Versailles from Paris: which train, Palace ticket or Passport, and what fits in half a day

On the morning of 6 October 1789 a crowd that had walked out from Paris the day before, led by the market women of the city, broke into the palace of Versailles. By the afternoon the king, the queen and their children were in a carriage on the road to Paris, with the crowd around them. The court had lived here since 1682, when Louis XIV moved his government out of the capital. It never came back.

The furniture was auctioned during the Revolution and the building stood half empty for decades. In 1837 King Louis-Philippe reopened it as a museum dedicated "to all the glories of France", and it has been one ever since. The journey that crowd made on foot now takes about forty minutes by train, and the questions are smaller: which train, which ticket, and how much of the estate fits in half a day.

Which train from Paris

Three lines run to three different stations in Versailles:

• RER C to Versailles Château Rive Gauche. The closest station, ten minutes on foot from the gates. The trains follow the left bank through Saint-Michel Notre-Dame, Musée d'Orsay, Invalides and Champ de Mars Tour Eiffel, and take 35 to 40 minutes. The line has several branches: board only a train whose last stop is Versailles Château Rive Gauche.
• Line N from Gare Montparnasse to Versailles Chantiers. The quickest ride, under half an hour, followed by about twenty minutes on foot.
• Line L from Gare Saint-Lazare to Versailles Rive Droite. About thirty-five minutes, then twenty minutes on foot through the town.

In most summers the central section of the RER C is closed for several weeks of track works. If that falls during your stay, use Montparnasse or Saint-Lazare. Buy the return ticket before you leave Paris.

Palace ticket or Passport

The estate has three parts, and the tickets follow them.

• The Palace ticket is entry to the palace at a booked time: the State Apartments, the Hall of Mirrors, the rooms of the king and the queen.
• The Passport is the palace at a booked time, plus the estate of Trianon (the Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon and the Queen's Hamlet) and the gardens on the days when they are charged for.
• The Trianon ticket covers that estate alone, which opens at noon.

What decides between them is the gardens. On ordinary days they are free. On the days of the Musical Fountains Shows and the Musical Gardens, which fill much of the calendar from spring to the end of October, they need a ticket, and the Palace ticket does not include it. The Passport does. The park beyond the gardens, with the Grand Canal, is free to walkers all year.

A time slot is compulsory for the palace, also for those who enter free, such as visitors under 18 and residents of the European Union under 26: they book a free slot. The palace is closed on Mondays.

So for half a day on an ordinary day, the Palace ticket is enough. The Passport earns its place when you stay the whole day, or on a fountain day.

At the gate

With a timed ticket you use the entrance for individual visitors, on the left side of the main courtyard. A line forms there too, because everybody passes a security check, so arrive a quarter of an hour before your slot. Suitcases and large bags are not let in.

Half a day, in order

The palace, about ninety minutes

The visit runs one way. You look into the Royal Chapel, finished in 1710, from its doorway, then walk the State Apartments, a row of rooms named after gods and planets, to the Hall of Mirrors: 73 metres long, with seventeen windows facing seventeen arches set with 357 mirrors. The German Empire was proclaimed in this room in January 1871, and the Treaty of Versailles was signed in it on 28 June 1919.

The Hall of Mirrors without its crowd: the windows on one side, the arches of mirror on the other. Photo: Myrabella, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Behind the mirrors is the King's Bedchamber, placed at the exact centre of the building and facing the rising sun. Louis XIV died in it on 1 September 1715. The queen's rooms follow, with the small door beside the bed through which Marie-Antoinette fled on the morning the crowd came in.

The King's Bedchamber, at the centre of the palace, with the balustrade that kept courtiers at a distance. Photo: Zairon, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The gardens, about an hour

André Le Nôtre began laying out the gardens in 1661. From the terrace behind the palace, walk down the steps to the Latona fountain, then along the lawn called the Royal Way to the Apollo fountain and the head of the Grand Canal, which is more than a kilometre and a half long. The fountains play only on show days.

The Latona fountain, below the terrace, and the axis that runs on to the Grand Canal. Photo: Basile Morin, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What does not fit: Trianon

The Grand Trianon, built of pink marble for Louis XIV in 1687, the Petit Trianon, which Louis XVI gave to Marie-Antoinette in 1774, and her hamlet of thatched cottages lie about half an hour on foot from the palace, and they open only at noon. Seeing them as well takes a whole day.

The Queen's Hamlet, at the far end of the estate of Trianon. Photo: Julian Lupyan, via Wikimedia Commons.

Reading the partner's listings

• The ticket to the palace, the gardens and the estate of Trianon is the full visit: its list of inclusions names the palace, the gardens, Trianon, the Queen's Hamlet and, at weekends, the Coach Gallery. There is no commentary with it.
• The ticket with an audio tour of the palace and gardens is entry plus a route narrated in the partner's app, on your own phone. Bring earphones, and read the description of the ticket option you pick, because the options differ in what they cover.
• The Musical Fountains Show ticket is for the gardens on a show day. Its listing carries no list of inclusions: do not assume the palace is part of it.
• Audio tours marked "without a ticket", of the palace, of the palace and gardens, or of the gardens, are commentary only.

Several of these tickets are sold in separate categories for residents of the European Economic Area and for other visitors. Choose the one that applies to you and carry an identity document.

These are the Versailles tickets and audio tours our partner sells, with today's prices:

• on WeGoTrip Museum & Attraction Tickets Palace of Versailles: Musical Fountains Show Ticket 4.2 (292) Book on WeGoTripfrom5,045 Ft
• on WeGoTrip Attraction Tickets Versailles: Ticket & Audio Tour of Palace & Gardens 2.5 – 3 hours4.2 (2,247) Book on WeGoTripfrom18,378 Ft
• on WeGoTrip History & Heritage Versailles: Ticket to the Palace, Gardens & Estate of Trianon 4.2 (2,235) Book on WeGoTripfrom16,079 Ft
• on WeGoTrip History & Heritage Versailles: Self-Guided Audio Tour of the Palace (WITHOUT A TICKET) 2 – 2.5 hours Book on WeGoTripfrom3,295 Ft
• on WeGoTrip History & Heritage Versailles: A Self-Guided Audio Tour of the Gardens Gems 1.5 hours Book on WeGoTripfrom3,661 Ft
• on WeGoTrip History & Heritage Versailles: A Self-Guided Audio Tour of the Palace & Gardens (WITHOUT A TICKET) 2.5 – 3 hours Book on WeGoTripfrom4,759 Ft

Sold and delivered by WeGoTrip. You book on their site at their price; Viaqui may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.

When to go

Tuesdays, the day after the weekly closure, and weekends are the busiest. Wednesday and Thursday are calmer, and the first slot of the morning has the shortest wait. Hours change with the season: the current ones are on our page for the Palace of Versailles.

From here

The market halls of Place du Marché Notre-Dame are ten minutes from the gates, and the King's Kitchen Garden, planted for Louis XIV's table between 1678 and 1683, still grows fruit and vegetables beside the cathedral. If you stay the day, end it in the gardens. See what else there is in Versailles, or open the trip planner for France.

Cover photo: Kimberly Vardeman, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.