Budapest opera

We bought tickets last summer, we bought the ~$5 variety (1000Huf). Top tier, section in right corner, 5th row back. Sight lines were not obstructed, where we were we missed only a tiny % of the back right of the stage. The web site for the Opera House has a great set of videos, so you can see what the seating areas actually look like, along with views of the stage from various places. Also full chart of available seats for the performance, and you pick your seats. We bought online, no additional charges, simply had to create a log-in for the ticket service. Used Cap One Mastercard, so no foreign transaction fee. Printed out the tickets. You can get tickets on site, but there is no guarantee of anything better than standing room. if you sit in upper tiers, then you go in through the side, not the main entrance. At intermission, you can start down and then cut in to see the spectacular main staircase. Also, there does not appear tom be an issue taking photos inside the house before the show.
Building is incredible., and performances are first rate.

Like you, we are not huge fans of opera but we purchased our tickets online where they provide a very good idea how good the seats are likely to be. We really enjoyed the performance. We would do it again. It is one of the charms of Budapest.

We were in Budapest last summer. We went to the opera. We went to the box at about 5:30, and were offered the manager's box for 5 for about $80 total. We shared the box with two people who were very very rude, but other than that, it was great fun. Of course, the opera was in Italian (MacBeth by Verdi) and the subtitles were in Hungarian neither of which we spoke. But since it was MacBeth, it was pretty easy to figure out what was going on. And as to the rude persons sharing our box, they were actually texting notes to each other, which was very distracting. I simply tapped them on the shoulder, and said "STOP THAT", and that ended that. The opera was a really fun experience. Buy at the box office - you might get a deal.

And as far as sell-outs go, they have opera every single night, and sometimes 2x a day. If you wait until you get there, there is about 1 in 1000 chance of a sell-out. When we were there, there were plenty of seats in the house - I saw 20-30 at least.

I love opera and my travel pal and I always try to attend an opera when we travel. We like to hike too so we do our big weeklong hike in Europe and then go "into the city" and go all cultural. Several yrs ago we went to "Figaro" in Prague and "Manon Lascaut" in Budapest. Budepest has a lovely restored opera house and the production was terrific. My personal opinion is that because most European companies get some government subsidies they have good production. That and it seems people really like opera and classical music. We passed a huge line of families in the afternoon waiting to buy opera tickets for an opera that (Manon) that would not be considered a huge kid draw in North America. By all means go to the opera in Budapest and have a glass of champagne at intermission while standing on the huge balcony overlooking the city. And Budapest is a great city. By the way, we bought our tickets the day of the performance from some lady sitting at a desk in an office at a side entrance. Very informal.