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Your opera break can be taken at any time of the week and can include any performance from the State Opera's extensive repertoire. You can choose from a selection of  central Budapest hotels including the world famous Gellert Hotel which boasts massive spa and bath facilities actually below the hotel. Also included in your break is a city pass giving you access to transport and museums all over the city throughout your stay. Performances We concentrate on the two main opera houses in Budapest: the State Opera House and the Erkel Theatre. They present a very wide range of opera as well as ballet and concerts by the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition to highlights including a New Year Gala and Wagner's entire Ring Cycle the programme boasts Verdi's Requiem and Macbeth; Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro and The Magic Flute by Mozart, János Vitéz by Kacsóh, Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream plus  Gianni Schicchi, Bluebeard's Castle, Hunyadi László, La Bohème, Cinderella, Snow White, The Nutcracker, Pique Dame, Tosca, Norma and Die Fledermaus to name but a few!

The Hungarian State Opera House  a brief history One of Budapest's oldest theatres, the Opera House was opened in September 1884. It ranks among the most beautiful in Europe; its interior possibly the richest in the city. Emporer Franz Josef commissioned the design of an opera house to compete with the finest in Europe. Construction began in 1875; marbled, gilded and decorated with frescos by some of the finest painters of the time, this elegant neo-Renaissance building opened nine years later. Standards were high from the start: Musical Directors have included Gustav Mahler, Otto Klemperer and János Fereencsik. The balconied facade of the building is adorned with statues of the great composers and first floor niches hold representatives from dance, love-poetry, comedy and tragedy. Inside, above the vast auditorium, hangs a three ton bronze chandelier decorated by Károly Lotz whilst paintings by Mór Than and Bertalan Székely adorn many of the public rooms. During the Opera House's construction a fire destroyed the Ringtheatre in Vienna. As a result, all-metal stage hydraulics, an iron saftey-curtain and sprinkler system were installed, making the Hungarian State Opera House the most modern theatre in the world. One hundred years later it closed for three years for extensive renovation: now re-opened it is a reminder of the glory of the Astro-Hungarian Empire as well as the strong national identity of Hungary itself.