One Day at the Palace of Versailles, Hour by Hour

Versailles is an estate of about 800 hectares with a palace at one end, and a day here goes wrong in one of two ways: you spend all of it indoors, or you set off for Marie-Antoinette's estate at eleven and find it closed. Both are fixed by the order you do things in.

Why the order is not a preference

Two opening times govern the whole day. The Palace opens at 9.00am. The Estate of Trianon — the Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon and the Queen's Hamlet — opens at midday, every day, in both seasons. The gardens open earlier than either, from 7.00am in high season.

So the morning belongs to the building, the middle of the day to the gardens, and the afternoon to Trianon. Any other sequence wastes time waiting. The estate publishes exactly this shape itself, and almost nobody follows it because almost nobody knows about the noon opening.

The full day, hour by hour

1. 8.15am — leave Paris. Allow an hour door to door, and more if you are changing trains. Getting there has all three routes.
2. 9.00am — the State Apartments. First entry slot, before the coaches. Ninety minutes covers the King's rooms, the Hall of Mirrors and the Queen's Apartment.
3. 10.30am — out onto the terrace. The Water Parterre, then down the steps to Latona and the view west along the Royal Way.
4. 11.15am — the Apollo Basin. Ten minutes down the Royal Way, and the point where the formal garden gives way to the park.
5. 12.00pm — the Grand Trianon. Thirty minutes on foot, five on a bike, or take the little train. It opens as you arrive.
6. 1.00pm — lunch. Bought at the Versailles market or carried from Paris, eaten in the park. Nothing here is in a hurry at one o'clock.
7. 1.45pm — the Petit Trianon. Five minutes from the Grand Trianon, and worth twenty of yours.
8. 2.30pm — the Queen's Hamlet. Ten minutes further, and the furthest point of the day.
9. 3.30pm — back through the park. Past the Grand Canal, which is the quietest walk on the estate.
10. 4.30pm — leave, or stay for the gardens. They stay open to 8.30pm in summer.

Three day-shapes, and which one is yours

Not everyone has nine in the morning available, and the right plan depends on when you actually arrive.

The afternoon-only shape is the one to avoid if you can: Trianon closes with the Palace and an hour and a half there is not enough.

How long does each part actually take?

The building is the predictable part and the grounds are not. Ninety minutes covers the State Apartments at a guided pace whoever you are. The gardens absorb anything from forty-five minutes to a whole afternoon depending on how far west you walk.

The distances are what people underestimate. Palace to Grand Trianon is about thirty minutes on foot; the Hamlet is fifteen minutes beyond that; and the walk back is forty. That is nearly an hour and a half of pure walking, flat, on gravel, with almost no shade. The map page lists every leg in minutes.

What if you only have half a day?

Then do the Palace and the gardens and let Trianon go. Ninety minutes inside, an hour on the terrace and down to Latona, and back to Paris by two. That is a complete visit by any reasonable measure, and it is what most first-time visitors actually do.

What does not work is trying to compress the full estate into four hours. You will walk for ninety minutes of it and see the Hamlet for twenty. Half day or full day works the choice through properly.

Should you take the little train?

If you are walking, yes. It is ticketed separately from admission, loops the Palace, the Trianons and the Grand Canal, and turns the day's biggest time cost into fifteen minutes. Electric buggies are hired by the hour and bikes near the Canal, and any of the three does the same job.

The alternative is to book a day that solves it for you. A bike departure covers the whole estate without the walking problem existing, which is why it is the only shape here that reliably reaches the Queen's Hamlet. A Palace of Versailles tour from Paris does the Palace end of it.

Where to eat, and when

There are cafes and restaurants on the estate and in the town, and none of them is quick at one o'clock. No departure listed here includes a meal. Picnics are allowed in the gardens and the park, and the Versailles farmers' market a short walk from the Rive Gauche station is the best answer to lunch on this estate.

Practical detail that matters more than it sounds: lavatories are concentrated near the Palace and near the Grand Canal and are thin everywhere else. Use them before you head west.

What to do with a Monday

The Palace and the Trianon estate are shut every Monday. The gardens and the park are not, and from November to late March they cost nothing. A Monday at Versailles is a walk down the Royal Way to the Apollo Basin and along the Grand Canal, with a coffee in the town afterwards, and it is a genuinely good day out.

Two days, if you have them

Almost nobody plans two days at Versailles and the people who do come back saying it was obvious. Day one is the Palace and the gardens on a Passport. Day two is the Trianon estate, the Grand Canal and the park — and in low season, when the gardens are free, day two costs you a €15 Trianon ticket and nothing else.

The case for splitting is that the two halves of this estate want different moods. The State Apartments are a crowded, spectacular, slightly relentless ninety minutes. The Trianon estate is quiet, low and domestic, and it does not reward arriving there tired at three o'clock having already walked eight kilometres. Give them separate mornings and they are two of the best days out near Paris.

If you are staying in Versailles rather than Paris, this is the obvious plan and the town is a pleasant place to spend an evening. If you are commuting from Paris, weigh two return journeys against one long day.

What to do if you arrive late

It happens: a delayed train, a slow morning, a slot at two in the afternoon. The day is still salvageable, and the order changes.

Go to the Trianon estate first. It is open from midday and it closes with the Palace, so it is the part with the tighter window. Then come back through the gardens as the light goes long, and do the Palace last on the final entry slot — 5.45pm in high season, 4.45pm in low. The State Apartments in the last hour of the day are the emptiest they get.

What does not work is arriving at four and trying to do everything. Pick the half you care about, do it properly, and walk the gardens afterwards until they close at 8.30pm in summer. Planning your visit has the last-admission times.

The day in five lines

1. Book the first entry slot, whatever else you do.
2. Palace first, gardens second, Trianon after midday.
3. Budget ninety minutes for the walking, or remove it with wheels.
4. Carry lunch and water; buy them at the market.
5. Not Monday, unless the gardens are the plan.

Planning your visit has the tickets and the hours, and Palace of Versailles Tours lists every departure that can run this day for you.

Frequently asked questions