Palace of Versailles - Which day to go?

I would poke my eyes out before I would go to Louvre on the free sunday again.. or even consider Versailles that day. I think the free sundays are best used by visiting some lesser known musuems.. ones that may, or may not interest you, if you leave after 1/2 hr you don't feel like you've lost out money, and you can visit several small, less crowded sites that way.

If you go on a weekend( fountain shows are Saturday and Sundays) you will need to purchase a supplement ticket for the formal gardens where the fountain show is.. its about 8 euros and you can purchase it there , lines for that are not bad since you are already in the grounds having passed through the palace with your Museum pass already.

I would go on the Friday.. I would aim to arrive at palace at least 45 minutes before it opens, with pass in hand you can get right in security line( which will already start to form even that early).. that way you can hopefully get through palace in the first wave before it becomes the crushing mass of humanity it turns into very soon after opening.

If you can't go Friday morning before it opens,, then I would go later in day,, say around 1, do gardens and Marie Antionettes Hamlet and Trianons,, then visit the palace after 3 when crowds inside subside.. SLIGHTLY.

This assumes you are planning this visit for the busy season April-October.

PS.. Free sundays for some sights do not start till after height of season so check websites to be sure for places like Louvre etc.

andrea,

I've found that the Louvre tends to be crowded on Mondays (Versailles is closed) and Versailles VERY crowded on Tuesdays (when the Louvre is closed). Given your time availability, I expect you'll just have to make the best of the circumstances.

Hi Pat - I like your point about AVOIDING the museums that have the free days - since we have the PMP I don't see why we would need to go on a free day. We arrive in Paris on Friday around 11:30 via train so maybe we should go to our hotel, drop our bags and head out to Versailles on Friday afternoon - that way we can avoid the weekend crown all together.

Thanks for your input!

Andrea, If you are taking the train to Versailles, RER-C, from Paris, make sure you take the correct line. There are two stations in Versailles. You want the Versailles - R.G. (Rive-Gauche) station.

andrea,

One other tip - the train to Versailles has the word "Vick" above the driver's window.

I was told that Wednesday is a good day to go, and to go later in the day, like around 2pm or later. You can visit the garden first, then go into the palace later.

Thanks everyone for the helpful tips! Unfortuntaly we wont be there on a Wednesday so still up in the air about Friday afternoon or first thing on Saturday - either way we will get there :)