Palace of Versailles 2024 Guide – Planning, Getting There, Visiting

Come with me and discover France’s second most visited Palace after the Louvre, and ranked 4th in the world: The Palace of Versailles, one of the most beautiful castle that can be seen!
You’ll discover how to plan your visit, how to get there and then you’ll follow me on a comprehensive tour of the Palace and its gardens.

#versailles #palaceofversailles #paris

Chapters:
00:00 – Intro
00:52 – How to get to Versailles
03:00 – How to plan your visit
05:06 – Starting the tour
08:17 – Chateau de Versailles official videos
16:40 – Back to the visit!
22:53 – Royal Chapel
23:30 – Hercules room
24:40 – The State Apartments
30:27 – The Hall of Mirrors
32:20 – The King’s Bedchamber
36:46 – The Queen’s Bedchamber
39:43 – The Coronation Room
42:47 – The Gallery of Great Battles
48:13 – A winter day walk in the gardens

Bonjour!
Did you know that Paris boasts two of the four most visited palaces in the world? Indeed! The Louvre, not only a palace but also the world’s most visited museum, shares the spotlight with the Palace of Versailles. These two iconic landmarks are only rivalled by the Forbidden City in Beijing and the Royal Palace in Bangkok in terms of global popularity. Let me embark you on a virtual tour of the Palace of Versailles!
But first, I’ll guide you on how to reach Versailles, as it’s about 20 kilometers west of Paris From Paris to Versailles, there are many transport options You can take a taxi or Uber, get onboard a bus, or choose to take the train! Depending on where you take it and on the traffic, a taxi would cost in between 35 and 55 €. And a Uber / Freenow / Bolt would cost roughly the same price The bus comes as the cheapest solution!
The cost is only 1 t+ ticket: €2,10 Take the 171 bus at Métro Pont de Sèvres (last station on line 9) and exit at Château de Versailles after 30 minutes (without traffic) There are 3 train options to choose from, depending on where you are staying in Paris This train, Regional Train Line L, goes from Gare Saint-Lazare, in Paris, to Versailles Rive Droite station It takes 35 minutes and costs 4,95€ Just make sure to take the train that goes to Versailles Rive Droite, as there are 3 branches on Line L When in Versailles, you’ll have to walk 20 mn / 1.4 km, to the Palace The second train option is Regional Train Line N from Gare Montparnasse to Versailles Chantiers Station It takes 25 minute, and costs 4,05€, but you still have a long 1.5 km / 25 minutes walk to the Palace The best solution, by train, is the RER C, which links 7 stations in Paris to Versailles Château Rive Gauche, the nearest station to the Palace of Versailles It takes 25 to 43 minutes, depending on where you board it, and costs 4,05€. From Versailles Château Rive Gauche, the walk is then only 900 m or 11 mn Convenient, fast, cheap, and close to the Palace entrance, RER C, to me, is the best solution to go from Paris to the Palace of Versailles And do not forget that if you have a Navigo Découverte Travel Card with a weekly or a monthly pass, then you won’t have to pay anything, as Versailles being in zone 4, the journey would be included in your pass! The same goes for the Paris Visite cardboard ticket 1 to 4! There are 3 main things to discover at the Palace of Versailles:
the Palace in itself, the Gardens and Park, and the Estate of Trianon The Gardens and Park are opened everyday from 8am to 6pm (8.30pm in high season) The Palace and the Estate of Trianon are opened everyday except Mondays,
from 9am to 5.30pm (6.30pm in high season) for the Palace and from 12 noon to 5.30pm (6.30pm in high season) for the Estate of Trianon The access to the Gardens is free except on days of fountains shows and musical gardens Access to the Palace and to Trianon is free for visitors under 18 or under 26 if they live in the EU Otherwise, the Palace access fee is 19,50€ and the Trianon is 12€.
There is also a Passport, that includes both entrance to the Palace and Trianon for 21,50€ To access the Palace, booking a time slot online is mandatory even if you have a free ticket. For this, you have to go to
https://billetterie.chateauversailles.fr When you book online, your ticket lets you enter the Palace within the half hour following your reservation time. There are also many different guided tours, depending on the day you want to go to the Palace Only one of these tours is in English though: the guided tour of the king’s private apartment It costs an extra 10 € and lasts 1 hour and 30 minutes If you consider doing this guided tour, you’d better book it at the same time you’re booking your entry ticket Audioguides are available for free in 11 languages: French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean and Polish You can also enjoy audioguide tracks on your smartphone and not queue at the audioguide desk, by downloading for free the Palace’s applications. Available in English, Spanish and French Now, if you want to know more about the Palace of Versailles, join me for the rest of this video as I guide you through a comprehensive tour of the Palace. Unlike our usual content, today’s video will feature the Palace of Versailles without any background music – just raw footage, providing an authentic and unfiltered experience of this historic masterpiece. Join me for a unique exploration! Even with your time-stamped ticket, you’ll have to stay in line for some time, because of the security check. This former royal residence welcomes almost 8 million visitors each year to admire its lavish rooms, art collection and splendid gardens. One of the greatest achievements in French 17th-century art, the Palace contains a staggering 2,300 rooms, Don’t be afraid, we’re not going to visit them all! By the way, if you notice people wearing masks in the video, please keep in mind I filmed it last year.
