Solna Centrum, Stockholm

(Photo of Solna Centrum station by Chris M. Forsyth)

Most of us just want the subway to be clean and safe and for the trains to arrive on time. Right?

Yes, we know they are great feats of design and engineering, but as a commuter, it’s easy for these arteries of ingenuity to blend into the background.

And while subway stations are typically places you pass through on your way to somewhere else, here are Babbel, the shortest path to real-life conversation picks for the stations that are also Instagram-worthy destinations. Like these Stockholm Subway stations.

(Photo of Thorildsplan station by Visit Stockholm)

You could visit Stockholm and spend the entire time underground and not be disappointed. Over 150 artists have contributed work to the city’s subway system, which has been called "the world’s longest art exhibit." More than 90 of the city’s 100 subway stations incorporate artwork, which includes sculptures, paintings, mosaics, engravings, reliefs, and large-scale installations. Among the most striking are the red cavernous ceilings of Solna Centrum station, and the rainbow archway of Stadion station, or the pixilated whimsy of Thorildsplan station (above).

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Art at Arts et Métiers, Paris

(Photo of Arts et Métiers station by Stephen Butterworth. Published under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license)

This copper-clad, subterranean submarine was designed in 1994 by Belgian artist Francois Schuiten in homage to the French author Jules Verne. The station, named after the museum it serves, was designed to be reminiscent of Verne’s Nautilus, the submarine described in his 1870 science fiction novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea. Everything in the station was designed to meet this aesthetic, all the way down to the signage and the garbage cans. Portholes lining the platform display tiny miniatures of the machines that you can see in the museum.

If your appetite is whetted to visit Arts et Métiers (which translates to Arts and Crafts), you can exit the station and visit its vast collection of scientific and engineering artifacts. Arts et Métiers houses some of the earliest prototypes for the machines and inventions that revolutionized the modern world, from planes, satellites and automobiles to the Lumière Brothers’ motion picture camera, and even an early model of the Statue of Liberty.

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Times Square, 42nd Street, New York

Yes, the New York City subway has a less-than-savory reputation. Between pizza rat, pole-dancing rat, and really just all the rats in general, it’s a reputation that’s not undeserved. Still, it’s often the fastest mode of transportation in a gridlocked city, and it’s not without its charm, including the iconic tile work that renders the station names.

If you are traveling through the Times Square-42nd Street subway station, then you’ll be able to take in American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein’s Times Square Mural, his last public work — posthumously installed in the subway in 2002 in collaboration with his estate. The retro-futuristic 16-panel mural stretches six feet by 53 feet long, and includes references unique to the city, including New York’s historic subway signage, and the architecture of both the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs. The contrast of the artwork with the bustling crowds of the station only activates the mural further, making it seem more animated and alive alongside the city it depicts.

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Moscow Metro magic

(Photo of the Moscow Metro by Christophe Meneboeuf. Published under a CC BY-SA 3.0 license.)

The Moscow Metro is a destination for anyone interested in both architecture and history. First built in 1935 under Joseph Stalin as a piece of Communist propaganda, the system carried the slogan, “The whole country is building Metro” while it was under construction.

It was built to serve as “Palaces for the People,” conveyed by the ornamental features throughout, including chandeliers, bronze columns, and intricate plaster reliefs. While the sense of being in an underground tunnel is inescapable in many cities’ subway systems, the high ceilings and marble walls throughout many of Moscow’s stations are intended to reflect the light and make the stations glow to communicate svetloe budushchee, meaning a “radiant future.”

(Photo of Komsomolskaya station by Lite. Published under a CC BY-SA 3.0 license.)

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Next time you hit a subway in any city around the world, spare a glance to see if someone has been brightening it up down there.