The Palais Garnier opening hours for visits are set in the Paris Opera’s online booking calendar, and I could not confirm a fixed daily schedule: Google Maps lists none, and the official visit page I read left its hours blank. What I can confirm from operadeparis.fr is the rule that matters, last admission is one hour before closing. If you are ready to book, my Palais Garnier tickets page compares all four options.
Palais Garnier Opening Hours
Because Google Maps shows no weekly table of Palais Garnier opening hours for this place, I have not made one. A guessed table would be worse than none, so here is what the official page does state.
| Item |
What the Paris Opera says |
| Last admission |
One hour before closing |
| Multimedia tour (Revelacio) |
10 am to 3:30 pm, or 10 am to 4:30 pm in August |
| Library-bookshop |
Daily 10:30 am to 6:30 pm, and until the end of performances |
| Late entry |
Allowed up to 30 minutes after your scheduled time |
| Booking window |
Sales open for the next 30 days |
| Rehearsals |
Can close the auditorium without warning |
The official page does not list fixed closing days within the Palais Garnier opening hours, so check the booking calendar for the date you want, along with any holiday closures. The multimedia tour is the audio guide, priced at 8 euros for adults, or 7 euros if bought online, per the same page.
Palais Garnier Paris Hours
The practical answer to the question of Palais Garnier Paris opening hours is that the visit slots in the booking calendar are the hours. A ticket is for a time, not a day, and entry is allowed up to 30 minutes after that time. Within the Palais Garnier opening hours, plan on 1.5 hours inside, which is the duration of the self-guided ticket on GetYourGuide and of the official self-guided visit.
Reviewers describe the building as busy with several queues at the start. One reviewer of the Manatour tour advised arriving 30 minutes before the tour begins, because finding the group can take 20 minutes or more.
The Palais Garnier opening hours for visits and the times of a show are not the same thing. By day the building is open to ticket holders for a timed visit. In the evening it may be closed to visitors because the company is preparing or giving a performance, and the library-bookshop stays open until the end of performances according to the Paris Opera. That one line is the only evidence I have that evenings differ, so I would not plan an evening visit without checking the booking calendar.
If you want to be inside after dark, the options are a performance ticket or the after-hours guided tour described below. A daytime ticket will not do it, and the Palais Garnier opening hours on a listing never promise the auditorium.
Palais Garnier Official Website
The official website is operadeparis.fr, which Google Maps lists for the place. It sells both visits and performances, and it is the source for prices: a self-guided visit is 25 euros for adults from outside the EEA and 15 euros for adults from France or the EEA, and the guided tour is 35 euros at the full rate. Authorised agencies also sell visit tickets, which is what the GetYourGuide listings are.
The two kinds of ticket are different products. A visit ticket lets you walk the public areas by day, and a performance ticket seats you in the auditorium for a ballet or opera. According to Wikipedia, the company now uses the Palais Garnier mainly for ballet.
Palais Garnier After Hours Tour
The official site sells an after-hours guided tour, a visit outside the opening hours for the general public, priced at 42 euros full rate and 32 euros reduced per the Paris Opera. It also sells a flash guided tour of 45 minutes at 25 euros full and 15 euros reduced. The Manatour listing on GetYourGuide mentions a visit outside public opening hours among its three options, so look at the options when you pick a date. Slots, prices and Palais Garnier opening times change, and the Paris Opera has the current ones.
Palais Garnier Entrance
The visitor entrance is on Rue Scribe, not on the main Place de l’Opéra façade. For the visit, within the Palais Garnier opening hours, the self-guided ticket listing gives the corner of Scribe and Auber streets at 13-15 Rue Scribe, 75009 Paris. The Manatour guided tour meets at 8 Rue Scribe and the perfume combinations at 9 Rue Scribe, so the three points are within the same short stretch of street. Show your digital ticket at the opera visit entrance, as the listing says.
