Paris Opera HouseTours & Tickets
Palais Garnier · Place de l'Opéra

Paris Opera House Tours

Every way into the Palais Garnier, compared in one place

Paris Opera House tours take you through the rooms a visit ticket opens: the Grand Staircase, the Grand Foyer, the salons and Chagall's ceiling over the auditorium. You will find out which fares include the entrance, which door on Rue Scribe to use, and why no ticket here promises the auditorium.

Hours, prices and access verified by the Paris Opera House Tours team — last checked 2026-09-04

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1875Opened
2,101Capacity of the auditorium
From $29Per person, self-guided
Paris Opera House Tours› Palais Garnier, 75009 Paris
Updated 2026-09-04
Most booked

Top Paris Opera House Tours for 2026

Three different reasons to be here, three different meeting points and three price bands. Every one of them opens the same eight rooms.

Best sellerParis: Palais Garnier Self-Guided Tour

Paris: Palais Garnier Self-Guided Tour

★ 4.619,224 reviews1 hour 30 minutes
Entry includedNo guide, go at your own pace

Walk in at the corner of Rue Scribe and Rue Auber with a dated ticket on your phone, and take the public rooms of the opera house at whatever speed suits you. Admission covers the Grand Staircase, the avant-foyer and Grand Foyer, the Sun and Moon salons, the Rotonde du Glacier and the Library-Museum. There is no guide and no commentary, which is why the Opera's multimedia tablet is an extra worth taking and several travellers say so unprompted. Ninety minutes is the usual visit, under-13s go in free, and this fare refunds nothing once it is booked.

  1. Enter at the corner of Rue Scribe and Rue Auber
  2. La Rotonde des Abonnés and the Pythia basin
  3. The Grand Staircase
  4. The avant-foyer and the Grand Foyer
  5. The Moon and Sun salons
  6. La Rotonde du Glacier and its tapestries
  7. The Library-Museum of the Opera

From $29 per person

No refund if you cancel

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Top ratedOpera Garnier Mysteries Private Guided Tour with Entrance

Opera Garnier Mysteries Private Guided Tour with Entrance

★ 4.973 reviews1 hour 30 minutes
Entry includedLive guideYour group only

Meet at the cafe Le Relais Paris Opera on Rue Auber and go straight into the opera house on entrance tickets already booked in your name. Ninety minutes covers the staircase, the foyers and the salons with an official guide who works in English, German and French. Morning and afternoon start times are both offered and the party is yours alone, capped at five, with reduced rates for children. You pay a per-person fare rather than a group one, and nothing comes back if you cancel.

  1. Meet at the café Le Relais Paris Opéra
  2. Morning or afternoon start, your choice
  3. Tickets pre-booked, so you walk straight in
  4. 90 minutes inside with an official guide

From $236 per person

No refund if you cancel

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Ends on the roofPrivate Opera Garnier Theater 2-Hour Tour in Paris

Private Opera Garnier Theater 2-Hour Tour in Paris

★ 4.855 reviews2 hours
Entry includedLive guideYour group only

Two hours that begin outside the Cafe de la Paix on the Place de l'Opera and finish on the roof terrace above the Galeries Lafayette. An hour and forty minutes of that is inside the Paris Opera House with a private guide and entry tickets covered, and the walk between is Baron Haussmann's boulevards. You are told plainly that the building runs no skip-the-line queue and that busy days mean waiting, which is worth knowing before you pick a time. Two adults is the booking minimum and the fare is not refundable.

  1. Meet at Café de la Paix, Place de l'Opéra
  2. 1 hour 40 minutes inside the Palais Garnier
  3. Baron Haussmann's boulevards, with live commentary
  4. Finish on the Galeries Lafayette roof terrace

From $200 per person

No refund if you cancel

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Why book with us

Trusted by Thousands of Visitors

What you get, and what nobody at this building can promise you.

🎭

Best Guides

The guided departures here are led by people who walk these rooms most weeks. They can tell you what is painted on the Grand Foyer ceiling and what still exists underneath Chagall's canvas, and they change the route the moment a room shuts.

🔒

Book With Confidence

Refund windows differ sharply here — two of these tours give you a full refund at twenty-four hours' notice and the rest give you none at all — so every card states its own policy before you click rather than after.

