I excluded Versailles in my Paris blog post because it was already too long and Versailles is also just outside of Paris. It warranted a separate post being a day trip from Paris and one I would recommend.
Here’s how our trip went:
As I mentioned above, Versailles is outside Paris. It’s about 22kms south-west from Paris. We were staying in the 2nd arrondissement in Paris and was close to metro stations. We decided to take the metro to the main train station then took the train to Versailles. There are a few ways to get there.
I found this site really useful. We basically took the RER-C train from Paris to Versailles-Chantiers train station then walked towards Palace de Versailles. It took about an hour on the train. There is another train that goes direct to Versailles Château Rive Gauche but we took the first one that arrived to make it on time.
Our tickets were for 9am entry and we decided to include an audio guide. Max and I are not into tour groups because they’re usually slow and take much longer. We like to explore ourselves and have more flexibility and freedom. I highly recommend getting tickets before arriving rather than trying on the day.
The ticket that we got was the Passport which is for the whole estate of Versailles including inside the palace, estate of Trianon and the gardens.
Entrance takes you through the palace straight away and it’s done deliberately going through different areas and levels of the palace. The audioguide is easy. There’s a number per room or piece of art/feature that you enter into the audioguide speaker thing to give you the information. So you can do it on your own pace.
I knew the interiors of the palace would be amazing. It is opulent and grand. There is so much gold, beautiful artwork and intricate details wherever you look. It was extravagant.
The famous part of the Palace is the Hall of Mirrors. It’s popular on social media due to the grandness of the room, full of chandeliers and mirrors. It’s a beautiful room but it was not my favourite. We did like the view out the windows though as you can see the beautiful gardens beyond. We were lucky that the room wasn’t as packed compared to other videos I’ve seen but it’s impossible to get a photo without any other people in the background.
I really loved the room just before the Hall of Mirrors. The ceiling and chandelier are beautiful and it wasn’t as busy as everyone rushes to get to the Hall of Mirrors. Max took the photo on the right standing right below the chandelier. I really like that photo.
Some rooms are less crowded than others. We took it slow in some rooms and went through some fairly quickly. It just depends on our mood and how busy it was. Some rooms can be quite packed and hot due to a big tour group. They can be loud too if their guide is talking but you can learn some information if you listen to them too.
Some rooms blew me away with their details and the artwork. If you love art or interiors, Versailles Palace is great. It’s a feast on the eyes with every room you go into.
I don’t exactly know how long it took to tour the inside of the palace but most likely 2-3 hours. You’ll do a lot of walking exploring Versailles so wear comfy shoes! After the interiors, I got a bit snacky so we headed to Angelina’s which is the cafe inside the palace.
I’ve heard about Angelina’s before our trip. They’re famous for their hot chocolate but unfortunately we both hated it. We found the hot chocolate to be sour and bitter. I think we’re quite spoiled in NZ because we have awesome chocolate here (also, my sister worked at a chocolate cafe with amazing hot chocolate) so Angelina’s was so underwhelming and not worth it imo. I don’t know if the Versailles branch was not good compared to the ones in Paris but it was overrated. The Angelina’s hot chocolate was the worst hot chocolate I’ve ever tasted. I’m sorry, but it sucked. Try at your own risk!
After Angelina’s we decided to explore the outside. I highly recommend you include the Gardens in your ticket. It’s so worth it especially on a good day.
The photo above overlooking the Orangery is probably my favourite view from that day.
Whilst the interiors of the palace is great, I think we loved the exterior and gardens more. The gardens were amazing.
The gardens also have a musical show and musical fountain show. You have to time it well but we managed to catch a fountain show while walking around. The gardens is massive so even if it’s busy, you can’t really tell because people are more spread out compared to inside the palace. There are places to sit, stop and relax. You can have a picnic and rest after going through the palace. We saw cats too but we didn’t get to pet them.
My favourite part of our day was going further than the gardens and going out to Parc de Versailles. You will need to ‘exit’ the Palace de Versailles’ ground for this so make sure you keep your ticket as you’ll need it to go back into the Palace grounds. They have signs about this too.
Beyond the gardens is the park which has the Grand Canal. They have boats you can rent so you can row around the canal. We did this and it was fun! This was our favourite activity/part of our day in Versailles.
The fashion brand Jacquemus did their fashion show here last year and the guests were on the boats! Max and I talked about how parasols included in the boat rental would’ve been a great addition and also cute for photos.
We didn’t plan on going on a boat in the canal but I’m so glad we did. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon and the views were great. The grounds are so big that the palace is tiny from the middle of the canal. The scale of Versailles grounds is unbelievable.
It was a hot summer day when we went so rowing the boat in the heat was a struggle. I did attempt and tried to row the boat for a few minutes but I can’t take the credit because Max definitely did all the work! He got us back in one piece although both of us were tired and sweaty.
Afterwards, we went back to the gardens, found a spot to drink and eat my gelato. We started wandering back towards the Palace because we were tired. It’s been a long day of walking and we thought it was time to slowly head back home (to our Airbnb in Paris).
We were in Versailles for 6 hours and we still didn’t get around to exploring everything. If you have more time and energy, I highly recommend checking out the park more especially going to the Estate of Trianon. We just didn’t have the energy anymore as we walked the entire time (plus the boat rowing) but the estate of Trianon looks beautiful.
Some quick tips before I finish this post:
- You can go on a mini train/shuttle or rent bikes if you want to explore the palace grounds in a different way.
- If you choose the Passport ticket you get access to everything so I highly recommend that. It’s worth it for 32€.
- If you’re going in summer, bring sunblock especially for walking around palace grounds! Also bring a hat or fan because it was so hot.
- Bring snacks! There’s the cafe inside the palace and more outside in the gardens and the park but they can get busy, have limited food and expensive so I suggest bringing water and food. We brought some snacks so that got me through the day.
- I mentioned it already but comfy shoes! You’ll be walking so much. I get that some people want the pretty photos for the ‘gram’ but comfort is key for us. We did thousands of steps this day.
- Going back to Paris, we took the train from Versailles Château Rive Gauche which is the closest train station from the palace.
- Taking public transport from Paris was pretty easy. We didn’t have any issues except we thought we bought return train tickets but we found out it was only for one way. They let us out the train station though so we got a free train ride back as a bonus!
Here’s a quick video snapshot of our day in Versailles:
That’s all for my Versailles post. I’m so excited to draft my next blog post about Lyon which was our next destination. Lyon was my favourite and I’ll tell you more about it on the next one! 🙂
Europe Trip blog post links:
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