Palais Garnier Tickets: What the Visit Covers and Why the Auditorium Is Not Guaranteed

At the Palais Garnier the price depends on your passport, not on the season: €15 for visitors from France and the EEA, €25 for everyone else, and the ticket is sold online only. That settles the first decision before you open the booking page. The second decision is how much of the visit you are willing to leave to chance, because the auditorium is not guaranteed.

Which Palais Garnier ticket: EEA, non-EEA and under 26

Adults from France and the EEA pay €15 with proof and ID, and all other adults pay €25. Visitors aged 13 to 25 pay €10 in the EEA and €20 outside it. The tickets are sold only online, sales open 30 days ahead, and entry is allowed up to 30 minutes after your slot. Tickets are not refunded or exchanged.

A guided tour of 1 h 30 costs €35 at the full rate and less for young people and visitors from the EEA. Resellers also list a plain entry ticket and several guided visits, so set the official figure for your passport against whatever they show before you pay more. Children up to 12 and visitors with disabilities enter free, and they collect their ticket at the desk.

The ticket covers the public areas and current exhibitions; entry is up to 30 minutes after your slot, and tickets are neither refundable nor exchangeable. Children up to 12 and visitors with disabilities and one companion enter free, collecting the ticket at the desk.

When to come and what if the auditorium is closed

Opening hours change from day to day, with the performance calendar on operadeparis.fr deciding each date. The last entry is an hour before closing. On days with an afternoon performance the visit shrinks to the morning, so a morning slot is the safer choice and a late one is a gamble.

The auditorium is the unpredictable part. Rehearsals close it often and without warning, and no ticket, however expensive, guarantees that you will see it. The first slot of the day and the last are the quietest, and Tuesday to Thursday are calmer than the weekend.

The Grand Staircase, the foyer and the library

Everything starts on the Grand Staircase, in white marble with red marble balustrades, under a vault painted by Isidore Pils. Most visitors stop on the landings and look up, which is where the building makes its case better than any brochure could.

The Grand Foyer follows, then the library-museum, which holds costumes, models, instruments and studies by Degas. Current exhibitions are covered by the same ticket, so the visit does not end when the doors of the hall close.

When the hall is open, Marc Chagall's ceiling from 1964 draws the eye first, with scenes from the operas of 14 composers. Under it hangs a chandelier of around eight tons, which looks lighter than it is.

That is the payoff, and it is also the one part you cannot book. Treat the hall as a bonus and the staircase and foyer as the real visit, and the morning will not feel wasted if a rehearsal has closed the doors. Strollers are not allowed inside, suitcases and larger luggage are not accepted, and photography is allowed.

BudgetThe EEA split shows up in a daily budget as well, since a visitor from outside the EEA pays €25 here against €15. Count the Garnier as its own line.What Paris costs →

When you only have an hour

The staircase and the foyer are what you will see even when everything else goes wrong, so build the hour around them and treat the rest as luck.

• Start with the staircase and the foyer, which are open on every visit.
• See the auditorium only if no rehearsal has closed it.
• The library-museum and the current exhibitions are covered by the same ticket.
• Leave strollers and suitcases behind before you arrive, since they do not go in.

Getting aroundMetro lines 3, 7 and 8 stop at Opéra, RER A stops at Auber and lines 7 and 9 stop at Chaussée d'Antin-La Fayette, all on the same single fare as the rest of the city: €2.55.Getting around Paris →