I'm looking for advice on seating at the Palais Garnier in Paris, hoping to get good seats for a particular ballet.

I've never been inside the Garnier, so it is hard for me to judge the seats. Usually I prefer centre orchestra, closer rather than farther away. I would like to try to get seats as close to stage-level as possible, as close to the stage as possible. I want to really see the dancers and what they are doing.

I'd love to have an idea of what orchestra rows meet my ideal criteria, and what rows would be near that or second best, so that I can recognize them if they should pop up when I'm reserving online. I'm going to try the multi-window thing I read about on here, in an effort to get the best seats I can online.

I'd also love an idea of what seats to avoid- ones that look straight into the wings, odd angles, or so close you have to crank your neck back, etc. I don't like being in the balcony, but if I don't have any choice, which seats are decent ones to look out for, and which ones are awful?

Can anyone describe the seating in the theater in general? From pictures it looks like the orchestra seating is very flat. I'm assuming it isn't a ranked stage. Is the stage itself very high?

I'm a bit suspicious of the seating in old theaters, so that's why so many questions. If it were the Bastille I'd trust myself and the seats alot more. The ballet I want to see is La Maison de Bernarda- I've never seen a Mats Ek's live at the theater, and will probably never get the opportunity to do so at home. Tickets go on sale January 9. My little trip to Paris is supposed to be super-low budget, but I'm happy to splurge for a good seat to see this particular ballet.

I attended a ballet there last March. I sat in the balcony by choice because I wanted to be able to see the Chagall ceiling as close as possible. It's an absolutely beautiful theater, and I imagine any seat in the center of orchestra would be good, although I don't know what the sight lines are like.
When I was there, I bought a ticket at the box office and they had a seating chart but, of course, it's best not to wait until you get there, as they could easily be sold out. You will love walking around on every floor during intermission; it's glorious.

The orchestra is indeed very flat, and as I recall the stage is quite high. I saw a ballet there from seats way up in the top level, but center. Not that I'd recommend those, but I'd MUCH prefer to be up a level for a ballet than in the orchestra.

http://www.worldwideticketing.com/op...a-de-paris.htm

Scroll down for a teeeeeny seating plan for the Opera Garnier.

I stayed in the red seats, second etage for a ballet a few years ago, and it was spectacular. It was a really special night, and the setting was a large part of it. Sorry, can't remember the exact seat numbers

Thank you all for your help, I appreciate the replies.

In my excitement about the Mats Ek ballet, I'd forgotten about Chagall's painting at the Garnier. I'm starting to get excited about seeing the theater now, as well.

I think I'm getting a better idea of where I'd like to sit. I know the balcony is a popular choice, but I prefer to err on the side of being too close to stage. I like to see the details of the choreography (especially in this case) and a fairly close view of the dancers themselves.

During the online booking process, does the reservation site show the exact location of the seat being booked before you pay?

If I wasn't so interested in this particular ballet, I would probably buy a ticket once I was in Paris for whatever ballet or opera was still available. To make matters worse, this ballet is a premier for the company- I'll be in Paris for opening night on a saturday, and the 2nd night on Monday. I don't think I can risk waiting to buy at the box office. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a good seat for the saturday show for the 1st cast, which has some dancers I would love to see. I'm guessing Monday will be 2nd cast, but perhaps because it is the second night it will be 1st.

Am I crazy or am I remembering that there is a link on the Garnier website which actually gives you a view from the proposed seat? I'm pretty sure we did that before we bought our tickets through the website. Perhaps I'm thinking of some other opera house, but I don't think so.

And yes, you do get the exact seat numbers before you purchase, although one thing that is confusing is that they are consecutively numbered in each area and hard to figure out what exact row you are in.

I think maybe there is a link on the website with a photo view -- don't know if you'd get a good idea of that or not.

