bus lanes and lay-bys, taxi-stops). 5 to 7 lanes on each side, that is. There was no crossing that road without a traffic light. The nearest crossing was about 1 km in one direction, though a tunnel which was probably 200 m long, then another 1 km back the direction I came from, to the side street that I needed to get to in the first place. Having made this mistake on the day I was moving hotels and had my luggage with me was a valuable lesson indeed. In hindsight, I should have just paid for the fare to get through the tunnel. The Metro fares are very reasonable. I did not make that mistake again during my stay in Moscow. I planted myself firmly on the platform and made sure I deciphered where I needed to go before I budged. And that strategy definitely works!
So while it is confusing, as long as you know where to find the information you need and the different options you have for figuring out where you are and where you need to go, it's doable. On my adventures on the Moscow Metro, that was really the only mistake I made. I had a moment of major confusion another time and that leads me to the most complicated part of taking the Moscow Metro.
Changing stations
If you have to change stations, choose a small one. By which I mean, a station where only two lines cross, for example. Or even where more than two lines cross but they share the same "dot" on the Metro map, which is an indication that they share the same station. Some Metro stations share the same name, but are actually separate stations connected by a complicated underground maze. Some junction stations (my name for them) are in fact separate stations with different names but are connected by some complicated combination of underground and overground maze. The latter two are depicted on Metro maps by a circular connection between the stations. These are not for the faint-hearted. Give yourself a day of using the Metro before braving one of those, unless you are a baptism by fire kind of person.
At one of these stations, I was stumped. There was so many signs that I could not decipher that I had no clue where I should be heading. There were escalators in about four different directions, two tunnels and more and the place I thought I needed to be going were in two opposite directions. So I stopped to ask one of the helpful Metro officers for directions. He was very helpful indeed and gave me very detailed directions accompanied with a many flicks of his hand and a wave or two with his arm to indicate direction. And he did all this in very fluent Russian. Only. Not a word of any other language which I could understand. I headed in the general direction he was waving at and hoped for the best. I ended up not at the right one of the three connecting stations I wanted, but it was thankfully not a big deal. I took the train from there anyway and changed at the next stop. It turned out to be a good thing because I then got to see another one of the amazing Metro stations that Moscow is rightly very proud of.
So totally worthwhile
Riding the Metro turned out the be one of the highlights of my trip. A long time ago, as I was admiring the Tunnelbana stations in Stockholm, my Russian housemate at the time said to me, "that's nothing. You should see the ones in Moscow". Hmm... I though. I still like the ones in Stockholm and I really cannot say that one is better than the other. Because the fact of the matter is that the ones in Moscow are in a class of their own. It is like someone carved out parts of museums, art galleries, and cathedrals and placed them underground instead. The contrast was mind-boggling. Like any other big city, the Metro is full of people in a rush. Stressed from work and family concerns, in a hurry to get somewhere. The most mundane and dreary parts of everyday city life, surrounded by spectacular works of art. Not all the stations are built that way. Farther out of the centre and on the newer lines, they look like almost any other underground inner city train service in the world. And I have no idea what message they hold; religious, political or some kind of propaganda, worthy tribute to their cultural heritage, I have no clue. Whatever story they tell, aesthetically they were breathtaking. The pictures below really do not do justice of how their grandeur and the atmosphere.
Apps for help
Lastly, I suppose I must also point out that there are also a variety of apps that would considerable reduce the hassle and make life a whole hell of a lot easier for you. One in particular, called Yandex Metro I am told, not only gives you the information in English, it also tells you the quickest route to get from where to are to your destination station, the time till the next train and total duration. And there are also translation apps which translate whatever you point your camera at into the language you want.
Technology is a marvelous help, but I am slow on the uptake when it comes to the latest apps and fads. Old school, I am. I'll not trade the satisfaction of being able, at the end of my trip, to look up at the overhead only-in-Cyrillic signs in the Metro station and confirm that I am heading the right way without so much as a break in my step or causing a ripple in the current of people around me. Nope, not for any convenience technology can offer, not for any app in the world.
Getting out
Having arrived at the station you wanted, it's not over yet. Getting out of the station was for me the second most complicated part of taking the Metro - and I will get to the most complicated part next. Having disembarked the train, you'll need to find the right exit. Many blogs and travel guides warn travelers about this and advise people to be careful to choose the right exit, because otherwise, you could be in for a long walk.
More often than not, there were helpful colour-coded numbers pointing you to connecting Metro lines making connections at the smaller stations rather straightforward. To get out of the station though, you'll need to know which exit you want already at the platform itself, as it could be the difference between turning left or right as you get off the train. At some point you'll find some stairs and another junction with more signs and another decision to be made. This happens a few times before you finally emerge into daylight. So it helps to also know the names of a few landmarks around the place you are heading and how these names look like in Cyrillic, so you'll know which exit you want.
