Attraction · Paris, France
Palace of Versailles
Louis XIV's baroque power move — the Hall of Mirrors, 800 hectares of formal gardens, and the Marie-Antoinette hamlet at the far end.
About Palace of Versailles
Louis XIV moved the court to Versailles in 1682 and turned his father's hunting lodge into a stage for absolutism. Everything about the palace was designed to overwhelm — the mile-long axis of the gardens, the Hall of Mirrors reflecting 17 windows onto 357 mirrors (a rare and stupendously expensive material in 1684), the 700 rooms decorated by every top French artisan of the century. The court peaked here at around 10,000 courtiers, servants, and guards.
The main circuit is the State Apartments — Hercules Salon, War and Peace Salons, and the Hall of Mirrors where the Treaty of Versailles ended WWI in 1919 — plus the King's and Queen's Grand Apartments. Then the gardens: André Le Nôtre's formal parterres, the Grand Canal (rent a rowboat for €18/hour), and at the far northwest corner the Trianons — the Grand Trianon (Louis XIV's pink-marble retreat) and the Petit Trianon (Marie Antoinette's escape from court etiquette). The Queen's Hamlet, a fake peasant village where she pretended to be a shepherdess, is at the far end.
Versailles takes a full day. Get there for opening (9 AM), do the palace first (crowds thickest 11 AM – 2 PM), then walk or take the mini-train out to the Trianons and Hamlet. Bring water and food — options on-site are expensive and mediocre. On weekends April–October the fountains "dance" to baroque music (€12 supplement, ticket sold as "Musical Fountains Show"); it's the version most visitors picture and worth the extra fee.
RER C from central Paris — 45 minutes to "Versailles Château Rive Gauche" — is the cheapest transport. Return trains fill fast around 5 PM.
What to bring
- Full day and open hours — Versailles takes 6–8 hours to see well
- Comfortable walking shoes (garden alone is 800 hectares)
- Water and sandwiches — on-site food is expensive and mediocre
- RER C return ticket bought at the Paris end to avoid queues
- Layers — the palace is warm, the garden windy and often colder
- Sunscreen if visiting May–Sep (mostly unshaded gardens)
Location
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