Versailles - Fountains, Music and Evening Performance

Peter, you can check the calendar on the chateau's website for what's on during the dates of your trip.

Unfortunately, the Night Fountains Show runs only through mid Sept.
https://www.chateauversailles-spectacles.fr/en/event/les-grandes-eaux-nocturnes-2025/

You can still catch musical fountains (LES GRANDES EAUX MUSICALES) during the day on Sat. Oct 4th and Sunday Oct. 5th but not Friday.
https://en.chateauversailles.fr/news/calendar/2025-10-04
https://en.chateauversailles.fr/news/calendar/2025-10-05

Hopefully someone will be along soon to help with the transport part in addition to what's on the website:
https://en.chateauversailles.fr/plan-your-visit/practical-information#getting-to-the-palace

The daytime musical fountains would be running on Saturday but not Friday in early October. I haven't seen the evening performance, but it definitely sounds more attractive and interesting than the daytime. The daytime is fine. I mean I'm glad we did it, but it wasn't the most dazzling of experiences, but certainly added something to our garden stroll.

I’ve learned that “musical gardens” are most everyday, while “musical fountains” are different, and only on select days.
We had planned to go on Friday, October 17. There may be fewer people in the fall, but the gardens may be “resting”.
We’ll aim for another time, perhaps a Saturday, earlier in the season.
Thank you for your valued input.

Ther Versailles gardens are not primarily about flowers and 'resting' is of no consequences; they are architectural gardens not flower gardens. The fountains are in individual copses generally and not floral. they are beautiful when running -- not so much when not. I don't see why it would be better in the evening than the day time, but I have only done it in the daytime.

but definitely plan the visit when the fountains are running. These are snapshots I took about 15 years ago on a garden visit.
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2016/02/15/fountains-of-versailles-a-little-chaos/
I went again to do the garden VR and see the gardens again with a Paris friend this spring and everything was much as it is in these earlier pictures when I visited with my husband.

I didn’t realize there were so many fountains!

Given that the fountains are many and run in the morning and afternoon, perhaps we should reserve access to the Chateau (allowing 1.5 hours) around the fountain shows, perhaps noon, rather than 9 am as many recommend?. Would we have to wait long to get into the Château? There were long lines in your photos.

Fountain times from their web page:
ALL DAY
* Neptune 10 to 5
* Mirror pool 10 to 7
* Water theatre grove 10 to 7

MORNING
* Great Perspective 10:30 to 12
* Groves of the ballroom, Colonade, Girandola, Bachus, 10:30 to 11:30

AFTERNOON
* Latona’s, Apollos, 2 to2:30; 3 to 4:15; 4:45 to 5
* Triumphal Arch, Three Fountains, Apollos bath, Dauphin, Encaladas; Marmosets, Dragon, Syrenes, Pyramid, Ceres, Flora, Golden children 2:30 to 3:15, 4:00 to 4:45

Any suggestion for lunch?

Thank you Janet.

We will reconsider going to Versailles on a Saturday in mid October.

We had lunch at the 'guinguette' cafe at the base of the gardens just outside the garden gate. We sat outside and it was decent enough food and very pleasant. Your ticket allows two entries to the gardens from different gates, so if you want both a morning and afternoon entrance while doing the chateau mid day then you have to strategize a bit on garden entrance. Enter near the chateau in the morning and exit for lunch and then approach the chateau from outside the gardens so you can enter again in the afternoon at a different garden gate. If you re-enter at the bottom gate where you exited, you would have used up your second entry and not have one left for the afternoon. There is also a food vendor off to the right of the main paths down the center of the garden -- about half way down. We didn't get food there, but it looked like they had drinks and sandwiches and such.