"I'll figure it out when I get outside" is in general not the best approach, unless you have ample of time and are not afraid of a walk. In my case, I made a mistake when I took the Metro for the first time on my own. I go off the train and turned left instead of right. I hadn't realised at that time that I needed to make a directional decision already then, and followed the current of people heading towards an exit. After that, I thought I made reasonable decisions as to where I needed to go. I say decisions, I mean wild guesses. I emerged on street level to find myself on the wrong side of the street from where I needed to be. To go back underground to the other side meant that I would have to pay for another ticket. I chose not to thinking it would be a simple matter to cross the street. I say street, it was from 5 to 7 lanes (including bus lanes and lay-bys, taxi-stops). 5 to 7 lanes on each side, that is. There was no crossing that road without a traffic light. The nearest crossing was about 1 km in one direction, though a tunnel which was probably 200 m long, then another 1 km back the direction I came from, to the side street that I needed to get to in the first place. Having made this mistake on the day I was moving hotels and had my luggage with me was a valuable lesson indeed. In hindsight, I should have just paid for the fare to get through the tunnel. The Metro fares are very reasonable. I did not make that mistake again during my stay in Moscow. I planted myself firmly on the platform and made sure I deciphered where I needed to go before I budged. And that strategy definitely works!
So while it is confusing, as long as you know where to find the information you need and the different options you have for figuring out where you are and where you need to go, it's doable. On my adventures on the Moscow Metro, that was really the only mistake I made. I had a moment of major confusion another time and that leads me to the most complicated part of taking the Moscow Metro.
Changing stations
 |
| Junction station - beware! |
At one of these stations, I was stumped. There was so many signs that I could not decipher that I had no clue where I should be heading. There were escalators in about four different directions, two tunnels and more and the place I thought I needed to be going were in two opposite directions. So I stopped to ask one of the helpful Metro officers for directions. He was very helpful indeed and gave me very detailed directions accompanied with a many flicks of his hand and a wave or two with his arm to indicate direction. And he did all this in very fluent Russian. Only. Not a word of any other language which I could understand. I headed in the general direction he was waving at and hoped for the best. I ended up not at the right one of the three connecting stations I wanted, but it was thankfully not a big deal. I took the train from there anyway and changed at the next stop. It turned out to be a good thing because I then got to see another one of the amazing Metro stations that Moscow is rightly very proud of.
So totally worthwhile
Riding the Metro turned out the be one of the highlights of my trip. A long time ago, as I was admiring the Tunnelbana stations in Stockholm, my Russian housemate at the time said to me, "that's nothing. You should see the ones in Moscow". Hmm... I though. I still like the ones in Stockholm and I really cannot say that one is better than the other. Because the fact of the matter is that the ones in Moscow are in a class of their own. It is like someone carved out parts of museums, art galleries, and cathedrals and placed them underground instead. The contrast was mind-boggling. Like any other big city, the Metro is full of people in a rush. Stressed from work and family concerns, in a hurry to get somewhere. The most mundane and dreary parts of everyday city life, surrounded by spectacular works of art. Not all the stations are built that way. Farther out of the centre and on the newer lines, they look like almost any other underground inner city train service in the world. And I have no idea what message they hold; religious, political or some kind of propaganda, worthy tribute to their cultural heritage, I have no clue. Whatever story they tell, aesthetically they were breathtaking. The pictures below really do not do justice of how their grandeur and the atmosphere.
Apps for help
Lastly, I suppose I must also point out that there are also a variety of apps that would considerable reduce the hassle and make life a whole hell of a lot easier for you. One in particular, called Yandex Metro I am told, not only gives you the information in English, it also tells you the quickest route to get from where to are to your destination station, the time till the next train and total duration. And there are also translation apps which translate whatever you point your camera at into the language you want.
Technology is a marvelous help, but I am slow on the uptake when it comes to the latest apps and fads. Old school, I am. I'll not trade the satisfaction of being able, at the end of my trip, to look up at the overhead only-in-Cyrillic signs in the Metro station and confirm that I am heading the right way without so much as a break in my step or causing a ripple in the current of people around me. Nope, not for any convenience technology can offer, not for any app in the world.
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| Kievskaya** - ironically designed to illustrate Russia's friendship with the Ukraine |
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| Mayakovskaya** - grand prize winner at the 1938 New York Trade Fair |
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| Teatralnaya** |
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| Komsomolskaya** |
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| Novoslobodskaya** |
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| One Novoslobodskaya's many back lit stained glass windows |
* Well, assuming the child spoke English, or at least familiar with the Roman alphabet.
** I hope I have got the names of the stations right. Please tell me if not!
** I hope I have got the names of the stations right. Please tell me if not!
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