✨

Experience of a Lifetime

You climb a thirty-metre marble well built so that arriving was the performance, walk fifty-four metres of gilded foyer, and stand under seven tonnes of bronze and crystal in a theatre that has been working since 1875.

Visit France Tripadvisor
FREE CANCELLATION UP TO 24 HOURS on some of these fares, but not all — most of them refund nothing at any notice, and every card states its own window before you click.
Every tour

All Paris Opera House Tours & Tickets

The self-guided ticket and every guided departure, with what each fare covers, how long it spends inside and where the guide will be standing.

Best sellerParis: Palais Garnier Self-Guided Tour

Paris: Palais Garnier Self-Guided Tour

★ 4.619,224 reviews1 hour 30 minutes
Entry includedNo guide, go at your own pace

Walk in at the corner of Rue Scribe and Rue Auber with a dated ticket on your phone, and take the public rooms of the opera house at whatever speed suits you. Admission covers the Grand Staircase, the avant-foyer and Grand Foyer, the Sun and Moon salons, the Rotonde du Glacier and the Library-Museum. There is no guide and no commentary, which is why the Opera's multimedia tablet is an extra worth taking and several travellers say so unprompted. Ninety minutes is the usual visit, under-13s go in free, and this fare refunds nothing once it is booked.

From $29 per person

No refund if you cancel

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Top ratedOpera Garnier Mysteries Private Guided Tour with Entrance

Opera Garnier Mysteries Private Guided Tour with Entrance

★ 4.973 reviews1 hour 30 minutes
Entry includedLive guideYour group only

Meet at the cafe Le Relais Paris Opera on Rue Auber and go straight into the opera house on entrance tickets already booked in your name. Ninety minutes covers the staircase, the foyers and the salons with an official guide who works in English, German and French. Morning and afternoon start times are both offered and the party is yours alone, capped at five, with reduced rates for children. You pay a per-person fare rather than a group one, and nothing comes back if you cancel.

From $236 per person

No refund if you cancel

Check Availability
Ends on the roofPrivate Opera Garnier Theater 2-Hour Tour in Paris

Private Opera Garnier Theater 2-Hour Tour in Paris

★ 4.855 reviews2 hours
Entry includedLive guideYour group only

Two hours that begin outside the Cafe de la Paix on the Place de l'Opera and finish on the roof terrace above the Galeries Lafayette. An hour and forty minutes of that is inside the Paris Opera House with a private guide and entry tickets covered, and the walk between is Baron Haussmann's boulevards. You are told plainly that the building runs no skip-the-line queue and that busy days mean waiting, which is worth knowing before you pick a time. Two adults is the booking minimum and the fare is not refundable.

From $200 per person

No refund if you cancel

Check Availability
Private groupParis: Private tour of Opéra Garnier Theater

Paris: Private tour of Opéra Garnier Theater

★ 4.919 reviews2 hours
Fast-track entryLive guideYour group only

Your guide meets you outside the Cafe de la Paix and takes two hours over the opera house in French, Italian or English. The fare covers a fast-track ticket and the guided tour itself, with transport left to you to arrange. It runs as a private group, so the pace and the questions belong to your party rather than to a timetable. Confirmation comes through within twenty-four hours of booking, and there is no refund if your plans change.

From $193 per person

No refund if you cancel

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Free cancellationPrivate Opera Garnier Tour

Private Opera Garnier Tour

★ 5.011 reviews1 hour 30 minutes
Entry includedLive guideYour group only

Ninety minutes from 9 Rue Scribe, beside the Perfume Museum, covering the staircase, the foyers and the salons with the admission fee already paid. The fare buys the whole party of up to five, so five travellers pay about $118 a head and two pay close to $300 each. Guiding is available in English, Italian, French and Spanish; gratuities, private transport and coffee are outside the price. Cancel at least a day before the start and you get everything back.

From $591 per group

Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead

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Free cancellationOpera Garnier with private guide

Opera Garnier with private guide

★ 4.428 reviews2 hours
Entry includedLive guideYour group only

Booking starts at 1 Rue Auber, for two hours with a private guide and an entrance ticket inside the fare. The price is quoted for the whole party of up to five rather than per head, which works out at about $115 each at the cap and closer to $290 each for a couple. Guiding runs in Portuguese, English, Italian, French or Spanish, while food, drink and transfers are yours to sort out. It refunds in full if you cancel at least twenty-four hours ahead, which not every private tour of this opera house does.

