A metro station is probably one of the last places you’d expect to find great art and breathtaking interiors. However, there are a few stations that hide exceptional design and art installations under city streets around the world. Forget dirty, badly lit platforms painted in dull colours, because we’ve sought out some of the world’s coolest subway and metro stations.

Although pretty much all of the stations on Tashkent's metro system have beautiful and unique interiors, this one, named after a famous poet, is considered to be the most spectacular. The highlight in this station, located on the Oʻzbekiston Line, is the magnificent ceiling, but travellers should also pay attention to the ceramic murals depicting scenes from the poet's most well-known works.

Providing service for the Blue, Silver, and Orange Lines of the Washington Metro, Foggy Bottom has a charmingly old-fashioned feel to it, reminiscent of the 1970s sci-fi films. Opened in 1977, the station mostly serves the George Washington University (GWU) campus. As it was one of the first stations to be built, it's one of the few in DC that features 22 coffer waffle vault ceiling as stations constructed later abandoned this design for a simpler concrete arch.

One of the newest metro systems in the world, the Doha Metro opened in May 2019 so it's understandable this station looks ultra-futuristic. The spectacular Msheireb station serves as a transfer point between Red, Gold and the Green lines of the Doha Metro and is the largest in the city. With sleek interiors, interesting light elements and a bold colour scheme that's normally blindingly white, it's truly spectacular.

A transfer point between Athens Metro lines 1 and 2, Syntagma is not your average station. Considering the city's illustrious history, it maybe won't come as a surprise that the station is part museum. Located beneath the Syntagma Square, there are many antiquities on display at the station that were found during the construction. Aside from the ancient artefacts, there are also works from many contemporary Greek artists.

It’s safe to say that most of the New York subway stations are not nice to look at, however, Fulton Transit Centre in Lower Manhattan is a wonderful exception. Connecting nine subway lines, the station was opened in 2014 and its main feature is its massive dome.

First opened in 1998, the platform in this station features 11 enormous ceiling light fixtures that continuously paint the platform in hues of blue, yellow and red. It has now become a popular tourist attraction in the south side of the city. 

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Stockholm’s Centralen station, where all the metro lines converge, is perhaps the most recognisable of all. Blue vines climb up the white-washed grotto ceiling at platform level while red and green line platform walls above are decorated with colourful glass tiles.

Painted sky-blue with rainbow patterns all over, including a massive rainbow arch stretching across the tunnel connecting two platforms, Stadion station was decorated to commemorate the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. The rainbow represents the colours in the Olympic rings.

Built in honour of the 1998 World Expo, this station still features art installations by four Portuguese artists. Its combination of bright, bold and in-your-face colours and Brutalist architecture is really rather unusual.

Authorities don't always need to spend a lot of money on lavish materials to make a metro station spectacular and this station in Budapest is proof. Minimal effort has resulted in maximum impact in the station’s halls where the wall tiles are used to create intricate mosaics.

The kaleidoscope-like glass ceiling at the Formosa Boulevard station is said to be the largest glass work in the world. Consisting of 4,500 glass panels, it’s made by Italian designer Narcissus Quagliata, who called it Wind, Fire and Time.

Dubai is known for its eclectic and extravagant designs and it definitely doesn’t fall short when it comes to Dubai metro either. This station, also known as Burjuman, serves the Burjuman mall, one of the oldest shopping centres in Dubai. Its most peculiar feature is the jellyfish-like chandeliers, giving the station an underwater vibe.

Moscow’s metro system, opened in 1935, is a collection of incredibly ornate stations that look much more like regal palaces or cathedrals rather than commuter hubs. Most, like Komsomolskaya, were built during Stalin’s reign and are meant to represent the wealth and power of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party.

Others, like this station in central Moscow, were simply designed to show off. Mayakovskaya is a great example of pre-Second World War Stalinist architecture and is a nod to the Russian Futurist movement and one of its central figures Vladimir Mayakovsky.

