Opera house Budapest vs Vienna

Unless there are theater professionals in the group, I don't think it matters a great deal. Vienna is much busier and richer a company, but they might also show you less of the building, because of bookings (including weddings and parties ... ) on the day you happen to be there. Because I've sometimes found the Opera Garnier is not offering tours at all on a week I'm in Paris, I suggest that you get very confident about whether you can GET tickets during your stay in each city.

It was many years ago we were in Budapest, and I sort of remember there were not a lot of tour bookings available. I don't mean "sold out", I mean being-given on any day. In Vienna, we bought (pricey) seats to whatever opera or ballet was playing during our three-night (?) stay. Not all "opera house tours" include backstage, by the way.

BUDAPEST: In English there are 3 tours a day. There are tickets available every day this week. https://opera.hu/en/about-us/guided-tours/operatour-8211-guided-tours-at-the-restored-opera-house/

The Budapest Opera House tour includes a mini opera performance, 5 minutes, maybe 10. I didn't take the tour in Vienna to know if they do the same.

I loved touring Budapest's Opera house, and also attended an opera there. If anyone in your group is an art lover, then perhaps instead of the Opera House in Vienna, consider the Burgtheater--I took the 1 hr tour for the sole purpose of seeing the glorious wall and ceiling panels done by Klimt.

We've been to 3 productions, 2 in the opera house. The prices are quite reasonable. But you should get tix before you arrive because they sell out. Better to see the house in full use.

My travel mate toured both opera houses this month. She liked both tours but commented that the Budapest venue is considerably more ornate.

Earlier in July Budapest was offering two opera tickets for the price of one. It was employing dynamic pricing, though, so you can't research prices in advance and assume that's what you'll pay later. Perhaps they only do that in the summer.

Emperor F.J. insisted the Hungarian National Opera be smaller than the one in Vienna (basic German insecurity). But he got pissed off when he cane to the opening ... yes, a little smaller, but a lot more beautiful.

Thank you all for the helpful comments! We are back from our trip. In the end, we didn't have enough time in Budapest for an opera tour, so that determined our choice. The Vienna tour was good, and I'm glad we did it, since it was my second time in Vienna and I would have felt badly to have skipped the Opera again! However, if others have the same choice, I think Budapest would have been better. As a city, Budapest felt much less touristy, less crowded, and more manageable. The Vienna Opera tour was packed (I think there were 35 people per tour, plus multiple tours happening simultaneously in the building), the building was hot and stuffy, and there was no opera demonstration. The interiors were very interesting, but the parts that were rebuilt post-war were done in a modern, less ornate style. We did get to go into the "royal box" and see the sets being arranged for the opera later today, so that was cool.

Probably the best option of all would have been to attend one of the operas, but we didn't plan very far ahead, so the high pricing of seats that were left relative to interest level of our group didn't make it worth it.

lavra, I wish everyone would come back and tell us how thing went. Thank you for taking the time.

I'm with Mr. E. Thanks for making this thread even more helpful.