Fredrik Tombra in Discover St. Petersburg

The St. Petersburg Metro: Red Line

Inside the Avtovo station on the St. Petersburg metro's red line. (Photo: Wiki Commons)

St. Petersburg’s Metro was opened in 1955 and currently consists of 65 stations and five routes. The first line that opened was the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya line, mostly referred to as the red line of St. Petersburg Metro. Back then it stretched from Ploschad Vosstaniya in the city center to Avtovo further south and counted only seven stops. Today, it stretches from Devyatkino in the north, through the old stops in the center and to Prospekt Veteranov in the south. A total of 18 stations makes the red line the longest metro line in St. Petersburg.

Which red line metro stations to disembark on

The red line is definitely the prettiest and most picturesque of the five metro routes. Particularly older stations such as Avtovo, Pushkinskaya and Tekhnologichesky Institut are worth visiting. Bring along a camera and document the beautiful station ornaments.

Ploschad Lenina

Lenin in front of Finlandsky railway station (Photo: Fredrik Tombra)

Check out one of the oldest statues of Vladimir Lenin (unveiled in 1926) in town. It’s situated right outside Finlandsky railway station, where he arrived before he and his comrades led the revolution(s) in 2017. This particular statue survived World War II, the fall of the Soviet Union and also a bombing in 2009. From the Finlandsky railway station – as the name suggests – the high-speed Allegro trains start their route towards Helsinki, the Finnish capital. Furthermore, the short-distance elektrichka trains to towns and villages of the Karelian Isthmus leave from the Finlandsky station.

Ploschad Vosstaniya

Ploschad Vosstaniya is located in the heart of St. Petersburg where Ligovsky Prospekt meets Nevsky, right by Moskovsky railway station. Shoppers will like the biggest downtown shopping mall Galeria, while those with an alternative taste can walk an extra ten minutes to Loft Project Etagi, a hipster shopping heaven with multiple cafés and designer shops. There is also a cinema that screens movies with English audio at Galeria.

Vladimirskaya

A beautiful inside and a fun outside – Vladimirskaya is located five minutes from Rubinshteyna, a well-known street for bars and restaurants. There you can find a good falafel at Israeli restaurant Bekitzer, enjoy a glass of wine at Black books or watch a game of football at Mollie’s pub. Another nearby attraction is the Kuznechny market, where you can find dried fruits, dairy products and a delicious honey and much more.

Woman selling pickled vegetables at the Kuznechny market, close to metro station Vladimirskaya (Photo: Fredrik Tombra)

Pushkinskaya

There’s not much you can see outside the station, unless you’re looking for a transfer from St. Petersburg red metro line to the city of Pushkin or for a long-distance bus ride. Inside, take some time to look at the ornaments and decorations. At the end of where you wait for the metro, you can find a Pushkin statue surrounded by flowers.

Avtovo

Marble and ornamental glass are key words for the Avtovo station that was designed by Yevgeny Levinson. Avtovo is a shallow-level station (12 meters deep) unlike most others metro stations. Due to its geology, St. Petersburg have one of the deepest metro systems in the world. Unless you have business in Avtovo, the only reason to go outside is to take some pictures of the neoclassical entrance party.

Do you have some suggestion along the Red Line of St. Petersburg Metro that we didn’t include? Let us know in the comments section below!