We will be going to Versaille on August 1. Plan on buying the Museum pass which will cover our normal entrance fee plus booking the Kings Apartment Tour which, from what I understand, will allow us to avoid the long lines. The tour is offered at 1:30 that day along with the morning one. My question is, if I reserve the 1:30 p.m. tour will we be able to see or do anything prior to that without waiting in lines to get in as the whole purpose of booking the apartment tour is to avoid this. Also, with the 1:30 tour will that allow us enough time after the tour to see the rest of the chateau? The 1:30 timeslot just seems a bit more appealing to us rather than having a real early morning on our vacation. I'm just not sure if we can access gardens or other parts of the estate without the line ups prior to actually entering the chateau itself.
Posted by
Boston
4132 posts
You can just walk right in to the gardens.
There is a city bus that will take you near the Petite Trianon, which is on the other side of the grounds, if you are up for a nice bit of walking. The Hameau is especially interesting.
Posted by
Rockville, MD, USA
598 posts
You don't need a pass or a ticket to enter the gardens. We got there about 10 am, walked all over, ate lunch at Le Petit Trianon, caught the shuttle train back to the chateau, and strolled in with no line about 3:30 pm on a Thursday in April. We had plenty of time to see everything.
Posted by
60 posts
Just got back 2 weeks ago from doing this.Marty is spot on with the suggestion.
Posted by
OP
58 posts
Thanks - answered my questions. The 1:30 tour will work out just fine. Now if the Tour de France wasn't in Paris during our time there it would be lovely....lol.
Posted by
San Francisco
993 posts
yep did the apartments tour at 9:30. It was awesome!
Yes you can just walk over to the left and just enter the gardens with no line... you could do that first, then do the tour.
Kim