Some time ago, I wrote on my travel blog about my first visit to the Palais Garnier, including buying a scalped ticket to the sold-out Coppélia. While that was an adventure all its own, even when tickets are available on the Opéra de Paris website, it is not always obvious what you are, or should, be getting. The seating and pricing chart is very complicated and advice on where to sit can be hard to find on the Internet. So, because I recently visited once again to see La Dame aux camélias and took the time to get the full lay of the land, I thought it might be valuable to have a separate post on this topic since I have quite a few readers who seem to find their way here via my ballet posts.
If there are tickets available, you can reserve online and print out your ticket at home well in advance. Unfortunately, to even check availability, you have to first register on the site, which is annoying. However, it was handy to have already done this when I found myself trying to plan a trip quickly and could easily access the site and see what was available.
Once you have selected your desired performance and ticket price level, the reservation system picks the “best” seat for your price range, but there is no corresponding chart with numbered seats to let you know where it’s located. Before you actually purchase your ticket, you see a photo of the view from your exact seat, so you eventually see precisely what you are buying. If you know what you are doing, there are great deals to be had in the loges, which are by far the best cheap seats I’ve ever been in.
Seriously, dude, where’s my box?
Boxes are numbered starting at the stage with even numbers to the right (stage left) and odd numbers to the left (stage right). So, the lower your number, the closer you are to the stage, and the more cut off one side of the stage will be. On all three levels, the box numbered 39 is dead center, facing the stage. I would caution against boxes #1-18, unless you can get seats at the front of the box. Even then, depending on the blocking, it can be frustrating. Kátia Kabanová (where I was seated in the 2ème loge, box #12, seat #1) would have been a nightmare had I been seated in the equivalent spot on the “odd” side.
Ideally, in each box, you want seats #1 and/or #2, which are at the front.*
On the sides (boxes numbered up to 24), seat #3 is a far, far better than seat number #4—both are in the second row but the seat farther away from the stage will give you a better angle, while the seat closer to the stage may be blocked by the person in seat #1 in the next box over. At La Dame aux camélias, I was behind someone who constantly moved their head (despite having an unobstructed view!) so I eventually moved to stand behind seat #3, which was a much better view of the whole stage. This was only possible because no one was in seats #5 or #6, but I think in the future I might consider seat #5 over seat #4 so that I can have the possibility of standing at the back. In general, unless there are no other options, I would avoid seats #4-6 in boxes 1-24.
The View from the 3ème Loge, Box 19
As for cheap seating at the Bastille, it is much more clear-cut, with modern balconies. Because of the steep stadium seating in the second balcony, I felt like I had “nosebleed” seats, but the sound was good and it was great to have a completely unobstructed view, if far away.
One final note: I abhor the fact that there are no real programs handed out at Opéra de Paris performances. Much like at The Nutcracker at San Francisco Ballet, one receives only a slip of paper with the bare bones of casting information and basic credits. A full program must be purchased separately at the obscene rate of 12€ (at writing, about $16). At a minimum, I think the synopsis of the action should be freely available, especially since it is not necessarily available on the website.
If you have any further questions about seating at the Palais Garnier, please feel free to contact me via email at the address given on the contact page. (Si vous avez encore des questions à propos des places au Palais Garnier, n’hésitez pas à me contacter à l’adresse donnée sur la page “contact”.)
If this post was helpful to you, please “like” it below and/or share it with others!
*Boxes 1-4 are a bit bigger and have more than two seats in the front row.
Sly Wit 
Thanks for the post! The Palais Garnier is amazing… I found beautiful pictures of the opera and an astonishing video of it made by a drone in Art Days, here is the link! http://www.art-days.com/palais-garnier-paris/
This is an extremely helpful post. Well done!
Thank you for saying so. This post gets far and away the most traffic on my site so I appreciate finally knowing it was helpful to someone!
Thank you for this! I was having a time of it trying to figure this out, and your article was the first hit on my search. Very helpful.
Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment!
very helpful… just bought Cat. 1 tickets about 12 hours after the non-series tix were made available and the site simply said “3rd Circle Front Boxes – 30-32 – 1” to seat 4… now I know that I’m going to be (roughly) square with the stage for the 125 Euro each.
Yes, those should be great seats, enjoy! And thank you leaving a comment!
This is very helpful! I am looking to attend a performance soon and was wondering which of the following seats you would recommend?
2nd boxes front, Place 1 and 2
Orchestra 00 Seat 149, 151
Orchestra 00 Seat 389, 391
I’m not a fan of orchestra, I like to look down on things, but I think almost any time you can get the two front seats of a box, you’ll be okay. If by “2nd box” you mean Box #2, you will be way over on the side. If by “2nd box” you mean 2nd level, I would need to know the number. I find all boxes very comfortable so even cheap seats on levels 2 & 3 are pretty extraordinary compared to what you would have here in the U.S.
Thank you for this very helpful post. I am looking at orchestra seats, which are the only ones available. The view photo looks okay (seats 85 and 87), but it says it is not guaranteed. Is the photo reliable?
I’ve found the photos fairly reliable, but I’ve only done boxes, not orchestra seats.
Greetings. In case you’re still checking your site, do you have an opinion as to seats 24 and 26 in the Balcon? This is for a ballet. Thank you.
Sorry to just be seeing this now. I hope you ended up with excellent seats, it is really hard to go wrong at either location.
This is wonderful, the way you described the seating combined with view shots of boxes is the best I’ve found online. Thank you!!
P.S. We ended up with great seats in a 1er Loge box one over from the center. Very excited to be going and happy to have had your advice when I called. Merci beaucoup!
Great to hear and happy to help. I hope you enjoy whatever you are seeing; it is really a fantastic venue!
Hi don’t know if you are still checking this post but a friend just gave us ballet tickets to an upcoming performance in Optima seats 195 & 197 – view ok? TIA!
I think if a friend gives you tickets, you don’t complain! 🙂
But all Optima seats are premium (center) seats, so you will definitely have a good view. In fact, based on the numbers, I think you will be very close to the stage, but I don’t know the Orchestra seat layout at all since I prefer to be up for the ballet. Enjoy the show!
Hi! I bought two tickets last minute and I just wondered what would be the best choice – Box 4 Seat 1 or Box 2 Seat 4. I know they’re both off to the side but it was very last minute!
Definitely Box 4 Seat 1 is the best choice. It is further from the side of the stage (and therefore less cut off) and Seat 1 is usually (always?) the best seat in any box.