Today, in Paris, mask-wearing is no longer a common practice. Let’s get inside… Louis XIII’s old hunting pavilion was transformed and extended by his son, Louis XIV, when he installed the Court and government there in 1682. A succession of kings continued to embellish the Palace up until the French Revolution. In 1789, the French Revolution forced Louis XVI to leave Versailles for Paris, … where he was beheaded 4 years later! The Palace would never again be a royal residence and a new role was assigned to it in the 19th century, when it became the Museum of the History of France Construction of the Royal Chapel was completed in 1710 at the end of the reign of Louis XIV. It’s a pity we can’t visit it! We are now entering the Palace History Gallery In this section of the Palace, three digital videos narrate the history of both the Palace and its enchanting gardens. I present them to you here with the kind authorization of the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles Combined, these videos have a duration of 8 minutes and 13 seconds. If you prefer to skip them, feel free to jump ahead to the next chapter at 16:40. On the ground floor, these adjoining rooms provide a chance to explore and learn more about the history of the Palace. This a model of the King’s bedroom that you’ll see later Now let’s go up to the main floor of the Palace In this series of rooms known as the Louis XIV rooms, you’ll find a vast array of historical portraits and landscapes, though they may not captivate everyone’s interest. Finally! While I appreciate historical paintings, the sheer quantity stacked together felt a bit overwhelming—almost like an overdose! We are here in the upper chapel vestibule From there, you have a great view of the Royal Chapel We are now entering Hercules Room which leads to the State Apartments The paintings on each of the opposite walls are by Veronese They were a gift from the Republic of Venice The Salon of Abundance is the first of the State Apartments rooms The King’s State Apartments were originally intended as his residence, but Louis XIV transformed them into galleries for his finest paintings, and venues for his many receptions This salon, the Salon of Venus was used for serving light meals during evening receptions We are now in the Salon of Diana which was used by Louis XIV as a billiards room, and had galleries from which courtiers could watch him play The Salon of Mars once used by the royal guards was turned into a concert room, with galleries for musicians on either side The Salon of Mercury was the original State Bedchamber when Louis XIV officially moved the court and government to the Palace in 1682. The bed is a replica of the original, commissioned by King Louis-Philippe in the 19th century when he turned the Palace into a museum The Automaton Clock was made for the King by the royal clockmaker Antoine Morand in 1706. When it chimes the hour, figures of Louis XIV and Fame descend from a cloud The Apollo Room was once the main room, and therefore the most sumptuous, of the King’s Apartments, since it served as the throne room from 1682 At the end of the King’s Apartments, at the corner of the Palace, the War Room overlooks the Hall of Mirrors This 73-metre-long gallery linking the King’s and Queen’s Apartments replaced a terrace There are 357 mirrors in the Hall of Mirrors The ceiling fresco, painted by Le Brun, embellishes the first 18 years of Louis XIV’s reign in 30 scenes At the third of the gallery, a mirror door leads to the King’s Chamber First, the Council Room, where the King would meet with his counselors In 1701 Louis XIV moved his bedchamber into this large room situated in the centre of the eastern façade of the Palace Louis XIV died in this bed on September 1st, 1715 after a reign of 72 years, the longest in the history of France The Bull’s Eye Antechamber is named after the circular window which brings light into the room on the southern side This antechamber leads back to the Hall of Mirrors At the end of the Hall of Mirrors, opposite the Chamber of War, is the Chamber of Peace The Chamber of Peace leads straight to the Queen’s Bedchamber The Bedchamber is the most important room in the Queens apartments and is where the Queen spent most of her time It was where she slept, often with the king, and in the morning she received guests here It was also here that the queen gave birth, in public, to the Princes and Princesses of the Realm Nineteen Princes and Princesses of the Realm were born here between 1682 and 1786 The Royal Table antechamber is where public meals were taken by the royal family Only the members of the royal family were allowed to dine, while privileged duchesses, princesses or those holding important positions sat in front of them on stools In the Queen’s Guard Room, 12 of the Queen’s Guards were on duty day and night. We are now leaving the Queen’s State Apartment This room is called the Coronation Room In 1833 it became a room devoted to the glory of Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul and then Emperor of the French In the centre of the room stands the “Austerlitz Column”, which Napoleon commissioned from the Sèvres Royal Porcelain Manufactory to commemorate his first imperial victories The Coronation, by French painter David, which was located in this room and actually shows the coronation of Empress Josephine, was moved from Versailles to the Louvre in Paris in 1889. This is a second version that David also painted The Gallery of Great Battles is the largest room in the Palace (120 metres long and 13 metres wide). It covers almost the entire first floor of the South Wing King Louis-Philippe displayed 33 paintings here depicting the greatest battles that had influenced the history of France, from the victory in Tolbiac by Clovis to the victory in Wagram by Napoleon in 1809 All the dynasties from the history of France are evoked, including the Merovingians, Carolingians, Capetians, Valois and Bourbons Since its opening the gallery has remained intact and untouched, with all the works commissioned by the Citizen-King Louis-Philippe for its decoration Some of these battles are also battles of the allies of France, as shown in this painting of George Washington and Admiral De Grasse at the siege of Yorktown This long corridor brings us back to the exit of the Palace The exploration of the gardens is equally captivating. However, on that chilly day, I limited my visit to the immediate surroundings of the Palace. This time, enjoy the ambiance with music, and let the visuals speak for themselves—no commentary! This is the end of our walking tour of the Palace of Versailles I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed visiting this magnificent Palace See you soon on another Paris Top Tips video!