Visit the Palace of Versailles
Once the seat of power and now a museum of the history of France, the Palace of Versailles is an emblem that has lived through centuries and seen many great figures within its walls. The entire estate of this historic castle spreads over 800 hectares and welcomes 15 million visitors each year. So, if you are planning a trip to Paris, you must visit the Palace of Versailles.
In this guide, you will learn essential information to help you plan your visit. We will talk about the ticket prices, opening hours, duration of the visit, and the must-see attractions at the Palace of Versailles!
Practical information to visit the Palace of Versailles
Before tackling the visit itself, we will first talk about various practical aspects to help you plan your visit to the Palace of Versailles such as the opening hours, the price or even how to come to the Palace of Versailles.
Ticket Prices
The ticket prices to visit the Palace of Versailles depend on some criteria. There are four categories of entries :
- Palace ticket,
- Estate of Trianon ticket, the cheaper option,
- The passport ticket,
- 2-day passport ticket.
The Palace Ticket gives you access to the main palace and its exhibitions. With the Estate of Trianon ticket you can visit the Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon and the Queen’s Hamlet, only starting from noon.
The passport ticket allows you to visit the palace, the Estate of Trianon as well as the gardens. The 2-day ticket includes the same access as the passport ticket, plus the Coach Gallery. With the 2-day ticket, you can visit the Palace of Versailles and its estate for two consecutive days.
From April to October, on weekends, there is the Musical Gardens and Musical Fountains shows.The ticket price for the show is around 10 euros. You may note that, on the days of the show, the prices of the usual tickets may increase so that you can have direct access to it after your visit to the Palace of Versailles.
For children under 18, access to the Palace is free, as it is for European residents aged 18 to 26. However, you will still need to book your time slot for the visit.
Visit the Palace of Versailles with this ticket that gives you access to the Palace, the Trianon and Marie Antoinette's Estate. With a few more euros, you can see the famous Musical Gardens or Fountain Show at Versailles!
Opening hours
When you are planning your visit to the Palace of Versailles, you will need to be aware of the opening hours. Indeed, not all spaces open at the same time.
The Main Palace and the Estate of Trianon are open everyday except on Monday. The Palace opens at 9am and closes at 6:30pm. The Estate of Trianon opens at noon and closes at 6:30pm too. The last entry is at 6pm for both of them.
The Park and the Gardens are open daily. The Park is open from 7am to 8:30pm, with the last entry at 7:45pm. You can access the Gardens from 8am to 8:30pm, with the last entry at 7pm.
Notice that these times are for the high season from April to October. These hours may vary during the low-season.
Duration of the visit
The duration of the visit depends on what you want to see once at the Palace of Versailles and what ticket you bought. But, you can expect at least several hours.
For the Main Palace only, you can expect about 2 to 3 hours to visit every room. For the Gardens and Park you can count from 1 to 2 hours depending on your rhythm. If you stop at every fountain or sculpture, the visit will be longer.
Regarding the Estate of Trianon with the Petit Trianon, the Grand Trianon and the Queen’s Hamlet, you can expect an hour-and-a-half walk.
Overall, you would need at least 6 hours to visit everything without rushing too much. You might add a few extra hours, if a lot of tourists are there to visit the Palace of Versailles as well.
How to get to the Palace of Versailles?
It is really easy to come to the Palace of Versailles. Indeed, the castle is located north west from the center of Paris. If you decide to rent a car, you can use it to go straight to the palace. A car park is located right in front of the castle on the Place d’Armes, although, you will need to pay.
Another option is to use public transport. The Palace of Versailles is served by three different lines. You can take the RER C or a SNCF train. If you opt for the RER C, you will arrive at Versailles Château - Rive Gauche, from where it is a 10-minute walk to the palace.
If you take a train, you will either get to Versailles Chantier train station or Versailles Rive Droite train station which are, respectively, a 18-minute and a 17-minute walk to the palace.
Another option is to take the bus on line 171. You can be at the palace within 30 minutes without traffic.
What to see at the Palace of Versailles?
Now that you are aware of the essential information to plan your visit to the Palace, it is now the time to talk about themultiple rooms that you must visit once there. A classical music will accompany you during this unique and immersive experience.
The Hall of Mirrors
The Hall of Mirrors is the most well-known room of the palace. It is known, in fact, throughout many countries as the place where the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919. So, it has to be on your list of rooms to visit.
The Gallery was restored several time, so that you would be able to visit it as it was during Louis XIV’s time. It is now a major attraction at the Palace which offers you a glimpse of the grandeur of the French Monarchy.
It is called Hall of Mirrors because there are no fewer than 357 mirrors on the walls. On the other side, every mirror is aligned with a window. At that time, mirrors were a symbol of richness as it was an expensive commodity. Of course, like most grandiose castles, the ceiling is painted with events that marked Louis XIV’s life.
This Gallery can be found in the center of the first floor, right after the King’s Apartments. It used to be a reception room for balls and other great events.
The Gallery of Battles
The Gallery of Battles is a big gallery, bigger than the Hall of Mirrors. It is located in the left wing of the first floor of the Palace. It is the most historically significant room of the palace, hence your need to visit it.
It is the place where the King Louis-Philippe decided to exhibit an important collection of historical paintings that features all the glories of France. This room is used as a Museum of the History of France. So, you can find multiple eras of French glory retraced in these paintings. The most iconic paintings are the Battle of Austerlitz, the Battle of Bouvines, and the Siège of Yorktown.
All over the walls, you can find more than 30 paintings telling you about military victories and battles of French soldiers throughout many centuries. On top of the paintings, busts of important military leaders and tablets are exhibited as well.