I love ballet and go a lot, and personally would not choose to sit very close to the stage for any ballet. That is just visually not a good place to be for dance where you need to get a bigger picture (and if you really are in the first row or two, distorted view but you actually hear the thunk -thunk -thunk of the ballet shoes, you know). Well, that's just me, if you've really been in the first row viewing a ballet before, you know what you like. Also, any place with a live orchestra in a pit, you very likely may hear percussion in your ears if you seat in the first row, if you're on that side. The orchestra pit is low at the Garnier, and the first row is about stage level so it is okay for ballet (the stage is not a lot higher than the seats), though, if you like being real close.

I do like sitting in the orchestra at the Garnier, I try to get as center as possible, of course, for anything visual, and about six rows back. I would never want a first row seat for any dance performance. Now the Garnier is unusual in that the seats and numbering system is somewhat odd and you can't really tell very well what they are from the website (and their online seating chart doesn't show rows and numbers). The orchestra section is fairly flat. I don't believe the online system shows you the location on a map of your seat before you book -- it gives you the seat number, but as I said, that isn't very helpful in many cases.

YOu can see an exact chart if you go to the box office. Don't know why they don't put that online. In short, all I can say is that in the loge boxes there are six seats -- seats 1 and 2 are in front and very good, seats 3 and 4 are the next row and not too bad -- seats 5 and 6 in a loge box are the very rear and are a bad view (and those seats are often sold when people have the front of the box booked or on subscription). The center loges are numbers around the upper 20s and 30s (ie, 31, 33, 32, 34 are the very center loge). Loge number 8 is at the very far side near the stage, as I recall, and at an angle, also. Loge de face would be a good one.

As for the orchestra seating, there are only about 12 rows, it is small, then about 6 rows in the mezzanine just above the orchestra before the boxes. So about any orchestra seat is not going to be far away. I think row 1 is seat numbers 1-29, row two is seats 31-59 and row 3 seats 61-95 (on stage right). Each row has a few more seats for a while. The fourth row on the far aisle is right behind the orchestra pit, there are no seats in front, from my notes (these might be seats around no. 117, 119, 121 etc odd numbers to about 127).

So anyway, I think the problem is there are just seat numbers, not row numbers online when you book, so it's hard to tell what row a seat is in for the orchestra. Sounds like you would like seats 1 and 3, which I think are dead center, first row (or maybe seats 2 and 4).

This is wonderful, thank you so much Christina. It's great to know that there are so few orchestra and mezzazine rows, and I feel like I have a much better idea of the layout as a whole. I reallly appreciate the heads up on the seat counts in the rows- I didn't mean to give the impression I wanted 1st row, btw, I was just worried about inadvertently ending up with a seat that would be too far back for me-but from what you've described, I think I would be happy with any seat in the "red" section.

>>>Am I crazy or am I remembering that there is a link on the Garnier website which actually gives you a view from the proposed seat?<<<

That would be tres cool- I'll see what happens when I reserve. In the meantime, I've been looking through tons of photos on Flickr, which has been helpful as well.

Thanks again to everyone.

I bought my ticket, so thought I'd check back here with an update.

I stupidly missed the chance to get a good seat on opening night, because I dithered. The seat I was offered was good, but instead of jumping on it for various reasons I waited, and by the next day all but the "4th rate" seats were gone. So anyone buying a ticket online, don't make the same mistake- if you get offered a seat you are happy with snap it up it right away.

I decided to buy a ticket for the Monday night performance, since there were still "1st rate" seats avalable. I got something in the 1ere Loge, in an almost dead centre seat. Further back than I had hoped, but still a good seat.

I see now that what I should have done in the time before tickets for this ballet went on sale, was register and go through the steps to order tickets for something else, and get a feel for the different seats offered with the "view" function, and then simply cancel the reservation. The system for ordering tickets online is a little difficult for control freaks like me, lol

Anyways, wanted to thank everyone again for their help. I am really looking forward to seeing this ballet.

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