Paris Opera House Visitor Information
Three things decide a visit here and none of them is obvious from outside. The door is not the one in the photographs. The adult ticket has two prices, decided by where you live. And the auditorium — the room with Chagall's ceiling in it — is not promised to anybody. If you already know you want a guided departure, Opera Garnier Paris tours set out every one with its meeting point and what its fare covers.
When the Palais Garnier is open to visitors
Doors open at ten every day of the year and close at five, or six through the summer season, with last admission an hour before closing. Two things close the building outside that: a daytime performance, and the occasional closure days the Opera publishes on its own calendar. It also shuts on 1 January, 1 May and 25 December.
| Standard | Summer season | |
|---|---|---|
| Doors open | 10am | 10am |
| Last admission | 4pm | 5pm |
| Building closes | 5pm | 6pm |
| Closed all day | 1 January, 1 May and 25 December | 1 January, 1 May and 25 December |
| Also closed | Daytime performances and published closure days | Daytime performances and published closure days |
Two doors, and the photograph is of the wrong one
Visits go in at the box office at the corner of Rue Scribe and Rue Auber, 75009 Paris. That is the side of the building, not the front. The grand steps under the gilded roof figures on Place de l'Opéra, 75009 Paris are the performance entrance and they are shut during the day.
Every guided departure meets outside, and each operator picks a different corner of the same two hundred metres. The map page walks through all five, street by street, with the métro exit for each.
What a ticket costs, and why there are two adult prices
Admission is set by the Opéra national de Paris and it is priced by residency rather than by nationality alone. Proof of address is asked for at the door when you claim the lower rate.
| Ticket | Outside the EEA | France and the EEA |
|---|---|---|
| Adult, self-guided | €25 | €15 |
| 13 to 25 | €20 | €10 |
| Under 13 | free under 13 | free under 13 |
| Disabled visitor and one companion | Free | Free |
| Guided tour run by the Opera | €11 to €35 | €11 to €35 |
| After-hours guided tour | €32 or €42 | €32 or €42 |
| Flash guided tour, 45 minutes | €15 or €25 | €15 or €25 |
| Multimedia tablet | €8 on site, €7 booked ahead | €8 on site, €7 booked ahead |
| Multimedia tablet, children's route | €6.50 | €6.50 |
Those are the venue's figures. What a guided departure charges is separate, starts at $29 for the ticket alone, and is set out on each card with whether the entrance is inside the fare.
Booking: online only, and what that means on the day
Booking online is compulsory. The desks and the machines at the box office do not sell visit tickets. There are three ways this actually works out.
- Direct from the Opera. The cheapest route if you hold an EEA address, and the one to take if you are happy reading the rooms on your own.
- A ticket through a resale platform. Same admission, same rooms, usually the higher adult rate, and the booking is handled for you.
- Inside a guided fare. All but one of the guided departures include the entrance, and the exception states plainly that it does not. Every card says which.
Not sure which way in you want?
Every tour compared on what the fare covers, how long you actually get inside, and where the guide will be standing.
The auditorium is not guaranteed, and here is how to plan around it
This is worth taking seriously rather than worrying about. The staircase, the foyers, the salons and the Library-Museum are the visit, and they are open every day the building is. If the auditorium doors happen to be open when you reach them, that is the part you will remember; if they are not, you have still seen the room the whole building was built to lead into.
How long to allow
- Ninety minutes. Enough for all eight rooms at a steady pace. It is what both the self-guided ticket and the shortest guided departure allow.
- Two hours. More detail rather than more rooms. Worth it with a guide; long with children under about twelve.
- Half a day. One departure spends its second hour outside on Haussmann's boulevards and finishes on a roof terrace, which is a different sort of afternoon.
Getting in, getting around, and what to leave behind
| How you arrive | Line | Which exit |
|---|---|---|
| Métro — Opéra | Lines 3, 7 and 8 | Exit for Rue Scribe or Rue Auber rather than the Place de l'Opéra |
| Métro — Chaussée d'Antin — La Fayette | Lines 7 and 9 | Exit for Rue Scribe or Rue Auber rather than the Place de l'Opéra |
| Métro — Madeleine | Lines 8 and 14 | Exit for Rue Scribe or Rue Auber rather than the Place de l'Opéra |
| RER — Auber | Line a | Comes up on Rue Auber, which is the visitors’ side |
| Bus | 20, 21, 27, 29, 32, 45, 52, 66, 68, 95, N15 and N16 | All stop within a few minutes’ walk |
- Cloakrooms are closed to visitors, so travel light.
- Scooters are not allowed in. Pushchairs are a different question and several operators describe their departures as stroller accessible.
- Photography is fine for your own use in the rooms the ticket opens.
- Carry proof of address if you are claiming the EEA rate.
The full FAQ set covers the rest, and the current exhibitions are included on the same ticket. Paris Opera House Tours lists every departure with its meeting point, its group cap and its refund window.