Parade Apartments
The Parade Apartments are some of the most opulent rooms within the Palace. They were used as places to host important ceremonies or social events of the French court. They are located in the center of the first floor, in the west wing of the Palace.
Each room was created with a specific purpose. The arrangement of the rooms was designed so that visitors arrive in the largest room of the Palace: the Hall of Mirrors. The King and Queen’s Apartments are also arranged symmetrically, with the King’s on the north side, and the Queen’s on the south side of the Palace.
As already mentioned, the King’s Apartments are composed of several rooms. Every one of them has a specific ceremonial purpose. We can add that, the Sun King dedicated each room to a roman god. In this way, we find Hercules, Venus, Diana, Mars, Mercury and Apollo Salon. These rooms were used for billiard, guards, receptions and for the throne, where audiences took place.
Similarly, the Queen’s rooms are also dedicated to multiple goddesses. The Queen had four rooms with various purposes. A room for guards, and for public and private matters.
The Gardens of Versailles
The Gardens of Versailles are one of most spectacular gardens in the world. Its length and arrangement are a symbol of French formal garden design. If you visit the Palace, you must take a look at its gardens.
The vast gardens are lined up according to a specific geometrical pattern which is symmetric. The gardens are composed of several elements such as trimmed lawns, parterres, flowerbeds, and groves.
From the outside of the Palace, you can admire the Grande Perspective which is an impressive view of the length of the garden. It gives a sensation of infinite. From there, you can see, the structure of the gardens, the fountains, the flowers, the sculptures and the bassins. The statues are depicting mythological figures enhancing the beauty of the gardens.
While walking in the gardens, you can see fountains with god figures such as Latona or Apollo. The Grand Canal is also an impressive water body with a length of 1.5 kilometers.
You can also find many groves, where in some of them feature fountains. The Ballroom Grove is a must-see as it was the place where the open-air dances and celebrations took place at the Palace.
If you decide to visit the Palace and its gardens between April and October, you will be able to see the Musical Fountain Show and Musical Gardens. Classical music will be set in the garden making your experience even more immersive. The water would move with the music creating an enchanting atmosphere.
Trianon Estate
The Trianon Estate is a group of several places composed of the Petit Trianon, the Grand Trianon and the Queen’s Hamlet. They were made as to be a simpler and more intimate place for the King and Queen.
The architecture of the three buildings contrast a lot with the main Palace. The Grand Trianon was constructed in an Italian style featuring pink marble colonnades and a flat roof. The King used it as a place to escape the rigid formalities of court life.
The Petit Trianon was created as a retreat place for the King’s mistress, Madame de Pompadour. But it ended up beingMarie-Antoinette’s place of retreat from the formalities of being a Queen. The neoclassical architecture of this building features clean lines and minimal ornaments contrasting with the Queen’s apartments in the main palace.
The Queen’s Hamlet was constructed in the purpose of offering a pastoral retreat for the Queen and her guests. It was inspired from rustic and rural Normandy. It would give the Queen the opportunity to live a simpler life without the embellishments she had in the main Palace. This place is composed of a few rustic cottages where each had a specific function for the Queen such as her house, her dairy, …
Other rooms to visit in the Palace of Versailles
On the ground floor, you will mostly find all the restaurants and services of the palace such as the information point, audio-guides or even the bathrooms. Besides these services, you can visit a few other rooms.
There are in total 5 rooms that you can visit in this area of the Palace of Versailles. From the entry in the left wing of the castle, you can start by visiting the Empire Rooms. Under the Gallery of the Battles, King Louis Philippe decided to exhibit all the paintings commissioned by Napoleon I to gain its support.
Then, if you keep walking around the castle, you will find the Apartment of the Dauphin and the Dauphine, followed by The Mesdames’ Apartments, Daughters of Louis XV. The first room is currently closed. As for the second, it used to be the rooms of Louis XV’s daughters. Only two of them lived there a long time until the Revolution. These rooms were restored and turned into a museum.
In the right wing of the palace, you can visit the royal chapel as well as the Gallery of the History of the Palace. The Royal Chapel is accessible with the audio-guide. Once inside, you will discover a magnificent place with beautiful marble columns. The Gallery of the History is an essential first step during your visit of the Palace. It will introduce you to its history throughout many centuries.
History of the Palace of Versailles
Considered as one of the most well-known monuments of France with its architecture, its gardens and its historical heritage, the Palace of Versailles was built in 1623 by Louis XIII. But, the Palace of 1623 was not looking like the one we know today. Indeed, for Louis XIII, the former Palace of Versailles was built to be a small hunting lodge.
It was only in 1661, with Louis XIV, that the lodge underwent several transformations to become the Palace we can visit nowadays. The expansion kept going under Louis XV and Louis XVI’s reigns. The expansion added the famous Hall of Mirrors, the Royal Chapel and the Grand Apartments.
So, at the beginning, the Palace of Versailles used to be a small hunting lodge that turned into the main royal residence in 1682. By moving into the Palace, Louis XIV wanted to exert its power on the nobility by moving its court and government to the castle as well.
It quickly became a place of art with the numerous balls and ceremonies that took place in the different rooms of the Palace. Louis XIV, Louis XV, Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette had the chance to live in the Palace of Versailles. It is also a place that hosted great historical figures such as Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, European Monarchs or diplomats.
The Palace of Versailles was abandoned during the French Revolution, but between the 19th and 20th centuries several renovations happened to preserve but also to restaure the Palace of Versailles. The building is now part of the UNESCO World Heritage.
To sum up, the Palace of Versailles is a must-see if you visit Paris. You will dive into French history as you walk through the different rooms of the Palace. For a better experience, we advise you to come early to enjoy your visit with less tourists or, on the contrary, in late afternoon!