Known for
A royal palace and its gardens, ringed by a town of about 84,000 people
Must-see landmarks
The Palace of Versailles, the Gardens and the Grand Trianon
World Heritage
Palace and Park of Versailles, UNESCO listed since 1979
Getting around
RER C to Versailles Château Rive Gauche or Transilien L to Rive Droite
Versailles' 18th century cathedral rises over the Saint-Louis quarter, its twin domes and Rocaille facade the town's grandest church after the Palace chapel. Entry is free and the interior holds paintings commissioned for the royal parish. The Notre-Dame quarter and its market are a 15 minute walk north.
The Notre-Dame district grew up around the parish church built for Louis XIV between 1684 and 1686, its classical facade closing the long vista of Place Hoche. The Marché Notre-Dame trades in the square beside it, a covered and open-air market that has served the town for centuries. The Palace is about a 16 minute walk north-west.
The Palace of Versailles opens Tuesday to Sunday, closed on Mondays, its State Apartments leading through to the Hall of Mirrors built for Louis XIV. Arriving soon after opening avoids the longest queue at the Pavillon Dufour entrance. The gardens begin right behind it, a 6 minute walk from the Hall of Mirrors exit.
Behind the Palace, André Le Nôtre's formal gardens run past the Latona Fountain to the Grand Canal, once used for boat parties. Entry is normally free, except on Grandes Eaux Musicales and Jardins Musicaux days, when the fountains perform to music and a ticket is required. Grand Trianon lies a 30 minute walk further into the park.
Louis XIV's marble retreat from court life at the Palace opens from midday, closed on Mondays like the rest of the estate. Its single storey wings and colonnaded peristyle look out over their own gardens, quieter than the main grounds. The Petit Trianon and the Hameau de la Reine are a 12 minute walk away.
Marie-Antoinette's private retreat pairs the neoclassical Petit Trianon with the Hameau de la Reine, the thatched hamlet she had built as a working farm and garden. Both are covered by the Trianon estate ticket, not the Palace ticket, and the Hameau opens from midday. The little train back to the Palace saves the walk at the end of the day.
Louis XIV moved the French court out here in 1682 and turned his father's hunting lodge into the seat of government, the model that every other European monarch then tried to copy. The State Apartments lead through to the Hall of Mirrors, where arcades of mirrored glass face the windows onto the gardens, and the Royal Chapel closes the north wing. Queues build quickly at the Pavillon Dufour entrance, so the first hour after opening stays the calmest stretch of the day.
Architect: Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin-Mansart · Style: French Baroque
Location: Place d'Armes, 78000 Versailles
Access: Ticketed, 9:00 to 18:30, closed Mondays · Tickets and tours
André Le Nôtre shaped the ground behind the palace into hedges, basins and sightlines that carry the eye west until the ground meets the sky. The Latona Fountain steps down towards the lawn of the Tapis Vert, the Apollo Fountain marks the far end of it, and past that the Grand Canal opens out where Louis XIV once kept a small fleet of boats. Below the south parterre the Orangery shelters its orange trees through the winter, and the paths beyond the canal empty out even on busy afternoons.
Landscape architect: André Le Nôtre · Listed: UNESCO World Heritage Site
Location: Château de Versailles estate, 78000 Versailles
Access: Free on most days, 7:00 to 20:30; a ticket is required on Musical Fountains and Musical Gardens days
Louis XIV had this low palace of rose marble built at the far end of the park so he could step away from the ceremony of the main court, and its colonnaded peristyle opens straight through to gardens of its own. Everything sits on one floor, the wings running out to apartments that Napoleon later took over and that hosted visiting heads of state well into the last century. Planted for scent rather than for spectacle, the beds here draw a fraction of the crowd once the Grand Canal is behind you.
Architect: Jules Hardouin-Mansart · Style: French Baroque
Location: Estate of Trianon, 78000 Versailles
Access: Ticketed, opens at midday, closed Mondays · Trianon estate tickets
Ange-Jacques Gabriel built the Petit Trianon for Louis XV, and Marie-Antoinette later made it the one place where court etiquette stopped at the gate. Richard Mique laid out the English garden that wraps around it, with the domed Temple of Love standing on its own island, and further on the Hameau de la Reine: a dozen thatched cottages set around a lake, built as a working farm and dairy rather than a stage set. Both sit at the quiet end of the estate, and the little train back to the palace saves the walk.
Architects: Ange-Jacques Gabriel and Richard Mique · Style: Neoclassical
Location: Estate of Trianon, 78000 Versailles
Access: Ticketed, opens at midday, closed Mondays · book the Trianon estate
La Voie de l'Écuyère runs at the Grande Écurie on weekends through to 31 December, the resident Académie équestre's repertoire show of dressage set to baroque music, followed by a visit of the royal stables.
