Magyar Állami Operaház, Budapest

- small but magnificent opera house (in good condition)
- tickets available directly in the opera house
- no special dresscode, however people showed up well dressed
- prices from 500 to 13.000 HUF

It is definitively worth a visit!

We did one better than a tour, we bought a ticket! The cheapest tickets are the equivalent of three pounds and they are at the very top (fifth) floor to one side - but you know what, we could see the majority of the show, and we also had a great view of the orchestra, which I enjoy looking at as well. You can’t do that sitting on the bottom floor.

We went to see La Bayadere, or The Temple Dancer, a Russian ballet. It was beautiful, performed in three acts with up to 30 tu-tu-ed prima ballerinas dancing in sync across the stage to the amazing orchestra hiding in the pit below.

This Opera House is unique to many others I’ve seen as all of the seating, above the ground floor but not including the gallery where we were, were boxes. So basically everyone has their own box of several seats on the first, second, and third floors all the way around.

If you really want to experience it, grab and ticket and go!

Budapest’s Opera House is worth a tour, even if you don’t choose to see an opera there. There are afternoon tours each day.

The building, built in 1884, features 7 kilos of gold and a huge chandelier. It’s not huge, but it is grand (although when I was there some Texan tourists - unsurprisingly - were remarking about how small it was), with ornate Egyptian touches to the mostly neo-Renaissance interior.

I’ve heard the opera productions here can be hit-or-miss, either wonderful or poor, since the best performers tend to move to more glamorous centres.