[classical music]
Okay. So clearly I cannot perform ballet. Nor can I
audition for the opera. But what I can tell you is if
you are looking to attend your first Paris ballet
or your first opera performance at
Palais Garnier I can help you out with how to buy tickets
the operating hours, what to expect, what to wear, and the full
shebang coming right up.
[upbeat music playing]
Hi everyone I'm Antoinette and welcome back to my channel.
Today it's all about Palace Garnier and what to know before
attending your first performance. So without further adieu, let's get right into it.
Palais Garnier was completed in 1875 by
architect Charles Garnier. Napoleon III
actually wanted to build an opera house and so he decided to have
a contest. Out of 150
applicants, Charles Garnier was picked to construct
this opera house. Palace Garnier is home
to the Opéra National de Paris although most
of the operas are held at the Opera Bastille.
You can still catch a few operatic performances at
Palace Garnier although they are few and far between, but it's also
home to the Paris Ballet.
Palace Garnier is open generally from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Although there are special times given a gala evening or
a special event, or a special lecture, or an
evening performance so you definitely want to check the website
at operadeparis.fr
for the latest hours.
So how do you get to the opera house to begin with? I personally took the metro
You can take lines 3, 7, and 8 to get off at the
guess what? The Metro Opera station. It is the
cheapest way and I did a whole video on cheap public
transportation options in Paris. Check it out in the card above
or in the description down below. You can take a number of different bus
lines. You can take the RER-A train
and get off at the Auber station.
Or you can take an Uber, a car and drive
yourself with parking rates starting at about 16 euros.
So that's how you get there, so now how do you actually buy tickets?
Buying tickets depends on what you're there for. If you're going to
just visit the building or if you're going
to attend a performance. If you're visiting the building you can buy
tickets online. That usually starts at around 8 euros and it's
cheaper for children and groups. Or if you want a private
tour, those usually start at 13,50€
for adults. You can check that out with a Paris Passlib.
There's a bunch of different options.
So if you're going to actually visit the building, your ticket grants you entrance into
the following areas. Let me read them off:
You can go to the Opera Library-Museum.
You can get into the Rotonde des Abonnés, the Bassin de la
Pythie, the Grand Staircase, the
Grand Foyer as well as the Avant Foyer,
and the Salons de la lune et du soleil,
and the Rotonde du Glacier and tapestries.
If you're going for a performance, you don't have access to all
of the buildings because performances are in the evening
which is after the operating hours of 4:30 p.m.
but that's okay because you can still kind of wander around and
the attendants will let you know where you can and where you can't go.
However, if you are attending a performance, you still have a lot
of options, yay!
So, of course, you can buy tickets at the box office,
in-person, on the phone, or even via email,
online, or through the mobile app. Tickets
generally cost between 10€ all the up to
250€ depending on how far your money can go and
what kind of seats you're looking to get. There are a ton
of discounts. Sometimes they do discounts on Wednesday's.
There are discounts for anyone who is under the age of 40,
and even under the age of 28,
for kids - although they don't recommend babies go to the performance - but
children , probably around school-age are acceptable.
There are even discounts for if you don't mind having an obstructed or
no view at all. Say you're visually impaired and you just want to
go and listen to an opera performance you can do that
for about 10€. Check out their website for more
information. Are you going to visit Palais Garnier to
view the building, or actually check out a performance, or both?
Let me know in the comments down below and connect with your fellow
travelers. 'Cause you never know - you guys might be there at the same time.
What exactly do you wear? So you know
the building is gorgeous, it is a beautiful piece
of design. You know the opera house is one of the most
known in the entire world, but, what
are you gonna wear?! If you actually go to
the Opera de Paris site, it's actually kind of not helpful.
Let me...let me read this to you. "There is no particular dress code;
however, we do request that you dress suitably. On
gala evenings, a dark suit is suggested for gentlemen
and a dress for ladies." Okay, great. So if you're not
going to a gala ... what are you wearing?
Well, first of all, if you're going to visit just during the day without seeing a
performance wear whatever you'd like. But on an actual
performance evening, I chose to dress in business
casual. I wore a sleeveless, A-line, little
black dress with a cross-body, black
leather bag, black ballet flats, and a
camel-colored wool blazer with silk lining and
gold buttons. Other women decided to wear full-length
gowns and although completely appropriate for the space,
it might have been a little bit overkill for an evening performance.
For men,
I did not see any jeans, no sneakers, definitely
do not wear that, but
at the minimum slacks, and dress shoes, and a button-down shirt
were completely acceptable. I probably wouldn't wear a
polo shirt - it's a little bit too casual, but if you decide to
pump it up with a blazer that's
perfectly cool too. There's a lot of men there with suits and
blazers- not a problem. I didn't see a whole lot of people wearing a
tie, but you could wear a tie if you want to. That wouldn't be out of place.
Okay, so that's what you wear to Palace Garnier for a Paris
ballet or an Opera de Paris performance, now I'm going to
give you a couple of helpful tips, rapid fire, let's go!
Arrive at least 30 minutes in advance because
you have to go through security, have your bags checked,
and find your seats. It's gonna take some time and there will be
a line depending on when you go. Performances can be
subtitled in English as well as French. As we looked at when we
were purchasing tickets, it tells you which one there is
so that you know before you purchase
Hands down, there is NO photography
during a performance. Absolutely not! Don't
do it, don't try it. You will get kicked out. You
can, however, take photographs during intermission as well as
before and after a performance. The
attendants will definitely let you know what you can and can't do
if you go too far. Do not try
them. Do not get bold, just follow the
rules and you'll be alright. The seats are tiny!
I'm kind of a tiny person. I'm not ... I'm only like, what?
5 foot 3
and I was kind of tight in my seat. I had a "balcon fold-out"
seat ... and here's a picture of it right now.
Yep, as you can see, those seats are kind of small.
So, I feel sorry for anyone whose rather tall, you
might be squished like a sardine, but you know what? That's ok
because the performance will be well worth it. Because the seats are small,
don't carry
any large bags with you. If you have a cell phone like I
do with a ... like a pocket here
where you can slip your cards or any cash you have,
or even if you have a small clutch. I prefer if you take one
of those because there's not enough room inside the auditorium
for everything.
Speaking of inside the auditorium, I highly suggest that you dress
in layers.
I'm the type of person who is always, like super
cold wherever I go. So I brought a wool
blazer with me, which was completely
fine before the performance. But once I actually sat down in my seat
and the performance started to go on.
It got really hot in there. Like, that building did
not seem like it had air conditioning, but definitely
dress in layers to avoid burnin' up!
You don't need a printed ticket to attend a performance.
The Opéra National de Paris is totally tech-saavy, and so
once you scan your ticket, you're good to go.
My final tip is that you can pre-order your intermission drinks
and snacks before the performance even starts.
Just go to a concession stand, give them your name, place your order,
and then once that intermission break comes, go
straight up to the concession stand, grab your stuff, and hang out
in the building. You don't have to wait in the lines just to
get a drink. Alright everyone, that's what you should know about
attending a performance at Palais Garnier, whether it's
a Paris Ballet or an Opéra de Paris
performance, lecture, or whatever it is you're going there
to see.
[upbeat music playing]