Unguided admission costs 14 euros (around $15) for adults and 9 euros (about $10) for students and those younger than 25. to 5 p.m., but may close earlier on days of matinee performances. The Palais Garnier is open daily from 10 a.m. Due to the opera's popularity, you're likely going to have to wait in line to get tickets as well as enter the attraction. Visitors said every part of the Palais Garnier, down to the smallest of nooks and crannies, was stunning. Travelers who did so found the insides of the building to be so grand they couldn't believe their eyes.

If you won't be in town for a performance or aren't up for forking over the oftentimes high price of a performance, you can explore the building's magnificent interiors on your own. Remember to book your tickets several months in advance, as performances are highly coveted. The best way to fully experience the Palais Garnier is by purchasing a ballet or opera ticket. Without Napoleon III, who was responsible for commissioning the opera, Leroux's tale may never have never come to fruition. Staff have claimed otherwise, but say with the opera's very real underground 'lake' (water tank), it's easy to see how the story could be so convincing. The Garnier's lack of a robust historical record, as well as Leroux's writing talents, have left many wondering if there really was a dweller that lurked beneath the opera. Leroux claimed the phantom was indeed real, successfully incorporating real life opera occurrences (such as the chandelier falling and killing a bystander) into his fiction. This palpable sense of intrigue and mystery that permeates the opera is due in part to its awe-inspiring Old-World interiors as well as Gaston Leroux, the author of 'Phantom of the Opera,' for which the Garnier served as his inspiration. A masterpiece of architectural opulence, the Opéra Garnier – also known as the Palais Garnier – still exudes the opulence it radiated in the late 1800s.

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