The Palace of Versailles Month by Month

Two dates govern the entire year at Versailles. On 1 April the hours lengthen, the Passport goes from €25 to €35 and the garden shows begin. On 1 November all three reverse. Everything below hangs off those two switches.

What changes on 1 April and 1 November

The Palace is closed every Monday in both seasons, and on 25 December, 1 January and 1 May.

Spring: April, May and June

April is when the estate wakes up. High-season hours start on the 1st, the fountains begin, and the gardens look like the photographs. Easter is the first genuinely crowded week of the year and it is worth avoiding if you can pick.

May brings long light and mild afternoons, with public holidays on the 1st and 8th that fill the estate — and note it is closed altogether on 1 May. June is the month the place looks best: warm, long evenings, fountains running, and the gardens at their peak before the summer heat settles.

Summer: July and August

The busiest and the hottest, and worth planning around rather than avoiding. There is no air conditioning in the State Apartments, and travellers cut visits short because of it in both months. Take the first slot of the day, carry water, and give the gardens the late afternoon rather than the middle of the day.

One practical warning specific to summer: engineering work has closed the RER C branch to Versailles Château – Rive Gauche for stretches of July and August in recent years. The Montparnasse and Saint-Lazare lines both still run. Getting there has all three.

Autumn: September, October and early November

September is the best month of the year here and it is not close. You keep the high-season hours and the fountains, you lose the heat, and after the first fortnight you lose most of the crowd as well. If you can choose any week, choose one in the second half of September.

October holds the same hours until the 31st and adds autumn colour in the park. The garden shows run to 1 November. Rain becomes likelier, which costs you the gardens rather than the building.

Winter: November to March

The cheapest and quietest the estate ever is. The Passport drops to €25, the gardens are free to everyone every day, and the whole estate is free on the first Sunday of the month. Statues go under winter covers and the fountains are off.

What you lose is daylight and warmth. The Palace closes at 5.30pm and the gardens at 6.00pm, so a short winter afternoon does not stretch. What you gain is the Hall of Mirrors with room to stand in it, which in July is not on offer at any price.

Which month is best for the gardens?

June for the planting and September for everything else. The fountains run only between 1 April and 1 November 2026, which rules out the winter half if the Musical Fountains Show is the reason you are coming. The events page has the season, and the gardens page walks the axis.

The contrarian answer is February. The gardens are free, empty and structurally legible in a way they are not when everything is in leaf, and you can see what Le Nôtre actually built.

When is Versailles least crowded?

A weekday morning between November and March, at the 9.00am slot. Within any month, the first entry of the day beats every other variable including the season. Avoid Tuesday all year, because the Palace is shut on Mondays and Tuesday takes the overflow.

Avoid French public holidays and the fortnight around Easter. Avoid the first Sunday of the month between November and March if crowds bother you more than money does — free entry fills the place.

Does the weather actually change the visit?

Yes, and in one direction. The Palace runs whatever happens, so rain costs you the gardens rather than the building. The bike departures state that they operate in all conditions and ask you to dress for it, and two operators may cancel for genuinely bad weather with a full refund.

Heat is the bigger factor. The building has no air conditioning, and one traveller notes that the fountains are held back in hot weather to save water. A thirty-eight degree afternoon at Versailles is a hard visit at any price. Versailles palace and gardens tour bookings all refund up to 24 hours ahead, which is what makes booking around a forecast safe.

Which month for the Queen's Hamlet?

Late spring or early autumn, and for a reason specific to that corner of the estate. The Queen's Hamlet is a working farm with a garden around it, and it looks like one in May and September and like a building site in February when nothing is growing. It is also half an hour's walk from the Palace, which is a pleasant walk in September and a cold one in January.

The other consideration is daylight. The Trianon estate opens at midday and closes with the Palace, so in low season you have five and a half hours to reach it, see it and get back — and the last of those is in the dark from about half past four in December. In June you have six and a half hours and light until ten.

Booking around the season

Two practical rules. Book further ahead the closer you are to July: a week is comfortable in January, three weeks is sensible in August, and more around a French public holiday. And book a refundable fare whatever the month, because every departure here refunds in full up to 24 hours ahead and that is what makes a forecast something you can act on.

The seasonal price difference is real but smaller than people expect. The estate's own Passport moves €10 between seasons; the guided fares barely move at all, because the guide and the transport cost the same in February as in July. What actually changes is what the money buys you: the same $75 gets you an empty Hall of Mirrors in November and a slow shuffle through it in August.

If you are flexible and want the best of it, aim for the second half of September and book six weeks out. The month-by-month page has the detail.

What the season does to the crowds, specifically

The crowd at Versailles is not evenly spread and it does not track the season as closely as people assume. The heaviest pressure is between ten in the morning and one in the afternoon in the State Apartments, in every month from April to October, and it is driven by coach arrivals rather than by the weather.

What that means in practice is that a July morning at nine is quieter than an October Saturday at eleven. Season is the second variable; time of day is the first. If you can only control one of them, control the hour.

The gardens work the other way entirely. They absorb people, and even on a full August afternoon the far end of the Grand Canal is close to empty. Anyone finding the building oppressive should walk west rather than wait it out.

Month by month, in one line each

• January: free gardens, 5.30pm close, free first Sunday. Cheapest of all.
• February: the same, plus French half-term at the end.
• March: last of the free gardens, improving light.
• April: hours lengthen, fountains start, Easter is busy.
• May: mild and long-lit; closed on the 1st.
• June: the estate at its best-looking.
• July: hottest, busiest, RER works possible.
• August: as busy, often hotter.
• September: the best month of the year.
• October: autumn colour, shows to the end.
• November: low season starts, gardens free again.
• December: quiet midweek, closed on the 25th.

The month-by-month page has the detail behind each of these, and every departure is on Palace of Versailles Tours.

Frequently asked questions