Versailles Travel Answers

That is purely a personal question, indoors or outdoors, a personal preference. Both are good anyway so why not split the day between the two ?

pfsmalo wrote:
That is purely a personal question, indoors or outdoors, a personal preference. Both are good anyway so why not split the day between the two ?

Thanks for your reply.

My friend can just spend a day there.  I just want to know what are others' opinions and recommendations.

I think the garden is really great. Do you have any recommendation place except Le Grand Trianon?

Not really, I loved the area and gardens around Grand Trianon, but I haven't been back in a few years. VT member Gwened should be on soon. He used to live just round the corner and he'll have better advice than me.

Everyone who visits Versailles should see the magnificent interior of the main chateau. Brave the crowds, take a look around. The State Rooms are a high point of the French Baroque. The grounds and the less-popular outer chateaux will then serve as a break and counterpoint to the crush of people, who are inescapable at the main chateau.

Well I lived there for almost 10 years and past by the chateau every day from home towork tohome, the best is to choose the individual places inside the castle you want to see, get a layout map from the tourist office or castle ticket office and go for them first upon entering best in opening time and better in wednesday morning. 11am is a bit late better get there at 9am,by 11 all the hordes will be in.

Then go out into the the Grand Trianon and on your way back hit the gardens. I used to jog on weekends in the gardens is magnificent coming back facing the castle. The question about exploring the chateau or gardens more is up to you ,what do you like to see more;most will opt for the castle.

I have plenty on my Versailles page on ways to go around, like getting on bus 19 from ave saint cloud/ave de l'europe bus depot drop off at arboretum stop walk down 200 meters enter thru porte Saint Antoine and the Trianons and Hameau will be right there first thing if the gardens and the farm is tops on your list. Cheers

"The royal city of France" - Versailles by gwened

above is my page, will be there again visiting this time march 21-24 and listed in VTMeetings here.

If he has a full day, he should be able to see both. What I would recommend is to get there 1st thing in the morning with some sort of prepaid ticket (included on the Paris Museum Pass or you can buy online). Visit the interior first with the included audio guide before the bus loads get there and then head out to the gardens. You can walk to visit the Petit Trianon, Grand Trianon and Marie Antoinette's estate, the hamlet is my favorite part of the grounds at Versailles. There is also a tram if he doesn't want to walk or is pressed for time.

On one of our visits we brought along sandwiches and ate them on the grounds, another time we stopped by Angelina's inside the palace for a snack. There's another branch of Angelina's on the grounds which might have a larger menu than the indoor one which I found disappointing.

It depends on the time of year also. In late Fall and winter the gardens are not as nice as in Spring, summer and early Fall. We visited the Chateau, gardens, both Trianons and the Hameau of Marie Antoinette and did it comfortably in one day. We walked all of it so we didn't miss anything although there are little trains or horses and carriages if you are in a hurry. Tell your friend to get there early and he can see it all. He can budget his time to spend the most of it in the places he likes best. I loved the Hameau so we spent more time there than most people probably do.

I hope he enjoys the trip.

yes indeed the angelina in the main castle is hurry up, corner thing and inside lol!! best do the one by the petit trianon, fantastic, my stop when jogging there all the time, and sure to revisit again.

good idea above by Dabs to have the ticket purchase before time, then the security line at 9am will be a breeze.However, the petit train is a tourist trap unless you are really tired lol! walk the beat is glorious.
cheers