Quick answer
The simplest La Scala tour is the museum ticket: €12, open every day from 9:30am to 5:30pm, with a look into the auditorium from a box when no rehearsal is on. For the Royal Box and the foyers, book the official 60-minute guided tour for €35, which runs Monday to Saturday. To see an opera, buy on teatroallascala.org the day tickets go on sale.
Prices, hours and sale dates below were checked on the official sites of the theatre and its museum on 5 October 2026.
Where La Scala is
The Teatro alla ScalaMap stands on Piazza della Scala, across the square from Palazzo Marino, Milan’s city hall. From the DuomoMap, walk through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele IIMap: it is 0.5 km, about 7 minutes, and the arcade comes out right in front of the theatre.
The entrance arch of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, which leads from Piazza del Duomo to Piazza della Scala.
The nearest metro stop is Duomo (M1 red and M3 yellow), about four minutes on foot, or Montenapoleone on the M3. Our Milan metro guide explains tickets and contactless payment.
The museum and the box office do not use the main doors. Both are at Largo Ghiringhelli 1, the side entrance on Piazza della Scala. Gallery ticket holders also go in through the museum entrance on performance nights.
The theatre opened on 3 August 1778, built to replace the court theatre that burned down in 1776. It takes its name from the church of Santa Maria alla Scala, which stood on the site.
Your options for a La Scala tour
There are four ways to see the inside of La Scala without a performance ticket.
| Option | Price | Length | What you see |
|---|---|---|---|
| Museum ticket | €12 | about 45 min | Museum rooms, and the auditorium from a third-tier box if the hall is free |
| Official guided tour | €35 | 60 min | Museum, Ridotto Toscanini foyer, historic boxes, Royal Box, entrance foyer |
| Private tour “La Scala and its secrets” | €720 for 1 to 12 people | 60 min | The guided tour route plus the stage machinery |
| Ansaldo workshops tour | €35 | 60 to 75 min | The workshops where sets and costumes are made, in another part of the city |
Online prices on the official sites exclude a booking fee. Reseller tours that bundle the museum ticket with a guide are covered further down.
The museum ticket and the view of the auditorium
The Museo Teatrale alla ScalaMap is open every day from 9:30am to 5:30pm, with last entry at 5pm. It closes on 7, 25 and 26 December, 1 January, Easter, 1 May and 15 August, and on 24 and 31 December it closes at 3pm.
A room of the Museo Teatrale alla Scala, with portraits of composers and singers and a display case of mementoes.
| Museum ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Full price | €12 |
| Reduced: ages 6 to 18, students, over 65 | €8 |
| Family: 2 adults and 1 or 2 children up to 5 | €20 |
| Family Junior: 2 adults and 1 or 2 children aged 6 to 14 | €25 |
| Under 6, visitors with disabilities and one companion | Free |
The museum also sells a €15 Open Ticket, valid on any day you choose with fast-track entry. Check its validity dates at checkout before you buy.
Booking is not required: you can buy at the desk in the entrance. Buying online lets you skip the queue, and the staff accept the ticket on your phone.
The rooms hold portraits and busts of composers and singers, their personal belongings and historic musical instruments, plus temporary exhibitions about La Scala productions. There is no guided tour included, but the museum’s free app has an audio guide.
The museum’s own FAQ starts the visit with the view of the hall. From the museum you step into the third-tier boxes and look down on the red and gold auditorium. This only happens when there is no rehearsal, performance or public event in the hall, and only six people fit in the boxes at a time (four during rehearsals). Every two weeks the museum posts the best times for the view on its tickets and opening times page (the “Best view” link), so check it before you pick a time.
Photos without flash are allowed for personal use. A lift goes to the museum rooms and the theatre boxes; ask the staff at the entrance.
The official guided tour of the theatre
If you want to sit in a box and see more than one view of the hall, take the museum’s own guided tour. It lasts 60 minutes, costs €35 per person with no reductions, and includes the museum ticket.
The tiers of boxes inside the Teatro alla Scala auditorium, under the domed ceiling.
The route covers the Ridotto Toscanini (the main foyer), the historic boxes with their period decoration, the Royal Box and the entrance foyer. Only the theatre’s own guides are allowed to take visitors into the auditorium, the boxes and the foyers.