The soprano Monroe sings at Cathédrale St Louis on 5 October at 20:00, a rescheduled date on the cathedral's concert calendar.
Julien Clerc plays the Palais des Congrès on 10 October at 20:30, a night of chanson française at the town's main concert venue.
Calogero plays the Palais des Congrès on 13 November at 20:30, another chanson française date on the venue's autumn calendar.
Stephan Eicher plays the Palais des Congrès on 20 November at 20:30, closing out a run of chanson française nights in the town's concert hall.
Stepping inside costs nothing on any day outside Mass, and the Rococo decor rewards a slow look up at the twin domes and gilded altar. The walled kitchen garden of the Potager du Roi backs onto the same block.
Photo: "Cathedrale Saint-Louis in Versailles" by BenP (CC BY-SA 2.5).
Admission to this indoor court by the Palace costs nothing, Tuesday to Sunday and bank holiday afternoons until 17:30, with last entry at 16:45. Restoration work has kept the panelled hall much as it stood in 1789.
Photo: "Interior of the Salle du Jeu de Paume, Versailles" by BenP (CC BY-SA 2.5).
The parish church built for Louis XIV between 1684 and 1686 opens free to visitors every day from 8:30 to 20:00, its classical facade closing the long vista from Place Hoche.
Photo: "Eglise Notre-Dame in Versailles" by Antoine Rex (CC0).
Browsing the stalls around the church costs nothing, whether it's the covered halls or the open-air pitches that fill the square on market mornings.
Photo: "Marche Notre-Dame halls, Versailles" by Weyoune (CC BY-SA 2.0 de).
The world's scent archive keeps thousands of perfumes alive, among them formulas rebuilt from recipes whose ingredients no longer exist.
Location: 36 rue du Parc de Clagny · Website
Photo: "Exterior of the Osmothèque, Versailles" by Guiclan at the Osmothèque (Public domain).
An 18th century mansion holding paintings, furniture and decorative arts that trace three centuries of life in the town.
Location: 54 boulevard de la Reine · Website
Photo: "Facade of the Musee Lambinet, Versailles" by Henry Salomé (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie laid out nine hectares of fruit and vegetable beds to supply the royal table, still worked today.
Location: 10 rue du Maréchal Joffre
Photo: "The Potager du Roi kitchen garden, Versailles" by Paris Histoire (CC BY-SA 3.0).
One of Europe's largest collections of ceremonial coaches, sedan chairs and sleds, kept in the Grande Écurie facing the palace gates.
Location: Grande Écurie, Avenue Rockefeller
Photo: "Ceremonial coach in the Galerie des Carrosses, Versailles" by GFreihalter (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Bartabas founded this riding school inside the Grande Écurie, where horses and riders train and perform dressage set to baroque music.
Location: Grande Écurie, Avenue Rockefeller · Website
A former royal hospital, its domed chapel restored, now given over to heritage and contemporary art exhibitions north of the centre.
Location: 78 boulevard de la Reine
Photo: "The domed chapel of the Espace Richaud, Versailles" by ChloéN (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Versailles is usually shorthand for one address, but the Palace sits inside a real town of about 84,000 people, laid out by the same royal planners who built the estate behind it. Wide 18th century avenues fan out from the Place d'Armes into quarters that kept their own churches, markets and gardens long after the court left for Paris.
The Saint-Louis quarter, south of the Palace, grew around its own cathedral and the Potager du Roi, the kitchen garden that once fed the royal table. The Notre-Dame quarter, closer to the centre, keeps its 17th century parish church and covered market. Behind the Palace, the park itself works like a neighbourhood, with the Trianon estate and the Hameau de la Reine a world away from the formal gardens near the main gates.
Tuesday to Thursday mornings draw the smallest crowds, since the Palace is closed on Mondays and weekends bring both day trippers from Paris and, from spring to autumn, the fountain shows. A single day covers the Palace and gardens at a brisk pace; a second day allows time for the Trianon estate and the town's own museums and gardens without rushing.
Versailles has three train stations, each suited to a different part of the visit. RER C stops at Versailles Château Rive Gauche, a short walk from the Palace gates. Transilien L trains from Paris Saint-Lazare reach Versailles Rive Droite, closer to the Notre-Dame quarter, while trains from Paris Montparnasse call at Versailles Chantiers, on the town's southern edge. Once in town, most sights are within walking distance of each other. The palace and its park have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, one of the 56 properties on the country's list and a fixture of what to see in France.