Versailles Palace and Gardens Tour from Paris
Description
Versailles becomes effortless when your tickets and route are handled for you. This guided tour pairs timed entry to the Palace of Versailles with an expert guide who brings the state apartments, the Royal Chapel, and the dazzling Hall of Mirrors to life. You step inside with timed entry and go straight into the former heart of the French court, learning the stories behind the Bourbon monarchy as you go. After the guided rooms, you receive an introduction to the Gardens of Versailles, then explore the sweeping parterres, fountains, and groves at your own pace, with time to reach the Trianon Estate. It is a relaxed, well-paced way to see the highlights without the stress of planning. Pick the version that fits you best: travel round-trip by train from Paris with a standard group, keep things personal in a small group, or meet directly at Versailles for a shorter on-site tour without transport.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Meet your expert guide at a central Paris metro stop. Then, board the train for the smooth ride out to Versailles, roughly 30 minutes each way. On arrival, a short walk brings you to the palace gates. (The Express option meets directly at the Palace of Versailles and does not include transport from Paris.)
Head inside with timed-entry tickets and follow your guide through the opulent state apartments, where the drama and power of the Bourbon court come to life. You take in the soaring Royal Chapel and the elegant Princess' Apartments along the way. The tour builds to the Hall of Mirrors, the palace's showstopping gallery lined with mirrors and chandeliers, before you explore the King's State Apartments and the political symbolism woven into every room.
Your guide leads you to the garden entrance for an introduction to the sweeping geometric parterres, fountains, and groves, where the guided experience ends. From here you are free to wander at your own pace and walk out to the Trianon Estate before returning to Paris with your pre-arranged train ticket. You are also welcome to rent a golf cart or purchase a ticket to the garden Mini train for easier access to the grounds. (The Express option runs about 2 hours and does not include return transport.)
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Entry into the Palace of Versailles may be slowed down during peak season due to crowds and required security checks. We appreciate your patience.
- We regret that we are unable to accommodate guests with wheelchairs or any walking impairments that require special assistance on our group tours. We are also unable to accommodate strollers or baby carriages.
- We recommend bringing a bottle of water with you and wearing a pair of comfortable shoes.
- This tour departs promptly at the scheduled start time. If you are not checked in by then, the group will have to depart for Versailles without you. Once the tour has departed, we cannot guarantee your participation.
- Please note this tour includes walking and standing for around 3 hours. There is an approximately 10 minute walk between the Versailles train station and Palace entrance.
Reviews(4,379)
Amazing palace, garden, city and tour! We were able to skip the long line and getring this tour allowed to skip the long waiting line - so worth the extra cost. You can easily spend days visiting the site. Beautiful - nothing like this in the states! Friendly staff and passionate about history,
Lots of walking, wear good shoes! Bring water too. Make sure you go out to Marie Antoinette’s house!
This is a great tour. It takes all the guessing out of where to go, how to get there and offered the quickest way into the palace. Our tour guide Helin was amazing! She was super friendly and knowledgeable. She knew a lot of details about the palace and France's history. She really went above and beyond! While we were on the train, she provided a map of the palace to all of us, explained where everything is, where the best restaurants inside are and how to get around (golf cart, little train). After the tour was done, we were left with an abundance of information so that they we could explore further on our own!
A wonderful tour. Very informative. Beautiful palace and gardens. The artwork is stunning and many places to eat or stroll in the gardens
Versailles is something to do once. You have no control over your tour guide and that makes a huge difference. Our guide was far more concerned with people getting lost and repeated j strutting no less than a dozen times. The narration was ok, however, I switched channels to a different channel and that guide was much more informative. I might choose a private company instead of a large corporation.
The trip was OK. If you do not feel confident making it to Versailles on you own than i would recommend it. We did get to skip the line and go right in but the tour is fast-paced. You don't get a long time in each room and no audio guide. Just the commentary from your tour guide. You get as much time you want in the garden on your own and then you make it back on the train on your own.
Tour was good, was a bit hard to hear over the headsets and anytime someone asked a question we could all hear the back and forth. It was very very busy the day we went to Versaille which has nothing to do with the tour but it was hard to keep up. We enjoyed the tour!
Our tour guide was very nice and kept us all together and safe, but she was very slow and repetitive. She spent more time going over the plans than actually talking about Versailles. I lost count of how many times she went over the tour path - at least eight. Even so, it's better to do this with a guide than without, and everything was handled professionally and went smoothly. After hearing the same things over and over, you start to tune out. It would be better just to explain things once, and then again as you're doing them. People only really want to know where the bathrooms and food are anyway. Versailles itself was boring. A garden without flowers. Grass your suburban dad would make fun of. Art you can't see due to poor lighting and glares. Would not return.
The tour was great. Elliot was full of insightful history and the Yulia was a great guide. It was well paced and full of great info and facts. Timing was a bit all over the place for the start, but aside from that, would definitely recommend.
Our guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining on our tour! She kept our group together and frequently checked to make sure everyone was alright.