- When: Monday to Saturday, only on days without rehearsals, performances or special events. The schedule comes out month by month, usually from the 25th of the month before.
- How to book: online on museoscala.org. If places are left on the day, the museum desk sells them.
- Who it suits: the museum says the route is not suitable for people with walking difficulties or for children under 12.
- Cancellations: tours can be cancelled at short notice for technical or artistic reasons, and then you get a refund. If you cancel, you do not.
For a private visit, the “La Scala and its secrets” tour costs €720 for up to 12 people (€60 for each extra person, up to 20) and adds the stage machinery. You book it by email through the museum.
The Ansaldo workshops
Sets and costumes for every production are built at the Ansaldo workshopsMap, Via Bergognone 34, about 30 minutes from the theatre by public transport (M2 to Porta Genova). Guided visits run on Tuesdays and Thursdays, last 60 to 75 minutes and cost €35. You must book online at least two days ahead, and a tour only goes ahead with at least 4 people. The workshops are 300 meters from the Mudec, Museo delle CultureMap museum and about 1.2 km from the Naviglio Grande, so you can pair them with an afternoon on the Navigli.
Guided tours from resellers
Tour companies sell La Scala visits that combine the museum ticket with a guide, often with a walk past the Duomo and the Galleria. They cost more than the €12 museum ticket and still depend on the hall being free for the view from the boxes, so read what the listing promises before you pay.
These tours make sense if the official tour is full or you want a guide for the whole area. You can compare La Scala tours on GetYourGuide, where each listing shows its length, language and cancellation policy. Check that it says “entry ticket included”.
How to get tickets for an opera or ballet
The official site, teatroallascala.org, is the safe place to buy. The theatre warns that no reseller can hold tickets before the official sale date, and the only official resale is its own resale page.
- Register once on the theatre’s site with your name, address, email, phone and date of birth. Tickets carry the buyer’s name, and staff can check ID at the door.
- Note the sale date. Each production goes on sale on a set day, shown on its page. For the 2026/27 season, sales open at 1pm Italian time, which is 7am Eastern.
- Buy online, or at the box office on Largo Ghiringhelli 1, open Monday to Saturday from noon to 6pm. On performance evenings it opens 2 hours before curtain-up, but only for that night’s tickets.
If someone else will use your ticket, the theatre requires a written proxy and a copy of your ID. Tickets cannot be changed or refunded unless the performance is cancelled.
Last-minute and gallery tickets
The theatre sells any remaining tickets at the box office before the show. It also keeps 140 gallery tickets for sale at the box office, following times and rules set by a music lovers’ association called L’Accordo. The theatre does not publish the procedure in English, so ask at the box office a day or two before.
If you are under 36, the Under30/35 Pass costs €10 and gives discounts on tickets (from 35% off), open rehearsals and free guided tours. There are also Under30 previews, such as Otello on 4 December 2026.
What tickets cost
Seat prices depend on the production and the seat. These are the full prices on the official seat map for the 2026/27 season.
| Seat | Otello (10 Dec to 5 Jan) and La bohème | Otello opening night, 7 Dec |
|---|---|---|
| Stalls, zone 1 | €350 | €3,500 |
| Boxes, zone 1 | €350 | €3,500 |
| Gallery, zone 1 | €130 | €500 |
| Gallery, limited view | €70 | €250 |
| Gallery, very limited view | €40 | €150 |
| Gallery, no view | €10 | €50 |
Ballets and other operas cost a little less: The Nutcracker and Les Pêcheurs de perles top out at €300 in the stalls, with gallery seats from €10. The seat map labels limited-view and no-view seats clearly. A €10 no-view seat lets you hear the performance, and the subtitles screen helps, but you may not see the stage at all.
The 2026/2027 season
The season opens on 7 December 2026, the feast of Sant’Ambrogio, with Verdi’s Otello. It is Myung-Whun Chung’s first season as music director, and Damiano Michieletto directs. Opening-night tickets go on sale on 7 October 2026 at 1pm, and the other Otello dates (10 December to 5 January) on 14 October.
| Opera | Dates |
|---|---|
| Otello | 7 December 2026 to 5 January 2027 |
| Les Pêcheurs de perles | 22 January to 7 February 2027 |
| Don Giovanni | 3 to 28 February 2027 |
| La bohème | 16 February to 7 March 2027 |
| Anna Bolena | 30 March to 16 April 2027 |
| Macbeth | 4 to 22 May 2027 |
| I puritani | 15 June to 1 July 2027 |
| Il barbiere di Siviglia | 2 to 29 October 2027 |
The ballet season includes The Nutcracker from 17 December 2026 to 16 January 2027 (on sale 16 October) and Giselle in March 2027. Until November 2026, the current season is still running, with Faust from 20 October to 8 November and the Verdi Requiem conducted by Riccardo Chailly on 28 to 30 October.
