Visiting the Palais Garnier: the Opera House in Paris
For pure grandeur, nothing is quite like a visit to the Palais Garnier - the Opera House of Paris, located at Place de l'Opera in the 9th Arrondissement.
Even if taking in a ballet or opera performance is not on your agenda, you can still experience this magnificent building that is a homage to French decorative architecture of the late 19th‐century. All you need to do is buy an admission ticket for a self-guided tour of the interior of the Opera House.
Interior of the Paris Opera House All photos by John O’Boyle / The Empty Nest Explorers
What to expect while visiting the Palais Garnier in Paris
Like many of France’s famous museums and arts spaces, the Palais Garnier is in itself a masterpiece, and a walk through its rooms is immersively theatrical in its own right. The overarching color scheme is sumptuous gold and rich velvety red - said to have been chosen to "complement the ladies' blushing low necklines". Oh my!
It’s really hard to describe - and even harder to take in - the sheer opulence of Palais Garnier. Everything is gilt, palatial and ornate: towering marble columns, bronze statues, crystal chandeliers, rich paintings and detailed frescoes.
The main attraction is the marble staircase of the Grand Escalier, with its thirty-meter-high vaulted ceiling and myriad colors of exquisite marble. It branches into a double staircase leading to the various foyers, rooms and the theater.
And this certainly is an attraction.
At many beautiful sights we have visited in our travels, we are used to encountering large crowds of people feeding their Instagram accounts. That’s normal and expected. As photographers ourselves, we appreciate that so many people enjoy taking pictures. We get it.
But, wow, the Instragram posing at the grand staircase was like nothing we ever experienced before! More so than at the Eiffel Tower, more so than in front of the Spanish Steps of Rome, more than anytime at Times Square in NYC. So many people came dressed up and decked out to pose on the staircase, that it was almost a little hazardous getting through!
The Paris Opera House grand staircase.
But I don’t want to sound like a cranky tourist about it - we all enjoy beautiful settings, after all. I guess this just really drove home to us how spectacular these surroundings are.
Just saying, don’t expect to be alone on your visit, even if there is no line outside to get in! Granted, we did go in the middle of the afternoon, and I imagine had we gone at 10am when it opened, there may have been a few less people.
Though the official website for the Palais Garnier says they can only guarantee entrance with a ticket booked online, we really had no trouble walking up to the box office that day and purchasing tickets, even though the building was crowded.
The auditorium was closed when we visited, which happens often due to “theater activity”. Understandable, of course, that the auditorium needs to be closed when the stage is set for a performance, but I thought there should be some discount on the ticket when the auditorium is closed. For the 15€ entrance fee, you are really only getting access to the foyers and stairwells if the auditorium is closed, and missing out on a lot by not seeing the theater space. That’s where the famous chandelier is after all!
But I enjoyed peeking in the windows on the doors to the private boxes and imagining who may have used them. The Opera House has long been a main attraction for state visits and such, so I’m sure I was walking in the steps of royalty, famous dignitaries and celebrities.
Visitor information for the Paris Opera House
Admission:
Palais Garnier is open every day from 10:00am to 5:00pm
Box office hours: 11am. to 4pm
Last entry one hour before closing time
Self-guided tour - 15€
Guided tour - 20€
Multimedia guide available.
There are also specialty themed tours available after closing hours.
For reasons related to theater activity, the auditorium is regularly inaccessible to visitors and some areas may be closed.
An ornate ceiling in the Paris Opera House
Palais Garnier is located at:
Place de l’Opéra,
75009 Paris
Entrance at the corner of Scribe and Auber Streets
The entrance was a little tricky to find. At first we accidentally went into the exit, which is at the front of the building and not really marked as such. And, judging by how quickly a staff member redirected us, I don’t think we were the only people to make that mistake!
Getting to the Palais Garnier:
Metro: Opéra station (lines 3, 7 and 8)
RER: Auber station (line A)
Bus: lines 20, 21, 27, 29, 32, 45, 52, 66, 68, 95
Car park: Q-Park Edouard VII - Rue Bruno Coquatrix 75009 Paris (in front of 23 Rue de Caumartin)
Official website also gives you a link to reserve a parking space
The exterior of the Paris Opera House
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Some history and interesting facts about the Paris Opera House
The stunningly ornate Palais Garnier was completed in 1875 and named after its architect, Charles Garnier. It has been classified as a historic monument since 1923.
Garnier was unknown at the time when he won the commission. He used his Beaux-Arts training to create an expressive, eclectic design that featured layered arcades, columns and alcoves, crowned with a dome, giving it the grandeur of a palace. It was his over-the-top design that won the competition for the job.
Garnier insisted that no trees be planted on the street leading up to the building, in order to emphasize its monumental size and to not block views of it.
The ornate front facade features seven archways and massive columns that contain six types of stone and precious metals. Between the columns are gilded bronze busts of great composers.
Palais Garnier serves as the setting for Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera, first published as a serial novel in 1909 and 1910. The character of the Phantom is loosely based on two different real life characters: a pianist who was badly burned in a 1873 fire at the Palais Garnier’s precursor, the Salle Le Peletier, and from an assistant to Garnier who disappeared during construction.
The falling chandelier in The Phantom of the Opera was based on a real incident, which occurred in 1896. During a performance, a short-circuit caused a counterweight from the chandelier to fall, killing a woman in the audience and injuring several more people. Leroux was a journalist at the time with a Paris newspaper and reported on the story.
Wait, there’s still more “Phantom” history: While the foundations for the opera house were being dug, workers hit a hidden arm of the Seine, causing water to flood the site. They could not remove all the water, so crews had to contain it with a massive concrete reservoir with a vaulted ceiling from which water is still pumped today. This “lake” was also featured in The Phantom of the Opera as the stomping grounds of the Phantom.
Palais Garnier is the primary venue for the national ballet company of France, Paris Opera Ballet. You can find their schedule at Programme & Tickets - Opéra national de Paris.
The current ceiling in the theater of the Palais Granier was painted by Marc Chagall. One hundred sculptors and painters worked on the art of the opera house.
We definitely recommend visiting the Palais Garnier while in Paris. It’s worth it; a very impressive, classic Parisian site, and a pretty easy hit that does not require much planning.
This post was researched and written by Debbie of the Empty Nest Explorers. You can learn more about the Empty Nest Explorers here
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Note - This blog post contains affiliate links. This means that if we are recommending a product, activity, or hotel, we might be receiving a small commission if you buy or book from these links. This is done at no additional cost to you. We only recommend products we have personally used or have thoroughly researched.
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