Kathryn

We would like to see a ballet in Paris when we are there in November. The Paris Opera web site is in French and I'm not fluent enough to order tickets that way. Will we be able to buy tickets after our arrival in Paris, or should we try to order them now? If we need to get tickets now, any suggestions about how to do it? <BR> <BR>Thanks, <BR>Kathryn

clairobscur

I believe that the seats at the Opera are often fully booked in advance. You could try to book them via Thomas Cook, or a similar company, perhaps?

Christina

Part of that web site is in English, actually, although I agree it may be hard to figure out (once you get into the reservations section, there will be a button at the top right for the language, French vs English, if it says Francais, hit it and it will change to English). I have heard its an erratic web site, though, in any case. Depending when you are there, there are two programs in Nov--a collection of shorter pieces by the choreographers Balanchine, Robbins and a few others (10/21-11/7 at the Garnier) and then the Nutcracker begins at the Bastille on 11/14. I have never had trouble getting good seats on site for a ballet within a few days of performance in the summer, but I don't know about Nov. I would speculate that you could as those are probably not the most popular performances (the Balanchine, etc thing)--I myself would like that but many people prefer major story ballets. If you do not want to risk waiting, there are a couple other web sites with English sections where you can purchase tickets: www.ticketavenue.com (prob easiest to use) and www.ticketnet.fr and www.globaltickets.com. There used to be a US-based travel agency that specialized in France where you could also order tickets with a $10 service charge at 1-800-OKFRANCE, don't know if they are still operational (H&S Voyages in Texas or something like that). It's a little hard to tell from these web sites about service charges, the Opera de Paris site only charges 10F for a web reservation, but it's hard to tell for Ticketavenue as they list four category of prices at 470F, 390F, 290F and 180F; the Opera de Paris lists only three prices at 355F, 290F and 210F. I suspect the 390F Ticketavenue price is equivalent to the 355F onsite price (which means about a $5 service charge, not bad), as I usually pay about 370F onsite for the best seat, I don't think there are 470F seats for ballet (don't pay it, in any case).

maya

message: we just purchased tickets over the internet for December and used the website www.opera-de-paris.fr You can have the information be in English and it lists and describes all operas and ballets that take place at the Palais Garnier and Opera Bastille. Have a fun trip!

maya

I just read christine's message and I found ticket avenue prices to be 125FF more expensive than opera-de-paris.fr across the board. On the opera website it just shows you the price of the categories available, the most expensive ballet tickets are 395FF per person( for Casse-Noisette; The Nutcracker for example). When you click on "English" when you arrive on the website you really should not have a problem. Good luck...