If you are planning a December trip around the opening, our guide to the best time to visit Milan covers the Sant’Ambrogio holiday, and our Christmas markets guide covers what else is on that month.
Dress code and rules at a performance
The theatre asks the audience to dress “in keeping with the decorum of the Theatre”. The only written rule: people in shorts or sleeveless T-shirts are not allowed into the auditorium, and their tickets are not refunded. Anything beyond that is your choice.
- Arrive at least 20 minutes early. Latecomers in the stalls and galleries wait until the interval. People with box seats can go in after the start.
- Subtitles in Italian and English are shown on screens on the seat backs, in boxes and in the galleries for every opera, though not at every seat. The free Libretto Scala app shows them on your phone.
- No photos or recording in the auditorium, with or without flash.
- Cloakrooms for the stalls and galleries are free, and umbrellas, bags and cameras must be left there.
- Children need their own ticket. If you are bringing a child under 5, ask the box office about the minimum age for your performance, or pick one of the family performances, which are open to all ages.
- Access: there is a ramp to the stalls and a lift to the first and second galleries. There is no lift to the boxes, and wheelchairs are not allowed in the boxes or galleries.
Bars in the foyers serve drinks and sandwiches before the show and in the intervals, and you can order ahead online. Programmes cost €15 for an opera and €10 for a ballet.
What to see nearby
You are a few minutes from most of the center. The Duomo is back through the Galleria, and the Pinacoteca di BreraMap is 0.6 km north, about 9 minutes on foot. Via Manzoni leads from the square toward the fashion streets covered in our shopping guide.
The museum is open every day, so it is a good stop for a Monday, when the Last SupperMap, Brera and the Sforza CastleMap museums are closed (see our Last Supper tickets and Sforza Castle guides). Our one day in Milan, 2 days in Milan and 3 days in Milan itineraries show where it fits, and the list of things to do in Milan has prices for the other sights.
If you want to stay within walking distance of the theatre, the Duomo and Brera areas are closest. Our guide to the best hotels in Milan includes the Mandarin OrientalMap, a few steps from La Scala, or you can compare hotels near the Duomo on Booking.com. After an evening show, the bars in our aperitivo guide are an easy walk or a short metro ride away.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a La Scala tour cost?
The museum ticket costs €12 and includes a look into the auditorium from a third-tier box when the hall is free. The official 60-minute guided tour of the theatre costs €35 per person, museum included, with no discounts.
Can you see inside La Scala without going to a performance?
Yes. The museum ticket lets you look into the hall from the third-tier boxes, but only when there is no rehearsal, performance or public event, and only six people can stand in the boxes at a time. The guided tour also takes you into the Royal Box and the foyers.
How long does the La Scala museum take?
The museum says a full visit, including the view of the auditorium, takes about 45 minutes on average. The official guided tour lasts 60 minutes.
How do I get tickets for an opera at La Scala?
Buy on teatroallascala.org on the day each production goes on sale (1pm Italian time for the 2026/27 productions), or at the box office at Largo Ghiringhelli 1, open Monday to Saturday from noon to 6pm. You need to register first, and tickets carry the buyer's name.
How much are La Scala opera tickets?
For most 2026/27 operas, seats run from €10 for a gallery seat with no view of the stage to €300 or €350 for the best stalls and boxes. Opening night on 7 December is in a different range, from €50 to €3,500.
What is the dress code at La Scala?
The theatre asks you to dress in keeping with the decorum of the house. People in shorts or sleeveless T-shirts are not let into the auditorium, and their tickets are not refunded. There is no dress code for the museum.
When does the 2026/2027 season at La Scala start?
On 7 December 2026 with Verdi's Otello, conducted by Myung-Whun Chung. Opening-night tickets go on sale on 7 October 2026 at 1pm, and the other Otello dates on 14 October at 1pm.