I am wanting to visit just the gardens of Versailles (saw the palace last time) and have two questions. 1) With current construction restricting entrances, I'm wondering how I get to the garden. Do I need to go through the same entrance as that for the palace or is there a side entrance? 2) Can I take a picnic into the garden? The palaces website doesn't say if you can or not. But on this site several people said they have. Please advice.
Posted by
victoria, Canada
11507 posts
There are serveral entrances to the Gardens , we did a bike tour last year and entered from an entrance at the end of the canals past the Grand Trianon, and also there are entrances on both sides of canal half way down, basically , just go to the grounds, try walking around ( you do not have to go through the Palace to assess grounds), and although I am not familar with exactly what construction is going on, but they will not have sealed off the entrance to the grounds so don't worry about it.
You absolutely can picnic on the grounds, but you cannot sit at any of the outdoor tables and chairs obviously..
Last year we picniced on the grounds after shopping at a local market, and a few years before that we bought bad overpriced sandwiches at a stand on the grounds and picniced on a bench.
You cannot bring food into Palace of course.
Posted by
Portlandia
3313 posts
And at the Hamlet they let you eat cake!
Posted by
Frisco, Tx, USA
45 posts
Was there in May. You can access the Gardens through the main gate to the Palace without going through the Palace. There is some construction, but it shouldn't interfere with what you're wanting to do. Some people from my RS tour group did bring a picnic lunch for the gardens. There were tons of people enjoying picnics, from simple plant your butt on the ground with a sandwich from one of the take away places in the gardens area, to what looked like extended families with picnic baskets and blankets enjoying all afternoon in the gardens.
Posted by
la frette sur seine
448 posts
Doug...you made me pull out my local guide book..the "Hamlet"???...oh ??!! the "Hameau de la Reine".....
Posted by
la frette sur seine
448 posts
....and a bit later..after checking an english guide book..i guess it IS called the Hamlet...all i could think of when i read your comment was the Shakespeare guy...or a small pork...(which could be quite nice for the picnic in the park...)
Posted by
Portlandia
3313 posts
Regina - La Hameau de la Reine - the Hamlet of the Queen. Hamlet in English being a small village. The Queen being Marie Antoinette - hint, hint...
Bad joke.