Our group of 8 will be in Paris and plan to spend 1 day visiting Versailles. We have already visited the gardens of Versailles during a previous trip. Wondering if anyone has recommendations for us. Is it worth it to book a tour, such as a 'Skip the Line' type tour? Or is the Rick Steve's audio walking tour just as good? Are the Trianon Estate and Petit Trianon worthwhile visiting? Is there a 'best time' to get palace tickets?
Posted by
Long Beach, Ca, usa
3314 posts
Rick, Just an fyi. The tours do not let you skip the security line, just the ticket purchase line. It is unlikely you will walk right in with no waiting. You might check the King's Apartments Tour offered through the official Versailles website. I wouldn't spend any money on an outside tour group.
Posted by
OP
5 posts
Thanks Judy! Appreciate your advice.
Posted by
Tallahassee, FL, USA
80 posts
The Rick Steves self-guided tour is great. I don't think you need to spend money on a guide. You can't skip the security line anyway - you're only skipping the ticket line on the guided tours, which you'll already have done if you booked your tickets ahead of time anyway.
Make sure you do purchase your admission tickets ahead of time!
You should pick an entry time very first thing in the morning if you're going to do the palace and Trianons. That will pretty much take all day. If you are only doing the palace interior, you could go around 2-3ish in the afternoon. People from the morning are starting to leave so the security lines are more manageable then.
Versailles is insanely crowded so be prepared to feel like a sardine in the most elaborately gilded fish tin. Still very much worth the visit, but....be prepared. I felt like I had battled my way through Disney World in summer when I went in September 2025. I'd been to Versailles twice before, but almost 20 years ago, and it was no where near as crowded as it is now.
Posted by
Utah
17 posts
agree with the information regarding crowds. we were there a week ago and i felt like i was just being swept along with the crowd of people. it was difficult to really "look" at or study anyone thing in particular - just had to keep moving.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
906 posts
Ditto re the crowds.
In 2023, Versailles was our least enjoyable day of 30 in France, followed by the day we went to CDG to learn our flight was cancelled and our day in the crowd at Giverny.
As to the RS guide, it did not work well for me and I quickly switched to the far more accessible and flexible, official Chateau de Versailles guide that I had downloaded to my smart phone a day before we toured the Chateau. So glad we had done that! (LATE NOTE The official App is free.)
The RS guides work when you can follow Rick’s route through a museum or along a walk. When crowds get in the way, it’s a problem.
The official Versailles app allows you to select the room you’re at quite easily. It has multiple “tours” on it. 28 (6 of which are for children). They range from the State Apartments and Louis XIV Rooms, to the Gardens, the Queen’s Hamlet, the Grand Trianon, the Gardens of the Grand Trianon, the Apartments of the Captain of the Guard and more. Again, all accessible room by room. Download the App in advance and spend a little time to get familiar with the App before you go, if you do stick with your plan to brave the crowds.
Personally, we found chateaux in the Loire more to our tastes and the gardens at some of those (esp. Villandry and Chaumont) to be far more elegant than Versailles. Still, I get that Versailles - and Giverny - are bucket list sights. They were for our third trip to France.
Posted by
OP
5 posts
Thank you all for your very helpful information!