Getting Around St Petersburg By Metro

The Saint Petersburg metro is a fast service and the second largest underground railway system in Russia (Moscow being the first). It is the cheapest and most effective way to get around the city. The trains are fast and run frequently during rush hours; intervals go as low as 30 seconds between trains.

It is easy to use it, although there are no signs in English. There are just four lines and more than 50 stations. Metro entrances are marked with a blue letter "M" on top. The metro is opened from 5.45 a.m. to 0.15 a.m., usually the last train in the line starts its way at 0.00 and the passes between the stations are closed at 0.15 am.

The metro can be unbelievably crowded during rush hour. The Subway is also a major tourist attraction in itself thanks to the beautiful decorations of the stations.

There are metro schemes only in Russian in every car, sometimes there are schemes at the stations. It might be useful to print out our metro scheme or to buy it somewhere.

When you're on the station and want to find out the direction you need just look up there're signs hanging on the ceiling, signs are in Russian too, if you are unfamiliar with the language, it may make sense to "count the stops" to your destination or keep your ears open, the conductor will let you know what station you are on.

Tickets: The metro has no special zones, all metro is one zone, and there's no time limit for using your ticket. So you can buy a ticket or a coin ("zheton") for 5 roubles for one trip (0.16$) and spend as much time inside as you like. A good way to save money is to buy a card for many rides - the price of one ride will be cheaper then.

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