The Palais Garnier is the grand opera house at the top of Avenue de l'Opéra, completed in 1875 and still one of the most lavish buildings in Paris. Behind its gilded facade are a marble grand staircase, a foyer modelled on palace galleries and a red and gold auditorium with a ceiling painted by Marc Chagall. You can see it by attending a performance, but most visitors come on a daytime visit, which is easy to fit into a day in central Paris.
Why visit the Palais Garnier
The opera house was commissioned under Napoleon III as part of the rebuilding of Paris, and the architect, Charles Garnier, won the design competition while still relatively unknown. The result became the showpiece of the Second Empire style, crowded with sculpture, coloured marble, mosaic and gilding.
The building also inspired Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera, which draws on real details such as the underground water reservoir beneath the stage and the great chandelier. Today the Palais Garnier is one of the two homes of the Paris Opera and is used mainly for ballet, with some opera and concerts.
The building is also packed with details that are easy to miss: busts of composers on the facade, the gilded statues on the roof, and the bronze lamp-bearing figures on the staircase. Even if opera and ballet are not your interest, the interiors are among the most extravagant in Paris and are well worth an hour of your time.
Getting to the Palais Garnier by metro
The nearest station is Opéra, served by metro lines 3, 7 and 8. You come up on Place de l'Opéra directly in front of the main facade.
Nearby, Auber on RER A is linked underground to Opéra and is handy from La Défense or eastern Paris. Chaussée d'Antin–La Fayette on lines 7 and 9 and Havre-Caumartin on lines 3 and 9 are also within a few minutes' walk. The visitor entrance for daytime visits is not the main front steps, so follow the signs around the building.
Palais Garnier tickets and tours
Daytime visits require a ticket, either a self-guided visit or a guided tour. Self-guided visits let you go at your own pace through the public areas, and an audio guide or app is usually available. Guided tours add stories about the building and sometimes access to areas not on the standard route. Book through the official Paris Opera website, which also lists current prices and opening times.
Visits can be limited or changed on performance days and during rehearsals, and the auditorium is not always open to view. Check the website for your date. Watching a ballet or concert is the other way to see the interior, and tickets for performances are sold separately, often well in advance.
Best time to visit
Morning visits on weekdays tend to be the calmest. Midday and afternoons in summer and school holidays bring larger groups. A self-guided visit takes around an hour to an hour and a half. Allow more if you want to linger in the library-museum or the foyer.
If you plan to see a performance, it is worth arriving early so you have time to explore the foyers and staircase before the show, when they are busy with an audience dressed for the evening. Seats in some parts of the auditorium have restricted views, so check the seating plan when booking.
Highlights inside the Palais Garnier
The Grand Staircase
The double marble staircase rising beneath a painted ceiling is the heart of the building, designed as much for showing off on the way to your seat as for climbing.
The Grand Foyer
A long, gilded gallery with mirrors, chandeliers and painted ceilings, often compared to the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
The auditorium and the Chagall ceiling
When open to visitors, you can look into the horseshoe-shaped auditorium with its red velvet seats, huge chandelier and the colourful ceiling Chagall painted in 1964, set over the original.
The library-museum
A small collection of costumes, set models, paintings and documents from the history of the Paris Opera.
Nearby on the same stop
- Galeries Lafayette Haussmann: the department store with its stained-glass dome and a free rooftop terrace looking straight at the opera house.
- Printemps Haussmann: another historic department store next door, also with rooftop views.
- Place Vendôme: an elegant square of jewellers and grand hotels, about ten minutes south.
- The Louvre: straight down Avenue de l'Opéra, around 15 minutes on foot.
For more places around this station, open Palais Garnier on Around the Metro, or browse the full Paris metro map.