From $579 per group

Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead

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Ticket not included2 Hour Private Opera Garnier Guided Tour

2 Hour Private Opera Garnier Guided Tour

★ 5.015 reviews2 hours
Ticket not includedLive guideYour group only

In front of the main staircase is where this one begins, and two hours with a private guide follow. The fare covers the guiding and nothing else: entrance tickets are excluded, so budget the Opera's own admission on top for everyone in your party. Up to eight travellers book on one fare, a larger private party than most guided tours of this building take. English and Romanian are the guiding languages, and nothing is refunded if you cancel.

From $681 per group

No refund if you cancel

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The destination

About the Paris Opera House

The Palais Garnier opened on 5 January 1875, seventeen years after a bomb thrown at Napoleon III outside the old opera house convinced him that Paris needed a safer one. Charles Garnier was thirty-five and unknown when he beat 170 rival entries to design it. It is still a working theatre, which is why a visit gets you the foyers and the staircase and never a guaranteed seat-level look at the auditorium. We gather the Paris Opera House tours and tickets that get you inside, and set out what each fare actually covers.

The rooms you walk through

A ticket opens eight named spaces and the auditorium is not one of them. You come in under the Rotonde des Abonnes, pass the bronze Pythia, climb the Grand Staircase into a thirty-metre well of marble, and cross the avant-foyer into fifty-four metres of gilded room. The Sun and Moon salons and the Rotonde du Glacier sit at either end of it.

Planning your visit

Doors open at ten every day and shut at five, or six through the summer, with last admission an hour before. Booking online is compulsory and the box office sells no visit tickets at all. The adult price is 25 euro, or 15 if you live in the European Economic Area, and under-13s go free.

The company behind it

The Paris Opera was founded by Louis XIV in 1669 and has never stopped working. Its ballet is the oldest professional dance company in Europe and its school dates from 1713. Since 1989 the company has run two houses: this one, and the 2,745-seat Opera Bastille across the city. Rehearsals for both are why rooms close.

What you will see

The rooms a ticket opens

Eight named spaces, in the order the building puts them in.

The Grand Staircase

White marble, a red and green marble balustrade and a thirty-metre well overhead, built so that the audience arriving was itself the first act.

The Grand Foyer

Fifty-four metres long, thirteen wide and eighteen high, gilded end to end, with a ceiling Paul Baudry spent years painting.

Chagall's ceiling

A canvas Marc Chagall painted in 1964 and hung above the auditorium, over the original ceiling, which is still there underneath it.

The Sun and Moon salons

Two round rooms at either end of the foyer, one worked in gold and warm mosaic, the other in cold silver.

La Rotonde des Abonnes and the Pythia

The subscribers' rotunda where the carriages set down, with a bronze Pythia coiled in snakes above her basin at the foot of the ramp.

The Library-Museum

The Opera's own collection, run by the Bibliotheque nationale de France from the Emperor's pavilion, and included on the same ticket.

Inside the opera house →

Plan your visit

Four things worth settling before you book

A ticket is 29 dollars and a guided ninety minutes is 237. The building has no queue to skip and no rope to get past, so what the fare buys is the commentary, a chosen start time and a party of five rather than a crowd.

Work it out

Ninety minutes covers the eight rooms without hurrying, which is what both the ticket and the shortest guided tour allow. Two hours adds the detail, and one departure spends its second hour outside on Haussmann's boulevards.

Room by room

Admission is 25 euro, or 15 with an EEA address, and under-13s are free. Guided fares run from 193 to 681 dollars, and three of them are quoted per group rather than per person, which changes the sum entirely.

What a visit costs

Doors open at ten all year and close at five, or six through the summer. Reviewers here say the crowds arrive after mid-morning, and rehearsals shut the auditorium without notice on any day of the week.

Month by month

What to expect

How a visit actually goes

  1. Find the right door

    Visits go in at the box office on the corner of Rue Scribe and Rue Auber, not up the front steps on the Place de l'Opera. Guided departures meet outside, on one of four streets within two minutes of it.

