Versailles Garden Water Show - worth it??

My family was just there on a water show day so here is our feedback--gardens were much more fun and interesting than the palace (kids are ages 15 and 12). The water shows were incidental--as you walk around they seem to start and stop at various times throughout the day. We caught some and they are fun to watch. After being crowded in lines in the palace, it was liberating to walk and run around in the wide open spaces of the gardens.

I don't believe the water-show adder is "crazy expensive". there is just a little booth there where you pay your money, and I am thinking (a few years back) you got your hand stamped so you could pass in and out.

The fountains run on a schedule with canned classical music on a not-so-great sound system. Shows run about 10 minutes, and that is all there is.

It will be crowded, and there is absolutely no consideration given to bath room break logistics. Be prepared to wait, especially if you are female. Going back into the palace is the best plan.

I was just there for the day on 6/22. It was a music day. The gardens were not crowded. They do not stamp your hand, you keep your ticket to go in and out. The gardens cost: €8.50 adults, €7.50 age 6-17, free under 6.

The PA system must be new because the piped in music sounded good (I used to say on this forum it was scratchy and blaring). It actually sounded nice.

There are plenty of restrooms, no need to go back to palace.

The gardens are as good, if not better, than the palace. Don’t go all the way there and miss them.

You can rent bikes by the Grand Canal, very fun. Rates: €6.50 per half-hour, €8.50 per hour, €2 per additional 15 minutes, €18 per half-day (4 hours), €20 over 4 hrs.

You can walk the gardens and grounds or take the shuttle train which costs:
Rates: €7.50 full rate
Reduced rate: €5.80 for under 18s and free for children aged under 12. You can get on and off at different stops within a single circuit.
Single journey: €4

Don’t miss the Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon and the Hamlet.
The palace was for show, the Grand and Petit Trianon are smaller palaces where the king and queen (or mistress in some cases) really lived. The Hamlet was built for Marie Antoinette, it’s a small, idyllic, village of charming cottages where she liked to go to get away from palace life and pretend she was a simple farm girl... along with her perfumed animals.

We loved the fountains -- the gardens are not that all that without the water running. When we were there they ran for an hour and a half in the morning and about the same in late afternoon.
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2016/02/15/fountains-of-versailles-a-little-chaos/
I'll bet the fountains will be more memorable than the chateau

Not surprising. 6/22 was a Friday. No Fountain Shows on Fridays. Musical Gardens.
Saturdays and Sundays are the Musical Fountains Shows.

If I were buying 5 garden tickets I would want to be sure of the schedule. When we went two Octobers ago the fountains were only on for about 90 minutes in the morning -- maybe 9-10:30 and the again for about two hours from about 3-5. This was information available when we bought the tickets -- so we went to the gardens then to the wider estate and then came back for the later fountains. The schedule may be different now, but there will be a schedule and you should be sure it will work for you before buying the tickets. (although right now, timed tickets on fountain days include the garden and I would sure be buying timed tickets rather than waiting in a humongous line for the chateau. I would time my ticket choice for the chateau to work around the fountain schedule if it is similar to the one we encountered.

Sam, I did mean NOT "crazy expensive". :)

So, I was planning on using my Paris Museum Pass to get in to the palace and go early in the morning. Having looked at the schedule of water shows, I'm now thinking of heading into the gardens first, check out the "cottages" and walk around and then go into the palace. Would I still have to stand in the ridiculously long line to get in if I'm coming from the gardens? We still might be better off with the lines first thing in the morning rather than in the early afternoon.

Yes you will have to go to the regular security line entrance to the chateau; there is no entrance from the garden. If I were using the Museum pass I would book the King's apartment tour to avoid the line and book it mid day if available. OR I would get there by about 8:15 and wait for 45 minutes for entry at 9. In high season there will never be a day it is not crowded and the line long. I don't know if Versailles participates in 'free Sunday' but August 5 would be the first Sunday of the month if so and if that is a 'free' day I would plan your Versailles trip for another day or just head to another chateau altogether like Vaux le Vicomte or Fountainbleau and bag this.

My take is similar to others. I thought I was lucky to be at the gardens on fountain day (after deciding not to worry about scheduling that way). As it turns out, they weren't special - certainly not like Peterhof in St. Petersburg. We walked around and found a couple of fountains on with very low quality piped in classical music. As far as I could tell the fountains are on a schedule rather than all being on at the same time. I never found the schedule. I'd say enjoy the gardens, preferably without the added cost of the fountains.

The fountains which are what the gardens are about are boring and not very attractive if the water isn't running, so I'd say the opposite of Barbara above -- Fountains Yeeeeeeeesssssssss. Gardens without? Noooooooooooooo. Take a look at the Ballroom Fountain here
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2016/02/15/fountains-of-versailles-a-little-chaos/
Imagine how uninteresting this setting is without the water running.

I find the gardens wonderful without the fountains on and without the massive amount of people it attracts. I’d never knowingly go on a fountain day again (went in 2016). It is much ado about nothing, imo, and extremely crowded.
On any day other than fountain day the gardens are not normally crowded, even when the palace is.

So, I guess this is what I've learned. The day I'm going is the first Sunday of the month, but during the summer months, it is not free - just like any other day. I can't book the King's Apartment tour in English - sold out. If I want to see the gardens at all, I'm assuming I have to buy the water show tickets. I can buy a timed entrance to the chateau, which guarantees me a 30 min wait max. Now I just need to do the math and see if I buy the tickets individually to take advantage of the timed ticket versus the museum pass, it makes sense.

Thanks everyone.

kylazak, can you buy a Versailles passport ticket with your timed entry ticket? It covers the palace, gardens (if it’s a day they charge), the Grand and Petit Trianon. Petit Trianon includes the Hamlet. It’s cheaper than paying each entry infividually. Then either not get a Museum Pass, or use the MP for other sites on other days.

If you can’t, and you really want to tour inside the palace (it will be jam-packed on a summer Sunday), if it were me, I’d just pay for the timed entry ticket.

Everyone is different, and there is no right or wrong, but I don’t care what entry costs if it’s a place I want to see, traveled so far to see, and may never get there again to see it.
For me, Versailles is worth whatever they charge.

You can’t just walk into the gardens on a day they’re charging (fountain day, music day, and who knows what else day).
You can walk or bike into the grounds for free any day, but not the gardens.