A ride, not a walk, through the stations Wikivoyage and RUSSPASS single out: Kropotkinskaya, Ploshchad Revolyutsii, Arbatskaya and Kievskaya, then round the Circle line via Belorusskaya (one stop out to Mayakovskaya), Novoslobodskaya and Komsomolskaya, ending at Elektrozavodskaya.
Best time: Late morning on a weekday or at the weekend, outside the weekday rush hours, so you can stop on the platforms.
The route, stop by stop
- 1Kropotkinskaya metro station
1935 Dushkin station built as the lobby of the unbuilt Palace of Soviets. Ride two stops to Okhotny Ryad and walk through to Ploshchad Revolyutsii. 10 min
- 2Ploshchad Revolyutsii metro station
76 bronze figures under the arches. 10 min
- 3Arbatskaya metro station
The longest underground hall, 220 m of elliptical arches; one stop on the blue line. 10 min
- 4Kievskaya metro station (Circle line)
Circle-line hall like a palace picture gallery of framed mosaics; change here to the Circle line. 10 min
- 5Belorusskaya metro station (Circle line)
Stucco vaults and ceiling mosaics; change to the green line for one stop. 5 min
- 6Mayakovskaya metro station
Steel-clad arches and 34 Deineka ceiling mosaics; ride back to Belorusskaya. 15 min
- 7Novoslobodskaya metro station
32 back-lit stained-glass panels after Pavel Korin. 10 min
- 8Komsomolskaya metro station (Circle line)
The grandest hall, with Korin's ceiling mosaics in heavy stucco frames; continue to Kurskaya and take the blue line east. 15 min
- 9Elektrozavodskaya metro station
End under the coffered vault with more than 300 lamps. 10 min
More walks in Moscow
- Kremlin, Red Square and Kitay-gorod
- Zamoskvorechye: Bolotny Island lanes and churches to the Tretyakov
- Boulevard Ring: Prechistenskiye Vorota to Chistye Prudy
- Patriarch's Ponds and Bulgakov's Moscow
- Khitrovka, Ivanovskaya Gorka and Pokrovka
- Arbat side-lanes to Prechistenka
- Gorky Park, Neskuchny Garden and Sparrow Hills along the river
- VDNKh pavilions and the space trail
- Taganka to Andronikov Monastery and Rogozhskaya Sloboda