Best theatres & amphitheatres to visit worldwide

Most theatres take an hour or two, longer with the town around them. The seating is in full sun for much of the day, so go at opening or late afternoon, take water and a hat and wear shoes with grip for high, worn steps. At many you may sit on the tiers, but the stage building is off limits. Several still host summer festivals and opera, at Epidaurus, Aspendos, Orange, Mérida and Verona, and seats for those sell out well ahead.

The finest in the catalogue are the Colosseum in Rome, with its underground passages; the Theatre of Epidaurus in Greece, the most complete Greek theatre anywhere; Aspendos in Turkey, whose Roman stage wall stands almost intact; the Roman Theatre of Orange in France; and the Roman Theatre of Mérida in Spain, with its columned stage front.