How to See the Palace of Versailles

If you've never been here, you've never seen anything like this. Oh my gosh. And now that the sun is out, you can see just the gold sort of starting to sparkle and shine. This is incredible. I'm Angel Castellanos with the Tour Guide, and today I'm gonna teach you how to visit the greatest palace in Europe. So Versailles is technically located outside the center of Paris. So you'll need a special train ticket to get to the Palace of Versailles. Your regular Paris Metro ticket won't cover it. You can take a taxi or a bus to Versailles, but the most time-efficient and best value for money is taking the RER C train, since Versailles is 22 kilometers or 13 miles away from the center of Paris. The RER C train has major stops in central Paris like Gare d'Austerlitz, Saint-Michel, Musée d'Orsay, Invalides, and Champ-de-Mars. It typically takes about 30 minutes or up to an hour to get to Versailles, so be sure to plan ahead. You'll need to take the train to this particular train station. It's the Gare de Versailles Chateau Rive Gauche, and when you get outside the train station, it's about a five to 10-minute walk to the palace. For something this historic and popular, you wanna book your ticket or tour well in advance. There are several ticket options to visit Versailles depending on your preference and the budget, but the passport ticket is the best value and includes everything that you should see. This ticket grants you access to the palace with timed entry, the gardens, the Trinon Palaces, which open at noon, and Marie Antoinette's Estate. It costs $28.50 for adults. For more ticket information, check our blog or visit the Versailles website. If you wanna make things super easy, don't worry, we got you. You can always jump on one of our tours. This tour includes a lot of really great things that are of value. It includes a ticket to Versailles, but it also includes a fancy ticket to not only the palace, but also Marie Antoinette's farm, Marie Antoinette's palace, the gardens, so you get a lot of value when you're actually on this tour. So I feel horrible for these people waiting in this hideous line because these people have actually already purchased their ticket to go into the palace. This is the 11.30 entrance line. Now, groups have a special entrance where they get VIP access and get to skip this hideous line. Remember, there's two sorts of travelers, those who stand in line and those who don't. Versailles was originally a tiny village before becoming a symbol of absolute monarchy during the reign of King Louis XIV in the 17th century. His father, King Louis XIII, originally had a hunting lodge here. His son decided to leave central Paris and began constructing the Palace of Versailles in 1661 and continued doing so for over 20 years. King Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, shocked the world when he unveiled one of the world's largest and most opulent palaces. It was the center of political power in France until the French Revolution in 1789, when the royal family was forced to flee as the French public crossed the gates and stormed the palace. Today, Versailles remains a significant historic site and a mega monument, showcasing the grandeur and luxury of the French monarchy. Visiting Versailles will take you the whole morning. If you arrive first thing in the morning with a timed entry ticket or tour, then heading inside the chateau is first. Once you get inside, it's a one-way path of gilded Baroque rooms, chandeliers, frescoes, and beautiful art. There are three main parts of the palace that make up the state apartments, the king's apartments, the queen's wing, and the Hall of Mirrors that connects them. So one of the takeaways so far from Manny, our guide, is that Louis XIV, who built the Palace of Versailles, was a complete egomaniac. And this is the Venus Room, and you see a statue of him dressed as Caesar. And throughout the palace, we're gonna see not only statues of him, but paintings of him, symbols of the Sun King, which he actually called himself. So when Louis XIV built the Hall of Mirrors here inside of the Palace of Versailles, he sort of shocked the world because nobody had ever seen anything like it. It's 250 feet long, 17 arches with 17 windows, letting in some light, and all these mirrors line the whole hallway. And it's so historically important that the treaty to end World War I was signed right here, and it's called the Treaty of Versailles to this very day. And that, my friends, is interesante. Interesante. A pro tip that I heard from our guide, Manny, is to walk to the end of the Hall of Mirrors as soon as you enter, so the entrance is right over there. But if you walk over to this spot, you'll get a better perspective and a better view for pictures for sure. After you visit the Chateau, you can stroll the vast, lavish gardens that were so important to Louis XIV that he presided over their care personally. Just off to the left, where you enter the garden complex, aren't sort of the main events. It's a small little garden. It's certainly beautiful. There's a pond here, but what you really want to see is the perspective that you see in all the guidebooks and magazines, and that's over towards the middle, shooting out directly in front of the palace. If you're on one of our tours, our guide will give you an introduction to the gardens and give you pointers on how to best explore the grounds. To make the most of your time and maximize your enjoyment, I recommend hiring a golf cart to explore the gardens. One of the things that I suggest, especially if you want to get out to the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon or the Hameau Marie Antoinette's Amulet is to rent a golf cart. You can rent them right here. Once you enter the gardens, rent one, make your life a whole lot easier, and save your legs. To rent the golf cart, you have to turn in your driver's license. They give you a time ticket. Currently, it's 38 euros an hour and an additional nine euros per minute after that. You can only stay on certain parts of the grounds, but this will definitely make it easier to get over to the Petit Trianon for sure. You also get this little handy map too, so if you're traveling with someone else, Josh, they can navigate for you. You know, there's a word in French called flaneur, which means to sort of be a wanderer or wander about, and that's the best thing that you can do in Versailles. So definitely spend about an hour or an hour and a half inside of the palace, but once you get in the gardens, you know, take your time, get lost, and really explore it on your own. The fountains of Versailles are an important feature and are not to be missed when you're exploring the gardens. One of the extraordinary fountains that's not on at the moment, unfortunately, because they only come on at certain times. And so now I'm going to get back in the golf cart and head to one of the other palaces here, but look at this beautiful fountain. Love it. Remember, it's about a 45-minute walk from the palace down to the Grand Canal and then over to the Trianon Estate. You know, there's so much to explore in Versailles, and it's not just the main palace. I'm here at the Grand Trianon, which is the king's private retreat. He built this as a summer escape with his new wife, and it's set in these beautiful gardens. I love sort of this pink marble facade. It's very distinctive. It's small, it's intimate, and definitely worth checking out. Right next to the Grand Trianon is the Petit Trianon, and this is where Marie Antoinette famously lived and escaped court life. So behind this palace, you'll find the Temple of Love and a very special village built by Marie Antoinette. You want to go through the palace first and then make your way to the gardens. So some people like to dress up as a fairytale character or even as a superhero, but Marie Antoinette loved to dress up as a peasant. So what she did is she built this little hamlet of 12 thatch-roofed houses, and it actually became this little village of a working farm, and she would escape the court life and come here and live the life of an everyday peasant. I think as a visitor, it's such a contrast to visit this place compared to the richness and splendor of Versailles. So come check this out. Well, that concludes our tour of Versailles. We started in central Paris and eventually made our way to the town of Versailles, which has the palace that was every king's envy. We skipped the line and checked out the stunning royal apartments, explored the gardens with a golf cart, and even made it to smaller royal palaces on the estate. I'm Angel Castellanos for the Tour Guide. Don't forget to comment, like, and subscribe, and smash that bell to see our next video. Happy travels.