Versailles Palace Full Day or Half Day Tour with Local Guide
Description
Enjoy a visit to the spectacular Palace of Versailles. Walk the glittering Hall of Mirrors, see the State Apartments and stroll through the manicured gardens with an expert local guide to bring the Palace and its royal inhabitants back to life. For your convenience this tour starts in Versailles.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Meet your guide in Versailles and journey in the footsteps of the kings and queens of France! During the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, Versailles was the place to be and to be seen. Nowadays visitors from all over the world still come to Versailles to marvel at the splendors of this incredible palace. Your friendly local guide will bring you to the famous figures who once inhabited this palace back to life. See the dazzling Hall of Mirrors and the royal bedrooms where the king and queen would go to bed and get up daily in front of a large audience. Learn about life at the royal court - there was even a ceremony for the King putting on and taking off his hunting boots! - the glory of the Sun King that was symbolised by this magnificent palace, and the tragic downfall of King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution.
Stroll through the glittering Hall of Mirrors, as Kings, Queens and courtiers once did, as your guide brings the daily life, ceremonies and scandals of the royal court to life.
After visiting the state apartments inside the palace, your guide will lead you through the spectacular gardens, once the setting of balls, parties and elaborate firework displays, the symbol of the King's power over nature. Discover hidden groves and on fountain show days you will see the amazing waterworks, still running today as they did in the times of kings and queens. The fountains run according to a very precise schedule, and your guide will ensure you are in exactly the right spot at the right time!
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- From 1 April to 31 October, the gardens of the Palace feature special Musical and Fountain Shows. Fountain Shows take place on Saturdays and Sundays, as well as on Tuesdays in May and June and on national holidays. Please note that the fountains operate according to a set schedule — they do not run continuously throughout the day. On the other days of the week during this period, the gardens host the Musical Gardens, where music is played throughout the groves.
- This tour involves a considerable amount of walking. Please ensure you wear comfortable shoes. Please note, this tour in Versailles is not wheelchair accessible.
- You can cancel your tour up to 24 hours prior to departure and receive a full refund. Please note that refunds are not possible for missed tours.
- If you plan to arrive at the meeting point by taxi, please ensure you leave yourselves plenty of time, it can often take a considerable amount of time to find a taxi in Paris!
- Infants aged 0-3 years are free of charge and do not require a booking.
- Please note the full day tour requires a lot of walking. The tour is paced to be comfortable but you will need to be able to walk throughout the whole day.
Reviews(185)
There is a lot of walking!! And it lasts the whole day — which was worth it. I got to see so much more than just the main chateaux and garden. Our tour guide was Sarah and she’s fantastic. She took excellent care of our group and despite the large crowds inside, I still got to learn a great deal.
Thank you Annette! A full day at Versailles really does let you discover so much beyond the main chateau and gardens, and we're so glad it was worth every step. Sara has a wonderful way of taking care of a diverse group while making sure everyone learns so much, even on a busy day. We'll make sure she sees your kind words. Hope you had a wonderful time here in Paris!
An excellent well informed guide who made the journey through Palace & Hardens very accessible to all. It would be difficult to negotiate a meaningful experience without a guide as it’s such a vast property.
Thank you Susan — and what a wonderful title for your review! You've put it perfectly: Versailles is so vast that without a guide, so much of its story is simply invisible. We're so glad the palace and gardens felt accessible and meaningful for your whole group. Hope you had a wonderful time here in Paris!
Ivan did a great job of herding a bunch of cats (our group) through a super crowded Versailles, all while giving us interesting and entertaining information about the history of the palace and the many things that we were seeing. My daughter and I enjoyed our tour very much and would recommend Ivan to other groups!
Thank you Helen — 'Ivan the Great' and 'herding cats' made us laugh! Ivan really does have a remarkable ability to keep everyone together and fully engaged even on the busiest days at Versailles, and we're so glad the history and stories came through so clearly for you and your daughter. We'll make sure he sees your kind words — he'll love this review! Hope you both had a wonderful time here in Paris.
It was the best experience I ever had on a guided tour. Ivan was the best . So knowledgeable, and it was marvelous to see that he used every bit of time to educate us and walk us through the marvels of the history behind this masterpiece. Thank you so much for making this memorable.
Hi there! Here at Memories we are just over the moon at your stellar review - this is what we strive to provide for you every single time and are so proud to know we knocked it out of the park. We are here to make your experience in everyway extrardinary- thank you for taking the time to let us know we succeeded!