  2. Under the rotunda, then up

    You come in beneath the subscribers' rotunda, past the Pythia and her basin, and the Grand Staircase opens straight ahead. Most people spend longer here than they planned.

  3. The foyers

    Through the avant-foyer with its gold mosaics into the Grand Foyer, then the Sun and Moon salons at either end and the Rotonde du Glacier with its tapestries.

  4. The auditorium, if it is open

    A box door onto Chagall's ceiling and the chandelier is the moment everyone hopes for, and it is the one thing no ticket promises. Rehearsals close it without warning. The Library-Museum stays open either way.

Where to buy

Do you need a guided tour at all?

Sometimes the honest answer is no, and this is what each route costs.

Buy the ticket and walk in on your own

The Opera sells a self-guided ticket at 25 euro for an adult from outside the European Economic Area and 15 euro for one inside it, with under-13s free. Everything a guided tour shows you is on that ticket. If you are happy reading the room yourself, book direct on the Opera's own site and keep the difference.

Add the multimedia tablet

Eight euro on the day, seven booked ahead, and 6.50 for the children's route. It runs an augmented-reality layer over rooms you cannot walk into, which is the closest anyone gets to the Foyer de la Danse. Travellers who took the ticket without it wish they had taken it with.

Book a guided departure

What a guide buys is the part a ticket cannot: somebody who knows which of the eight rooms is shut today and re-routes around it, a start time you choose rather than one released to you, and a party of one to five instead of the mid-morning crowd.

A Paris Opera House booking made on the Opera’s own site is the cheapest way in: €25 for an adult, or €15 with a European address, and free under thirteen. Every way to buy a ticket →

Compare

Which Paris Opera House Tour Is Right for You?

Every departure, what it costs, how long it runs and how much of that is spent inside the building. An Opera Garnier Paris tour and a Paris Opera Garnier tour are the same thing under two names, so compare the fares rather than the titles.

TourBest forPriceLengthInside the buildingRating
Paris: Palais Garnier Self-Guided TourAnyone happy to read the rooms alone, and anyone bringing children under thirteenFrom $29 per person1 hour 30 minutes1 hour 30 minutes★ 4.6 (19,224)Book
Opera Garnier Mysteries Private Guided Tour with EntranceTravellers who want a guide and the ticket handled, in ninety minutes rather than two hoursFrom $236 per person1 hour 30 minutes1 hour 30 minutes★ 4.9 (73)Book
Private Opera Garnier Theater 2-Hour Tour in ParisPairs making a half-day of it who want Haussmann's Paris and a rooftop at the endFrom $200 per person2 hours1 hour 40 minutes★ 4.8 (55)Book
Paris: Private tour of Opéra Garnier TheaterVisitors who want the two hours guided in French, Italian or EnglishFrom $193 per person2 hours2 hours★ 4.9 (19)Book
Private Opera Garnier TourFamilies of up to five who want a short private visit they can cancel a day aheadFrom $591 per group1 hour 30 minutes1 hour 30 minutes★ 5.0 (11)Book
Opera Garnier with private guideParties of four or five who want one fare between them and a refund windowFrom $579 per group2 hours2 hours★ 4.4 (28)Book
2 Hour Private Opera Garnier Guided TourLarger parties of up to eight who already hold their own admission ticketsFrom $681 per group2 hours2 hours★ 5.0 (15)Book
Paying extra for the tablet is what makes the self-guided visit. The building tells its own story without any of the Phantom business.Emma, August 2026
Just the two of us, nobody else tagging along, and a text the day before saying exactly where to meet.Teree R., October 2024
He knows every detail. The building gets crowded and he cannot promise you the auditorium — if you are happy with that, it is worth it.Ann C., October 2024

See the Paris Opera House tours

Traveller feedback

Paris Opera House Tours Reviews

What travellers wrote after these visits, in their own words — including the three who arrived on a day the auditorium was shut.

★★★★★

The interior is extraordinary and the audio tour was worth the extra money. It is genuinely informative rather than decorative. I came out knowing a lot more than I went in with.

Palais Garnier self-guided ticket · ninety minutes, no guide

Zoe · Verified booking · August 2026

★★★★★

Nick was the best guide we had in Paris. Ninety minutes, private, and he knows the opera house and the city equally well. He can hold a conversation about almost anything while he does it.