Built as part of the third expansion of Moscow metro, Elektrozavodskaya was constructed during the Second World War. Named after the electric light bulb factory nearby, the station features a slightly unnerving ceiling that looks like a mixture between the eyes of a fly and the lights above a surgeon's table.

If you’re into modern art, this is a must-visit in the Polish capital. What feels like the inside of a seashell or a giant UFO hovering over the platform is actually an award-winning design that was named the Best Recently Constructed Station in 2008.

Even though many of Vienna’s metro stations feature artworks by Austrian artists, it’s Nature in the Making by Anton Lehmden that’s best-known. Created from four million mosaic stones on an area almost twice as big as a tennis court, the artwork tells the story of the Big Bang and the formation of nature.

If you suffer from trypophobia (a fear of small bumps or holes), look away now. The walls at this station in Prague are covered in what looks like a weird bubble wrap-like optical illusion. It’s almost impossible to tell whether the wall is covered in holes, bubbles or both. You might just have to go to Prague to figure this one out...

An ode to steampunk and French novelist Jules Verne, the platform tunnel at Arts et Métiers is covered in copper cladding, complete with portholes and exposed bolts. Inspired by the science fiction novels of the early 20th century, it surely feels like the submarine Nautilus from one of Verne’s most famous worksTwenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Decorated to represent the famous museum that sits above ground, the platforms at the Louvre Rivoli station on Line 1 are filled with a curated collection of replica artworks. Although this newly renovated station doesn’t have direct access to Louvre anymore, it’s still worth getting off here just to see it.

What might seem like a random jumble of letters is actually The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen adorning the walls of Paris's Concorde station. Written during the French Revolution, the document is spelled out with blue letters on white tiles.

From modern futuristic engineering marvels like Westminster (pictured), Canary Wharf and Southwark to classic deep tube stations like Baker Street, Bank and Charing Cross, London Underground offers a real variety of styles and designs throughout its transport hubs.

But perhaps some of the least appreciated stations are the ones beyond Zone 1. Think beautiful Art Deco exteriors and interiors of East Finchley and Gants Hill (pictured). Or Cockfosters – a terminus that’s full of architectural peculiarities like angled air vents and arches replicating the shape of a tube carriage.

Servicing the Royal Ontario Museum is the Museum station – a modern yet understated station, decorated in the shades of grey and brown. That is until you look at the columns. Depicting artefacts you can find in the museum, you’ll see everything from First Nations house posts to ancient Egyptian deities.

Consisting of two lines, Pyongyang metro system is one of the deepest in the world. Opened in 1973, it’s a truly remarkable example of socialist realism as propaganda murals adorn the walls while golden statues of the country’s great leaders watch over the commuters.

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What looks more like a medieval castle, is actually Kiev’s Zoloti Vorota (Golden Gates) station. Its two main features are the two-tiered bronze chandeliers and 80 large mosaic pieces depicting Ukraine’s history.

When leaving the train at this station don’t forget to look up: tilt your head and you’ll find 16 mannequins suspended from the ceiling. Created by artist Paul van Hoeydonck, the installation titled 16 x Icarus looks eerily realistic.

Named after Kazakhstan’s rocket launch facility, this station embodies 1970s sci-fi. Its white and blue tunnels and curved arches are reminiscent of early Star Trek films, but if that's not enough for your inner geek, a film of a rocket launch is shown while travellers wait for their train to arrive.

Take a look at incredible abandoned subway stations from around the world

Like something out of a science fiction film, the walls in Toledo station in Naples are covered in millions of tiny tiles in white and various shades of blue. It’s an artwork called Light Panels by Robert Wilson that illuminates these tiles and really give the station its otherworldly feel. 

Now discover the world's most beautiful train stations

The brand-new Elizabeth line will connect Reading and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east, stretching for more than 62 miles (100km) across London. This hotly anticipated new addition to London's transport network, built by Crossrail, is expected to serve a whopping 200 million passengers a year. Its stations are ultra-futuristic too: pictured is the Adams Plaza Bridge between One Canada Square and Crossrail Place, above the new Elizabeth line station at Canary Wharf.