Our guide, Batu (apologies if misspelled) was incredible. He combined historical perspective with contemporary comparatives to ensure an educational, engaging tour. Definitely 5 star!
Helllo, Ross! Bayo will be so thrilled when he reads your high praise. We do try to make the over the topness of Versailles make sense to a modern eye - we are delighted to know we hit a bull's eye. Thanks so much for the stellar review!
Very nice tour through the highlights of Versailles and the expansive gardens. Stan, our tour guide, was quite knowledgeable interlacing the personality of Louis XIV with the artistic design and creations of Versailles.
Hello Charles and thanks so much for the great recommendation. Stan will be delighted to read it! We love giving context to all the Versailles bling and making it make sense to a modern eye and bringing the past to life in the present. We loved having you, and so appreciate your booking with us!
This was a wonderful experience! The group was small enough to provide a relatively intimate experience among the throngs of other visitors around us. Our guide was an extremely knowledgeable young woman who had been educated in the United States and spoke excellent English. She was very patient with my questions and expertly introduced many of the most interesting and captivating aspects of the structure and the grounds. While many of those around us without anyone to put what they were seeing in context shuffled through the spaces seemingly without any understanding of what they were seeing, our group was expertly guided into comprehending the significance and meaning behind many of the most important aspects of what we were experiencing. While there is not enough time to see everything in depth in one visit, this was an amazing overview delivered by a delightful professional. A highlight of my France visit.
We are so delighted to read your detailed and overwhelmingly positive recommendation! To be a highlight of your whole visit to our lovely country is an honor indeed. Yet a Memories guide means just that kind of excellence. Without such an expert to give context to it all, your experience becomes just an overwhelm of bling, and, yes, simply shuffling from room to room After you've come home again it's all a blur. We can make those memories sharp and clear and lasting, just as you've described -- and are so happy to do so. Thank you again for the warm review.
Our train was stopped mid tracks for 1.5hours due to snow which caused us to miss our timed tour .. we were contacted by trip advisor agent and basically told bad luck .. when we explained the situation well beyond our control. Had to pay for new entry tickets at entry point over and above the $311.31 Au already paid for two adults. We realised we had missed the guided tour, surely the guid could have made some arrangements that we could have access without buying two new tickets. My advice is buy your tickets directly through the offical Versailles website far cheaper and not through trip advisor.. they will honour entry if transport system disrupted. Another point to watch for is trip advisor advised price is in US dollars.. fully recommend going to Versailles its a magnificent place to spend the day
Dear Mr. David B, We do regret not having you in our Versailles tour of 7 January. Yet tracing your reservation, you called us at 10:03 to tell us you were still far from the meeting point for a 10:00 scheduled launch, on top of the directions clearly stating that you must be present and accounted at the meeting point fifteen minutes ahead of time. You requested a refund. We have a highly flexible cancellation policy that offers refunds for any reason at all, asking only for at least 24 hours notice so that we can still fill the spot reserved for you. After that time all the tickets and reservations that we are holding for you are confirmed at the sites, and we are unable to cancel with them. The guide, conducting the tour after launch, cannot at that point make arrangements. Because we reserve in advance for a timed group slot, the ticket is a collective one, and there simply are no individual tickets to be able to send on to you, as much as we might have loved to do just that. The snow was, of course beyond anyone’s control, and, given that, perhaps you should check with your travel insurance to see if a refund is not available by that route. We would like to emphasize that while the Versailles website does indeed offer a cheaper ticket, it is just that, a ticket, whereas to visit the château with Memories offers a special entrance, a skipped line, and above all fully guided experience with an expert guide who can make sense of it all with context and meaning and answer all your questions as well as advise for getting back home and what you might like to do in Versailles before you leave. While we missed you with us that day, we do hope nevertheless that your experience of a Paris, gorgeous under the snow, held all you wished for and much more besides.
Very informative and well paced tour! Our tour guide Laurence was great. Would come back again, great first time at the Palace.
And we would just love our paths to cross once more. Laurence is a gem and loved having you- we'll transmit your kind words, and are so happy to have introduced you to the palace in style!
What a wonderful tour we had with our knowledgeable guide Clare.This tour opened our eyes to the history and wonders of the palace and the gardens. Could not recommend more highly.
And wondrous it truly is, we so agree! From the glittering palace to the sculpted greenery, there's nothing we love more than taking you around and showing you the secrets as much as telling you of them. We had an amazing time with you and we'll hope we meet again!