Paris Opera House guided tour · ninety minutes, entry included

Amy B. · Verified booking · May 2026

★★★★★

Mauricio was easy to find and knows every detail of the place, including the social history behind why it was built at all. The building gets very crowded and he cannot promise you the auditorium. If you are happy with that, it is worth it.

Paris Opera House tour · two hours, ending on the roof

Ann C. · Verified booking · October 2024

★★★★☆

The building should be on any Paris list and the private tour made it more worthwhile. Two hours was a stretch for our ten- and twelve-year-olds, who were flagging after about an hour. With a family I would keep it to ninety minutes, which is enough to see all of it.

Paris Opera House private tour · two hours at a group fare

Chris W. · Family with children · June 2025

★★★★★

Mauricio tells the story of the art and of the architect theatrically, which suits the room. You do not need to go out to Versailles for over-the-top opulence. It is all here on the Place de l'Opera.

Opera Garnier Paris tour · two hours, private group

Tracy · Verified booking · June 2026

★★★☆☆

Be ready for crowds unless you are through the door first thing in the morning. Getting through the rooms was uncomfortable at points. It was hard to hear our own private guide over the noise.

Paris Opera House private tour · two hours at a group fare

Susan G. · Verified booking · July 2025

★★★★★

We missed this on our last trip to Paris and were not going to miss it again. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and gave us a genuinely in-depth two hours. We would not have got half as much out of it alone.

Paris Opera House guided tours · two hours, ticket bought separately

LaurenceD S. · Repeat visitor · April 2024

★★★★★

This was a personal tour, just the two of us, with nobody else tagging along. Nick texted the day before to say exactly where to meet, which took the confusion out of it. The opera house did the rest.

Paris Opera House guided tour · ninety minutes, entry included

Teree R. · Couple · October 2024

★★★★★

Emilie knew the history and the small details and clearly enjoyed telling both. One of our party found stairs difficult, so she made sure we took the lift. We would happily have stayed longer than the building allowed.

Paris Opera House private tour · two hours at a group fare

MaryEllen B. · Travelling as a group · May 2026

★★★★★

Our guide was friendly and personable and he made the day what it was. The opera house was the main event and seeing it again from the roof of the building next door was a good way to finish.

Paris Opera House tour · two hours, ending on the roof

Charlotte M. · Verified booking · January 2025

★★★☆☆

The guide was knowledgeable and helpful about everything we could see. We did not get into the auditorium itself, and that was the part we had come for. The operator replied to say the opera house restricts it for technical and artistic reasons and publishes no schedule for it.

Paris Opera House guided tour · ninety minutes, entry included

Jessica W. · Verified booking · April 2025

★★★★★

The tour was excellent and the opera house is something to see. Claudio was a very good guide and brought the building to life. A straightforward recommendation.

