Close your eyes and imagine sitting in a private box in the world’s most beautiful opera house, sipping champagne and listening to the Habanera in an acoustic environment second only to La Scala. Now imagine paying just £48 for the pleasure.

You and I know that opera is supposed to be all about extortion and elitism, an art form stolen from the people while they werze momentarily distracted by Andrew Lloyd Webber, but nobody told the Hungarians, who are still cheerfully watching traditional productions of classic operas at 19th-century prices.

Had Emperor Franz Josef had his way, the Hungarian State Opera House would have been only the second most beautiful concert hall on earth. He’d permitted the Magyars – the poor relations in the Austro-Hungarian Empire – to build an opera house only after the architect Miklos Ybl had promised it would be smaller than its counterpart in Vienna. But the emperor failed to stipulate that it should also be less beautiful.

A fierce phalanx of ushers patrols the atrium, stopping awestruck dawdlers and photo opportunists from fully appreciating the splendid frippery of soaring blue columns, gilded arcades and the cherubim-clouded ceiling. In the auditorium, 56 boxes rise in three circular tiers like glittering copies of the Khazneh at Petra, each smothered in velvet and gilt.

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Above, the building arcs into a painted dome straight out of Wonderland, so don’t be surprised if the White Rabbit pops up and tells you you’re not at the opera house at all, but inside a Fabergé egg.

And is the ordinary Hungarian intimidated by such belle époque opulence? Not in the slightest, says Budapest tram driver and opera addict Ferenc Pyatr: “The opera is just another night out. We might see Bruce Willis at the movies one week and Madam Butterfly at the opera house the next.”

These die-hard fans range from doe-eyed bohemians on awkward first dates through merry widows high on Tokaj to extended family groups, with kids, all enjoying an exuberant night out that, due to the tragic nature of most opera, usually ends in tears.

The jolly fin de siècle atmosphere is uncannily like Maupassant’s description of the Folies Bergère in 1885: “Look at the stalls,” he wrote in Bel Ami, “nothing but the great middle classes with their wives and children and amiable silly faces. In the boxes you’ve got the men about town, a few actors and dancers, a few medium-priced tarts.”

While I can’t confirm the presence of Hungarian harlots, I can corroborate that, for a chap about town, a box is the best place to be. In Covent Garden, a similar view from a Grand Tier box can cost £190. At La Scala, you’re talking upwards of £105. In Budapest, the most expensive ticket in the house is £48, and you can find box seats for £15.70. Or you can do what the locals do and book the cheapest seat in the house – £1.27 – then sneak into an unoccupied box during the overture.

So, it’s cheap, egalitarian and gorgeous, but what about the show? The Hungarian State Opera – singing in the original tongue, with Hungarian subtitles – is the artistic expression of its people’s natural conservatism, so you’re unlikely to see the likes of the marketing-led muddles of English National Opera – Sally Potter’s Gatwick-based Carmen and the Zandra Rhodes Aida spring to mind – or the elitist obfuscations of the Royal Opera House. As Maupassant might have said about the Folies Bergère, Hungarian opera does exactly what it says on the cancan – and there’s not an opera snob in sight.

Getting there: fly to Budapest with EasyJet (www.easyjet.com ; from £44 return) or British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com ; £110 return). Stay at the InterContinental (00 36 1 327 6333, www.ichotelsgroup.com ) – not just for the Danube views, but for the two-night opera package, which includes a box seat and transfers; £225pp. Or try the fabulous art-deco Gresham (00800 6488 6488, www.fourseasons.com ; doubles £238), or the fin de siècle elegance of the Astoria (00 36 1-889 6000, www.danubiushotels.com ; £68).

You can buy opera tickets through www.jegymester.hu . The best postopera supper is at Firkasz (Tatra Utca 18; 450 1118), which serves up smoky late-night piano and mains from £6.

February’s productions in Budapest include Bizet’s Carmen, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Puccini’s Turandot and Verdi’s Rigoletto – for details, visit www.opera.hu

The bargain opera guide to Europe

St Petersburg: Mariinsky Opera The Mariinsky (formerly known as the Kirov) is in the midst of its 225th season, and has its own international superstar in the shape of the toothsome Anna Netrebko – although the soprano described as “the new Callas” spends more time on tour than at home these days. She’s performing in La bohème on February 29, and sources say she’ll be back in June, so keep an eye on the Mariinsky’s website, www.mariinsky.ru . Ticket prices start at £8.40. Fly to St Petersburg with British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com ); from £249 return.

Vilnius: Lithuanian National Opera Go to Vilnius and it’s pot luck whether you get a production as faithful as an aged retriever or some smart young pup that will try to hump your leg. On the one hand, you get productions such as Gintaras Varnas’sMTV-style Rigoletto, which polarised opinions like Marmite, and on the other, operas such as Die Walküre, directed by the fabulously named Eimuntas Nekrosius, who hates all that nonsense. Prices range from £2.20 to £26, but your best bet is to book with the opera specialist Vamos Travel (0870 762 4017, www.vamostravel.com ), which offers three-night stays, including flights, transfers and tickets, from £350pp.

Bratislava: Slovak National Theatre Catch a matinée at Bratislava’s splendid opera house and it will cost exactly £1.35. Wait until the evening and the most you can pay is £24 – but, just because this world-class opera is cheap, don’t think it’s casual, too. The opera is a big night out in Bratislava, and comes with a faint whiff of snootiness, especially when the Austrians are in town. Prices range from £7 to £24, through www.ticketportal.sk . Flights from Luton, Birmingham and Manchester start at £58 return with SkyEurope (www.skyeurope.com ).

Warsaw: Polish National Opera Opera came to the Polish capital in 1628 – two decades after its Florentine birth and three decades before it arrived in England. Productions are staged at the cavernous Teatr Wielki, an 1,800-seat auditorium with the largest stage in Europe. Performances here tend to be gutsy affairs, sung with enough gusto for those in the cheap seats to catch every word. And they are cheap – from £4.50 to £26.50 at www.ticketonline.pl . Return flights to Warsaw start at £90 with Wizzair (www.wizzair.com ).

Riga: Latvian National Opera The Latvians love opera the way Ferran Adria likes food, and the director Dmitri Bertman warns audiences to be “open-minded and free of any particular preconceptions”. So you’ve been warned – but with tickets starting at £1.50, why not live dangerously? Buy tickets from the Latvian National Opera (00 371 707 3777, www.opera.lv ), and fly with Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com ); from £52 return.

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