Palais Garnier Opening Times in Winter and Summer
The weather data helps with timing even though the Palais Garnier opening times do not. Open-Meteo’s 2025 figures for Paris show the sun setting at 16:54 in December and 21:49 in July, so the façade is lit differently on a winter afternoon than on a summer one (Open-Meteo).
| Month |
Sunset |
Rainy days |
Sunshine hours per day |
| January |
17:22 |
17 |
2.7 |
| April |
20:42 |
7 |
11 |
| July |
21:49 |
15 |
12.1 |
| October |
19:00 |
10 |
6.5 |
| November |
17:10 |
13 |
4.3 |
| December |
16:54 |
8 |
3.7 |
Best Time to Visit the Palais Garnier
The best time to visit sits inside the Palais Garnier opening hours you can book, so the real choice is the slot.
I found no official statement about the quietest Palais Garnier opening hours, so I will not invent one. The sources I can use say two things. Most of the visit is indoors, so a wet day costs you little, and November and January have the most rainy days in the table above. And rehearsals can close the auditorium, which cannot be predicted from outside. If seeing the hall is the point, consider a performance instead.
A current exhibition adds a reason to go before the end of winter: “Richard Wagner, The Ring revolutions”, from 27 October 2026 to 20 February 2027, according to the Paris Opera, is included in the self-guided ticket listing.
How to Get to the Palais Garnier
The nearest metro station is Opéra, about 2 minutes on foot from the building by my estimate (straight line times 1.3 at 4.8 km/h). Chaussée d’Antin - La Fayette is about 3 minutes, Havre - Caumartin about 5, Quatre Septembre about 7, and Madeleine and Saint-Lazare about 8 and 9. Check which lines serve them on the RATP site. The Louvre Pyramid is about 20 minutes on foot and the Tuileries Garden about 16, so a walk from the museum works well.
Things to Do Near Palais Garnier
Within a 20-minute walk of the Palais Garnier by my estimate (straight line times 1.3 at 4.8 km/h) are the Tuileries Garden at about 16 minutes (Google Maps 4.6), Place de la Concorde at about 17 minutes and the Louvre Pyramid at about 20 minutes (4.7 from 85,959 reviews). Sacré-Cœur is about 30 minutes away on foot, so I’d take the metro. After a visit within the Palais Garnier opening hours, I’d go to the Tuileries for a break, because the garden runs from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm per Google Maps. To see what is inside the house before you go, my Palais Garnier map walks through the rooms.
What to Know Before You Go
Whatever the Palais Garnier opening times on your date, allow 1.5 hours inside, which matches both the official self-guided visit and the GetYourGuide listing. Add time for the entrance queues, since a reviewer reported that finding the group at the entrance took 20 minutes or more. Check your confirmation email on the day, because the perfume combinations say the order of visits can change with the opera’s schedule.
- Bags: suitcases and travel bags are not allowed, and the cloakrooms are closed to visitors during visiting hours, per the official page.
- Tickets: book online. Self-guided tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable.
- Free entry: children aged 12 and under and disabled visitors with a companion, among others, enter free but must collect a ticket at the ticket office.
- Exhibitions: the temporary exhibitions are not accessible to visitors with reduced mobility, according to the official page.
- Dress code: the visit page mentions none. For a performance, check the Paris Opera.
Palais Garnier Self-Guided Tour
- ★ 4.6 (19,792 reviews)
- 1.5 hours
My pick: If I had to book one slot: $28, 1.5 hours, 4.6 from 19,792 reviews, but it is non-refundable, so be sure of your date.
What you get, where you meet, what reviewers say
Included
- ✓ Admission to the public areas of Opera Garnier
- ✓ The Library-Museum of the Opera (Bibliotheque Nationale de France)
- ✓ La Rotonde des abonnés and the Pythia basin
- ✓ The grand staircase
- ✓ Le grand foyer and l'avant-foyer
- ✓ The moon and sun salons
Not included / not suitable
- ✕ Guide
- ✕ Media Guide: €8 on site for the adult route, and €6.50 for the children's route or LSF/audio description in French
Meeting point: The entrance is at the corner of Scribe and Auber streets. 13-15 Rue Scribe, 75009 Paris, France
Duration: 1.5 hours
Cancellation: This activity is non-refundable
“A truly beautiful experience. Opera Garnier is rich in beauty and it shines what you see in Paris through your trip: a mix of classic art with the evaluation of history through the years.” – GetYourGuide review
Whichever you pick, compare the Palais Garnier tickets I tested before you pay, or go to the home page for other Paris attractions.