Paris Opera Garnier tour · ninety minutes from Rue Scribe

Julie A. · Verified booking · June 2026

Read all reviews →

Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to book Paris Opera House tickets in advance?
Yes, and not only because it sells out. Booking online is compulsory: the desks and the machines at the box office do not sell visit tickets at all. Guided departures book out further ahead than the ticket does, because most of them take a maximum of five people.
What are Paris Opera House ticket prices in 2026?
A self-guided adult ticket is €25 for a visitor from outside the European Economic Area and €15 for one who lives inside it. Thirteen to twenty-five-year-olds pay €20 and €10 on the same split, and children under thirteen are free under 13. The Opera's own guided tours run €11 to €35.
Why are there two different adult prices?
Residency, not nationality alone. The Opera charges the higher adult rate to visitors who live outside the European Economic Area and the lower one to those who live inside it, and asks for proof at the door. Carry something that shows your address if you are claiming the lower rate.
Can I see the auditorium?
Sometimes, and no ticket sold anywhere guarantees it. The opera house is a working theatre and rehearsals close the auditorium without notice or schedule, which the Opera says plainly on its own site. Three separate travellers describe arriving on a day when it was shut. Everything else on the ticket stays open.
How long does a visit to the Palais Garnier take?
Ninety minutes covers the eight rooms on the ticket without rushing. That is what both the self-guided ticket and the shortest guided tour allow for. Two hours adds the detail rather than more rooms, and one tour spends its second hour outside the building.
Is a Paris Opera House guided tour worth it?
It depends on what you want from the ninety minutes. There is no queue to skip and no rope a guide gets you past, so the money buys commentary, a start time you choose and a party of one to five instead of a crowd. If you would rather read the rooms yourself, the ticket alone is the honest answer.
What is the difference between a Paris Opera House tour and a performance ticket?
They are different tickets bought in different places for different rooms. A visit ticket gets you the foyers, the staircase and the salons during the day. A performance ticket gets you a seat in the auditorium in the evening and nothing else. A daytime performance closes the building to visitors altogether.
Do I need a Paris Opera House reservation for a specific time?
Yes. Visit tickets are sold online for a dated time slot and are valid for that day and that slot only. Guided departures set their own start times, and two of the operators here let you choose between a morning and an afternoon.
Where is the entrance for visits?
At the corner of Rue Scribe and Rue Auber, on the side of the building, not up the front steps on the Place de l'Opera. The front is the performance entrance. Every guided departure meets outside on one of four streets within two minutes of the visitors' door.
Is the Palais Garnier wheelchair accessible?
Partly, and the operators disagree about it, so check the individual tour before you book. Two of the listings here describe themselves as wheelchair accessible, two say they are not, and one asks you to say when booking. The Opera admits a disabled visitor and one companion free of charge.
Can I take photographs inside?
Yes, for your own use, in the rooms a visit ticket opens. Guides are described taking photographs for the people they are showing round. Tripods and anything that blocks a staircase are a different matter, and the auditorium follows whatever the theatre is doing that day.
Is the Palais Garnier good for children?
Yes, with a limit on how long. Under-13s go in free, the multimedia tablet has a children's route at €6.50, and one operator's own reviewer says two hours was a stretch for a ten- and a twelve-year-old. Ninety minutes covers everything on the ticket and is about right.
What is the best time of day to visit?
First thing. Doors open at ten and the rooms fill up after mid-morning, which is the one complaint travellers make about this building. A late slot works too in summer, when the building stays open an hour longer.
What is on the ceiling of the auditorium?
A canvas Marc Chagall painted in 1964, hung above the chandelier, showing scenes from operas by fourteen composers. The original ceiling is still there underneath it. Whether you get to look up at it depends on whether the auditorium is open that day.
Can I do a Paris Opera House self guided tour without a ticket booked online?
No. Online booking is the only way in for a visit, and the box office does not sell visit tickets over the counter or from its machines. A guided departure handles the booking for you in almost every case, which is one of the practical things the fare covers.

See all FAQs →

Photographs

Paris Opera House Gallery

The Paris Opera House lit against a dark sky from the Place de l'OpéraThe Palais Garnier at first light, before the Place de l'Opéra fills upThe Palais Garnier facade in full sun from the Place de l'OpéraThe Paris Opera House seen across the traffic of the Place de l'OpéraThe Académie Nationale de Musique lettering carved across the facadeGilded bronze figures and the green copper dome above the facade

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Reading

Guides and posts on the Palais Garnier

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Finding it

Where the Palais Garnier is, and which door to use

Palais Garnier, Place de l'Opéra, 75009 Paris
Daytime visits go in at the corner of Rue Scribe and Rue Auber, on the west side.

Nothing is requested from Google until you press it.

Address

Place de l'Opéra, 75009 Paris for performances. Daytime visits enter at the box office at the corner of Rue Scribe and Rue Auber, 75009 Paris.

Getting there

Métro Opéra (lines 3, 7 and 8), Chaussée d'Antin — La Fayette (7 and 9) and Madeleine (8 and 14). RER A stops at Auber, on the visitors’ side of the building. The map page has the exits.

Opening hours

Every day, 10am to 5pm, and to 6pm through the summer season. Last admission is an hour before closing. Closed 1 January, 1 May and 25 December and on days with a daytime performance.

Before you go

Booking online is compulsory and the box office sells no visit tickets. Visitor information has the prices and the rules.

Book your Paris Opera House tour

Every way in, from the €25 ticket to a private guide, with what each fare covers and which of them refund if your plans change.

See the Paris Opera House tours