Opera — overview
Come up the steps here and the Hungarian State Opera House is right in front of you on Andrássy út. The stop lies between Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út and Oktogon, and it opened on 2 May 1896 under the name it still carries; unlike several of its neighbours, it has never been renamed.
The line was designed and built by Siemens & Halske, and its stations were lined with brown and white tiles made by the Zsolnay factory. When the line was restored in 1995, the heritage stations received new tiling identical to the Zsolnay originals. Each of the two side platforms has its own entrance from the street, and since 2002 the line has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site together with Andrássy út.
The station's position on the line
Position on the M1 line:
Nearby attractions and places
The Opera House, Miklós Ybl’s neo-Renaissance landmark, runs guided tours by day and performances by night, and the Drechsler Palace faces it across the avenue. This stretch of Andrássy út is lined with theatres, restaurants and smart shops, and Nagymező utca, Budapest’s own little Broadway, opens nearby, so in the evening many riders are heading to a show.
Straight-line distance from the station platforms. Source: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors).
Surface transport connections
These routes stop within 250 m of the station (as the crow flies), according to BKK’s official timetable data (GTFS, October 2026). Night services keep running after the metro has closed.
Station facts
Opened
2 May 1896
Structure
shallow, directly beneath Andrássy út, with two side platforms
Step-free access
M1: not step-free, the platform is reached by stairs only.
Renovation
1973, 1995
Sources: Hungarian Wikipedia (station article) · step-free access: BKK GTFS, October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
M1: not step-free, the platform is reached by stairs only. This comes from BKK’s official timetable data (GTFS); a lift can be temporarily out of service, which the BudapestGO app shows.
On 2 May 1896, in Hungary’s millennium year. The builders had just 21 months between receiving the concession and the opening of the Millennium Exhibition, and they finished the line in record time.
M1: Towards Mexikói út the first is 4:49 and the last 23:49. Towards Vörösmarty tér the first is 4:40 and the last 23:40. At peak times trains run every 2–3 minutes.
Weekday timetable, from BKK’s official GTFS data (August 2026). Public holidays run to the Sunday timetable. Full timetable →