Hungarian National Opera House/Budapest

Their web site is http://www.opera.hu/en and it is an excellent site, in English. Last year we bought tickets online for the equivalent of $5.50 US, and sat in the upper tier not far off center, full view. You can pay upwards of $80 for front row center if you wish, though that is probably sold out by now. Their website has a great interactive set of photos that can show you where the seats are.
Dress code? We don't dress up, period. I do not remember if I brought a pair of non-denim pants with me, and my wife takes a light skirt. I have never heard of a dress code at a symphony or opera, other than the event advertised as specifically as black tie/formal. if you are sitting in the upper reaches, you get there via the sides. At intermission, make certain to go not all the way back down and see the upper interior of the main staircase.

I don't remember how much exactly, but I did attend an opera there while on the Best of Eastern Europe tour. The theater is gorgeous, the opera was very well done, and the dress code is not strict. Oh, I do recall the price was MUCH cheaper than other opera houses such as La Scala or Paris. Recommended!

We went last summer perhaps on 6/24, also oddly enough to MacBeth. We went to the box office, and were able to buy the manager's box front and center - great great seats, about $18/person if I remember right. We bought the tickets at 5:30 PM for a 7 PM performance. We enjoy dressing up slightly, and so we wore "tourist chic" although we always look good :-> I really don't recall ANYONE in shorts - most were in slacks with "business casual" or high-end polo shirts - NO SHIRTS WITH LOGOS OR T SHIRTS. But no one enforced the dress code. I will say that we shared our box with the world's most ignorant attendees to opera. They began by whispering, and after I shushed them by hissing, started passing a cell phone back and forth with text on it. I almost went orbital on that. Even though the subtitles are Hungarian and the language Italian, SHOW RESPECT you clueless bozos. This is a theatre, and you don't whisper, text or any of that stuff.

I will say however that we THOROUGHLY and COMPLETELY enjoyed the opera, and found it a great value. One of the great moments of our Budapest visit.

I attended the opera Macbeth on 5/29. Tickets are very reasonable, even for box seats. I only wanted a flavor of the opera, so I bought the $5 (1600 HUF) tickets online (using the site already referenced by Larry, print out ticket and take with you). I had center high balcony tickets, and felt like I could see what I wanted to, though you couldn't see the orchestra and some of the decorative items in the far back stage. Note that the opera is in original language with Hungarian subtitles. You can purchase a program that has some English description at the back. At least half the balcony audience were tourists wearing street clothes, though I would recommend you not wear shorts (tacky!). As mentioned, you access the balcony by the side door (facing opera house, to the right hand side, first door you come to, the second door is musician entrance). You can't access the main part of the opera house from balcony seats, but you can pop in the front door at intermission and check out the lobby. If you want to see the whole thing, the tours are at 3 and 4 p.m. every day, 2900 HUF.

You have the web page so I will skip the cost discussion other to say the tickets by most standards are cheap. The dress code is another issue. You will note the comment that the cheap seats were full of tourists wearing street clothes; well of course then there isnt any dress concern. That bothers me a little. The expensive seats (still dirt cheap) are generally held by Hungarians or those lucky enough to pick them up quickly when they go on sale. I have noticed the Hungarians love their theater and love to dress appropriately for their theater. Since the theater attracts all income levels and ages the dress varies a lot but it usually represents the best they have and they wear it proudly. Thats the norm, there are exceptions like everything in life. But i hope it doesnt ever change. I always consider myself a guest when in someone elses country and i dress at least as well as they do, if not better. Mom always told me you can never over dress. We travel here (in Budapest at the moment) on most ocassions with nothing but carry-on luggage and we still have enough room for one nice dress and a decent pair of slacks, sports coat and a tie. Because of this discussion on a previous ocassion I took a poll at the Operetta theater which is a very similar venue. I am guessing that the Operatta holds about 1500 and i counted something less than a dozen gentlemen who either had no tie or had no jacket. Of course when i made that count it was the dead of winter and there were not many tourists in town. We will be at the Operetta again Wednesday and I will do another count, this time in full tourist season. An excellent exception to all of this is to go to one of the afternoon performances which are traditionally less formal.

Oh, call Callas Cafe for dinner after the Opera. It is right next door. If the weather is good you can sit outside on Andrassy ut and watch the world go by. They most often have live music too. Great way to end the evening. Enjoy Budapest

I will echo the comments of James. I enjoy dressing up to go to the theatre. It is polite to look good. No one likes to look like an American tourist, with a stupid t-shirt, shorts, and dumb shoes. Wear something nice, and try to look like a local. It's the opera, and it's fun to look good. I wore a jacket, my wife wore something nice, and so did my kids. We try to NOT look like dumb American tourists ourselves.

But did you opera attendees wear (gasp) a blue blazer and khaki pants? So non-Euro... Just kidding y'all. Viva l'opera!

Actually i noted last night that I saw several gentlemen in various adaptations of the navy/khaki uniform. Strange that i noted it and stranger that it came up here. And yes, it is unusual here,