The Ch â teau de Versailles is located in the suburbs of Paris and is definitely worth a visit if you have time. What you will see is one of the best preserved royal mansions of that era, with stunning rooms and huge landscaped gardens. From 1682 until the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the palace was the residence of the French royal family, with all the luxurious facilities you could expect inside. The palace also has its own chapel and opera house. We suggest purchasing tickets in advance to avoid queuing.
The New Front of Versailles in Paris
After passing through the security check at the Palace of Versailles, the first thing you see is an open courtyard where most of the time there is plenty of sunshine. It’s tempting to walk directly from the main entrance of the palace, but we think you’d better do a few things first. Firstly, stand in the courtyard, with your back facing the Golden Gate, and look up. This part of the palace is particularly beautiful, with harmonious stone and red bricks, and beautiful windows. You will also see stunning golden decorations throughout the top of the building. This is the first evidence of palace luxury, with some parts of the interior even more impressive. Next, go to Mesdame and Dauphin apartments and take a look there. Many people will leave these for after visiting the main palace, but they are not that big or luxurious, so if you go first, it is more likely to leave a lasting impression on you.
New work of Versailles chandelier in Paris
When you finally enter the main palace, you will receive an audio tour guide included in the admission fee. This will guide you to visit the house, starting from the chapel, which has two floors, one for royal family members and the other for others. For us, tour guides focus too much on artworks and who designed which rooms, rather than the people living in the palace and palace life, but it is still very interesting. We still feel it’s a bit long and plan to leave each room before the tour guide ends. However, the view of the room is very stunning. For us, the most eye-catching feature is the “Mirror Hall” (as shown in the picture above), which is truly breathtaking. This gallery style room overlooks the garden, with matching mirrors across each window. The chandelier and painted ceiling make the room more eye-catching. Also pay attention to the king’s bedroom, where everything is covered in gold. Obviously, he almost lives in this room, even receiving guests and dining here!
New construction of Versailles Fountain in Paris
Outside, the palace garden is very spacious! They are famous for their water features that complement music performances, but we found that for a few hours in the afternoon, the water features have almost no other function besides running all day long. This has disappointed us a bit. If we had known earlier, we would have gone to the garden first and then to the house. So, if you want to make this trip more exciting, go to the garden first. Most fountains open between 11am and noon, so that’s a good time to go there. There are also two places worth visiting in the park, namely the Grand Trianon Palace and the Marie Antoinette estate, the latter including the Petit Trianon estate and the small village, the latter being a replica of a typical French village with its own mill and cottage. The road train departing from the ruins of the Palace of Versailles will take you to these places.
Paris Versailles Garden Pillars
Entering the garden first can also help you cope with the long queue that may form when entering the palace. On busy days, from around 10am to 3pm, there will be a long queue in front of the palace square waiting for security checks. Although the queue was quite fast, we found ourselves trapped for about an hour. We suggest purchasing tickets in advance to avoid queuing up, as ticket queues are not as fast. You can apply through the official website, but there are many other options, some of which include transportation services.
The Palace of Versailles is open in summer, except on Mondays, every day from 9am to 6:30pm, and in winter from 9am to 5:30pm. There are multiple ticketing options based on the content you want to watch. The full adult ticket price is 27 euros (2019 price), but EU audiences under 18 and 26 years old are free to enter. If you already have a ticket or qualify for free admission, please queue up directly to enter the palace entrance.
Location and contact information
It’s easy to travel from Paris to the Palace of Versailles. You can enter most subway and RER stations and purchase round-trip tickets for the RER C line, which terminates at Versailles. The automatic ticket vending machine has an English option, but if you buy multiple tickets, it will be easier to ask directly at the ticket office. The staff is likely to speak English, but if they don’t, they can also understand when it comes to “Versailles Castle”. Currently, the one-way ticket price is slightly below 4 euros.