Versailles Full Day Private Tour (group price)

Jose was the most amazing guide we've ever had. He was truly a gem with our family. Viator wants me to say more but I'm not a wordy person.

Our guide was full of information. He was great at explaining things to my children. My children left the tour with a wealth of knowledge

Wonderful! The guide could not have been better. He knew his stuff. I am a senior adult. He helped me in every way. From getting tickets, parking the car close by; evading the line, negotiating the stairs. We walked arm in arm like we were old friends. So very pleasurable. I would hire him again in an instant! Kudos

We had always wanted to visit Versailles and the opportunity to see it with our kids before they headed off to college made the trip essential. Having a very well informed guide to shepherd us around the lines and through the galleries made the experience that much more enjoyable. It also meant that we instead of fighting for food on the grounds we were taken into town to have a delicious lunch in a lovely French cafe in town. Then after lunch he took us back and showed us the other less crowded parts of Versailles - Trianon, the Queen's village, etc. And having a nice car pick us up at our hotel and then drop us off at the end of our day in Versailles was very, very pleasant and relaxing - no muss, no fuss. As for the price, for a family of four it was perfectly reasonable and the value was exceptional. I'm not sure I would choose this tour if I were just a couple (or solo).

This tour was perfect! The guide was knowledgeable and personable. The tour manager let us know he might be a few minutes late, and he was -- exactly the 5 minutes predicted. The guide went ahead of us to secure our pre-paid tickets, so NO LINES! He made sure that our tour of the palace and the gardens accommodated the weather and our pace of walking through rooms or stopping to notice fine points of some of the paintings. He knew the history but not the "art appreciation" points that we noted, and he expressed interest in those "artsy" points, rather than being impatient to just get through each room (which we observed the group tour guides do). He suggested lunch at the reasonably priced brasserie just outside the Versailles gates rather than in the over-priced and *crowded* places on the palace grounds. Our all-day tickets got us right back onto the grounds after lunch. We learned, we laughed ... and we had a comfortable ride back to our Paris apartment afterward. HINT: Don't take photos inside Versailles or on the gardens. You can find excellent photos online. Spend your time EXPERIENCING being in rooms of that scale and luxuriousness, and learning how royalty conducted the business of the country at that time! Then you'll understand why the royalty "needed" the simpler Trianon buildings a kilometer away. "Working from home" wasn't for them, then, what it is for some of us now.

We get less information on this tour. Poor and expensive. The driver was on time but we have to wait 30 min for entry.

Let me start by saying that the tour company and our guide Kevin where both wonderful. That being said, we booked this tour as we wanted an easy and guided experience and were unsure as to the best way to accomplish this. Additionally I didn’t think a half day tour would be enough time and/or it would feel too constrained. I would however say that a half day would have been fine. First of all, please note that the actual tour of Versailles is not that long. I was expecting more rooms to explore and just more things than they actually have open. Of the 2000+ rooms I don’t know that we saw more than 20 or so. Meanwhile the gardens, while large, are not anything to look at in March when it is still cold. Fortunately with this tour we got to skip what turned into a very very long line and that helped speed things along. After Versailles we had a wonderful lunch with Kevin in a more local spot which was right up our alley. AFter lunch, and we ventured to Little Trianons and Marie Antoinettes Hamlet. THIS IS WHERE I would be concerned. Please make sure you know that if it is windy (and by our Florida standards it was NOT windy at all) and/or what they call stormy (again, it was blue skies dotted with little bouts of rain) they will close all of those places down. Therefore we never got to see any of that. Which honestly, still makes us scratch our heads a bit. Therefore in a half day we were done. So we headed back to Paris, and Kevin did ask if we wanted to see more. AT this point I had had tickets to the Lourve so we had him drop us off there. ON the drive he was great with informing us on all the historic places and definitely knew his stuff. Obviously though, and as I mentioned, a $1000USD was way too much, especially when you consider that we only really saw a small part of Versailles and the drive really is only 30-45 min one way. While I understand that these things are rain or shine, I feel that not being able to see half the tour was something that maybe would have come with a concession of some sort. OR at least put it down in the tour notes that it is very possible that the Trianon and the Hamlet could be closed completely. If you are on the fence, TAKE the half day. If you love it and want to see more or stay longer you will have a better understanding of the ease to get to and from and it will be so so much cheaper. I think this maybe could be worth $600 but even that is stretching it.

While this is a somewhat costly tour, it exceeded all expectations! Fred was an outstanding tour guide/driver. He met us in a beautiful Mercedes mini-van, on time, at the door of our hotel. During the drive to Versailles we stopped at several locations within the Paris city limits to hear a history of the city. Access to the palace, the gardens, and the Trianons/Hamlet was flawless. Fred was so knowledgeable and made the entire experience come alive with historical context. The experience was tailored to our needs and exceeded our expectations. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone who wanted an in-depth experience when vising Versailles.

We booked several Viator excursions when we decided to visit Paris. Our last day we did the day trip to Versailles. Olivier picked us up at our hotel in a mini van and off we went. It ended up just the 4 of us. We had a great experience with a wonderful tour of the palace. Olivier had so much information as we strolled through the various rooms and the hall of battles which was spectacular. We then had about 40 minutes to stroll the gardens and see some of the many many fountains. Lunch on the property wad included and delicious and the we toured The Petite Trianon where Marie Antoinette spent her time with her children. The whole day was memorable and a great final experience for our visit! Thank you to Olivier and Viator.