Opera

Love opera or hate it, the opera houses of Europe are incredible monuments to the arts, and are worth visiting even if there is no performance scheduled. Nevertheless, the best way to visit an opera house is to actually go to a performance. To their great credit, most opera companies in Europe sell heavily discounted tickets to impoverished students and young people. You may not get the best - or even close to the best - seats in the house, but you’ll be able to hear well and you can still wander around the house gaping at the art and architecture.

Having been to opera performances in London, St Petersburg, Budapest, Naples, and Vienna, I strongly recommend them to anyone. The best place to inquire about tickets and performances is the city tourist office. In Vienna and Milan, especially, the opera performances are a major tourist draw, and the tourist office will know exactly how to get tickets.

If you’re from North America, be aware when buying a ticket that “balcony” means you will be up in the rafters with the bats. What you might think of as the balcony (an upper tier of seats) is called the mezzanine in Europe. The next tier up is called the “loge” and then, way up in the stratosphere, comes the balcony. The “stalls” or “parterre” refers to the seats on the ground floor. If tickets cost a hundred dollars apiece in the stalls they can be as cheap as seven dollars apiece in the balcony (often with good reason).

If you are in any Eastern European city, especially Prague or Budapest, you can get the best seats in the house for a tenth of what they would cost in Western Europe (or North America or Australia, for that matter). Take advantage of it.Don’t worry about dressing up either. Those who are in the cheap seats with you won’t be wearing tuxedos and evening gowns. Put on your best, of course, but if your best is a clean shirt and jeans, you’ll fit right in.