Three departures put you on a bicycle for a full day inside the estate. They reach the Trianon estate and the Queen's Hamlet, which a walking visit rarely does, and two of them build the day around the Versailles market and a picnic by the Grand Canal. Here is what that costs and who should not do it.
A full day inside the park, on a bicycle, with the Palace as one stop rather than the whole visit. Three departures do this. All three include the bike, all three get you inside the Palace, all three reach ground that a walking visit does not, and two of them build the middle of the day around the Versailles market and a picnic by the Grand Canal.
The park is about 800 hectares. That number is the whole argument for putting you on a bike.
Thirty minutes on foot from the Palace to the Grand Trianon becomes five on a bike, and Marie-Antoinette's Queen's Hamlet stops being an expedition. Two of the three include both in the fare.
You buy lunch at the Versailles farmers' market and carry it in, which is why the picnic happens by the water rather than in a queue at a cafe. Riders bring up the market unprompted, often before they mention the building.
Twelve, fourteen and twenty travellers on the three listings, which on a bicycle matters more than it does in a room — you can hear the guide and nobody gets lost at a junction.
Two of the three carry round-trip tickets from Paris in the fare, so the day starts and finishes in the city without a car. The third meets you in Versailles.
Children's bikes, tandem attachments and baby seats are available on request across the three. That is a rarer thing at Versailles than it sounds.
A walking tour is shorter, cheaper and entirely indoors-plus-terrace. A bike day is seven and a half to eight hours and covers four or five times the ground. They are not really competing for the same visitor.
The bike days are a different day out rather than a faster version of the same one.
| By bike | On foot | |
|---|---|---|
| From | From $128 | From $82 |
| Length | 7 hr 30 min to 8 hours | 1 hr 30 min to 4 hours |
| Inside the Palace | Up to 1 hr 30 min | 1 hr 30 min |
| Trianon estate | Yes, on two of the three | Rarely |
| Queen's Hamlet | Yes, on two of the three | Rarely |
| Grand Canal | Yes | Only if you walk it yourself |
| Market and picnic | Yes, on two | No |
| Physical requirement | You must be able to ride | Standing and walking |
| Group cap | 12 to 20 | 10 to 27 |
Check availability — the eight-hour bike day
You get: the bicycle and helmet, time inside the Palace, the run of the park, and on two of them the Trianon estate, the Queen's Hamlet and round-trip train tickets from Paris.
You do not get: lunch. You buy it at the market, which is the point rather than an omission, and gratuities are excluded on all three.
You do not get a short day. Seven and a half to eight hours, outdoors, in whatever the weather is doing. Two operators say plainly that they run in all conditions.
And you do not get a lie-in. These are full days that leave Paris in the morning, because the market and the Palace slot both have to fit inside them.
Price band: $128 to $199 per person.
Duration: seven and a half to eight hours.
Meeting points: Rue de la Pépinière and Rue St Charles in Paris, or
Avenue du Général de Gaulle in Versailles.
Age and height: everyone over nine rides solo on one listing; the
electric-bike day sets a minimum age of ten and heights of 1.35 m for a child's bike and
1.50 m for an adult's.
Season: April to October for the fountains and the light. The park is flat
and rideable all year, but a wet January is a long day on a bicycle.
Anyone who would rather not ride, obviously — and that is not a small group. If cycling on public roads with traffic is uncomfortable, note that one of these reaches the estate that way before it gets to the park, and a traveller has said so plainly. The departures from Paris cover the Palace without a saddle.
If eight hours is more day than you have, this is not your booking either: a guided morning does the State Apartments in ninety minutes and gets you back to Paris by lunch. And if walking any distance is the difficulty, a private car that parks close to the entrance is the answer rather than a bicycle. A Palace of Versailles bike tour is the shortest version of the day. Every departure is on Palace of Versailles Tours.
Train out from Rue de la Pépinière, then eight hours on a bike covering the market, both Trianons, the Queen's Hamlet and timed entry to the Palace. Fourteen riders at most, with children's bikes and baby seats on request.
From $128 per person
Meets in Versailles rather than Paris, so you arrive under your own steam and ride from there. Bicycle and helmet included, up to ninety minutes inside the Palace, and the run of the Chateau and the royal gardens on your own afterwards.
From $128 per person
Electric bikes out of Paris through Marnes-la-Coquette and the Fausses-Reposes forest, fifty minutes at the Notre-Dame market, then a picnic by the Grand Canal. Train home at the end, with the team returning the bikes for you.
From $199 per person
You need to be able to ride, and the park is flat with no hills in it. One listing requires everyone over nine to cycle solo, and another sets a minimum age of ten. The distances are well within an ordinary day's riding.
Yes, on all three, along with a helmet. The electric-bike day adds a rain cape and a saddlebag, and child seats or children's bikes are available on request at the time of booking.
Yes. All three get you inside, with up to an hour and a half in the Palace, and two of them name a timed-entry ticket in their inclusions. The difference from a walking tour is that the building is one stop in the day rather than the whole of it.
Two of the three do, along with the Grand and Petit Trianon. That is the strongest reason to take a bike day: on foot the Hamlet is thirty minutes out and forty back, and it does not open until midday.
No, and that is deliberate on two of them. You buy it at the Versailles farmers' market and eat it in the grounds, and one listing supplies the picnic blanket. The third excludes food and drink outright.
Two operators state that they run in all weather and ask you to dress for it. Both may cancel for genuinely bad conditions with a full refund, and you can cancel yourself up to 24 hours ahead.
One listing puts it at roughly ten miles over flat terrain and calls the pace leisurely. The ground is gravel avenues inside the park, which is easy riding but not fast.
One listing does not recommend the ride above 122 kilos. The electric-bike day sets 1.35 m as the minimum for a child's bike and 1.50 m for an adult's, with limited stock of the smaller ones.