A day in Versailles; the city, palace and gardens

In this video you’ll get to join me on a day trip from Paris, to Versailles. Visiting both the palace, it’s garden and the city itself, and I’ll be sharing a bunch of useful information that’s good to know if you’re planning to visit.

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[Music] Hello everyone, my name is Yanuka and welcome to this video. I am currently in Paris, but in today’s video we’re going to Versailles. And in this video, I’ll show you guys how to get there, what are things to keep in mind, and also in general show around the town and also the palace. But firstly, we need to get to Versailles. And for that, we’re about to jump on a metro. Heading to Versailles by public transport is easy and cheap. There are several different metro bus and train lines going there. I would suggest checking an application like Google Maps to see which one would be the most convenient for where you are staying. We opted out to go with the rare sea train which is one of the most convenient and popular options. We bought tickets to Versailles from the metro station, hopped on the metro to the closest rare sea train station. [Music] [Music] We’re now at the station waiting for our train and we were able to buy these little tickets. They are €2.50. They covered the metro ride and the ticket to Versailles. We also have like a metro card. I think it’s safer to get this where it actually says a ticket to Versailles. I don’t think the regular metro card works. Okay, don’t listen to me. When I was filming this, I didn’t know what I was talking about. But basically, yes, you can buy a specific ticket with the correct end station, which is this, by the way. Not going to spell it out, but it is important that this is the station you go to. But you could also use the metro or train card normally if you have one. And this is actually what we ended up doing on the way back. But yeah, quite cheap. Only €2.50 for a metro ride and train ride all the way from Paris to Versailles. So, not too bad at all. It is quite busy, so I’m hoping we’ll be able to get a seat and enjoy the ride. Come, [Music] come. [Music] [Music] We’ve now arrived to Versailles. The train ride was really smooth and quite quick. Only took us like half an hour. We don’t have our time slot for the palace until 2:30 p.m. Actually, we were a bit late with the booking, so we weren’t able to get a very early time slot, which is a bit of a pity. But what is nice with that is that it gives us some time to actually explore Versailles itself, like the city and not just the palace, because what I’ve heard from some friends of mine is that it’s actually a really nice city to walk around. We’ll probably find some nice lunch spot and just enjoy the day here. Today’s also a really warm day. They’re promising 29°. So, let’s enjoy this warm, sunny day here before then heading to the palace and see what else this city has to offer. [Music] So, Versailles is more than just the home city for the palace. It’s a beautiful place rich in history and the city used to hold the seed of the royal power in France. Here you’ll find charming streets and classical French architecture. [Music] We have come to this big lovely market square. They have a big market going on outside and they also have these like inside areas where they’re selling all kinds of fresh produce and food. And in this area, there’s a bunch of restaurants surrounding this market. So, I’m thinking we could probably find quite a nice lunch spot somewhere here. [Music] [Music] We found a nice little lunch spot with a lovely terrace. Ordered myself a cola and a Caesar salad. Good to eat something and get a bit of energy for continuing our exploring of the city and then heading to the palace. But I must say, I’m really liking Versailles so far. This market area is super lovely. So many people out and about buying fresh food. I wish back at home there would be this kind of market as well. I would come here every day. At least I would want to think so. And yeah, buy fresh meat and vegetables and everything. It’s so lovely. But yeah, if you do have the time, definitely recommend also checking out the city itself and not just the palace. [Music] This bacon is a bit burnt. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] We found a little ice cream shop and sitting here in a park in the shade cuz it’s quite hot, I got myself bueno and mango flavored ice cream. Sounds pretty good. Let’s try the mango. M. Oh, that’s really good. Tastes like frozen mango. Yum. [Music] Glory. [Music] [Music] I feel like visiting this church was our last moment of calm and peace before soon heading to the palace and the madness of how much people there’s going to be there. We already walked past and there was there was a lot of people, a lot of tour buses. Already when passing by though the palace looked so beautiful, big and grand, almost a little bit daunting because it looked so huge. But it’s time to head to the palace. Now next [Music] we are now waiting in the line to get into the palace. It’s still like half an hour before our time slot, but the line is already really long. Yeah, it’s good to come a little bit beforehand. Always really handy is that they do have like bathrooms and stuff that you can use for free right next to the palace. So before you have to stand a long time in the queue and stuff, you can go there, refreshen yourself, and you know, do the deeds. It’s a lot of people, but I’m excited. It’s not too bad, actually. So, it is a little bit hot in the sun, though. If you’re planning on visiting the palace, I would definitely recommend buying a ticket in advance online. We saw that they also had a ticket booth for where they were selling them at the spot. But at least by the time we arrived, they were already all sold out. And I can also imagine that this is the case for a lot of the times. Maybe if you would come really early, it could be fine. But then there’s probably also a queue for the tickets. So just get your ticket, get a specific time slot, and then arrive at that time. And once you’re there for your time slot, you get to enter quite fast. You want full access to the palace gardens, the Triionon estates, and Martoanet’s hamlet, then make sure to get the Versailles passport, which is what we did. I know we barely just started our tour here at the palace, but we were feeling so dehydrated and a bit tired because of the heat. But we found a lure that sold some water. I don’t know if there was any. We couldn’t really find anywhere else where they would sell it. And we even found a bench inside in the coolness. So, gonna enjoy some water and then hopefully this will re what’s rehydrate me and reive me. I don’t know. And these stairs re-energize me. Yeah. And we’re sitting right here by the stairs that bring you to what’s apparently a very fancy restaurant that they have here. I do believe if you want to visit this restaurant, you need to book well in advance though. [Music] A little bit about the history. It was in the late 1600s that the son king turned Versailles into a palace and this made it the center of the political life in France. For over a century, French kings ruled from here. But in 1789, the French Revolution stormed the gates, marking the end of the royal rule. Today, this place is a monument to royal ambition and a mirror to French history. We came across this set of rooms where there’s like almost no people. It was a bit hidden in the outside of the main path. It’s like these rooms that are dedicated to the Crusades. I’ll write the official name here. But yeah, there’s almost no one here. And it’s super beautiful. And then in other rooms, it’s like you can barely walk because there’s so much people. [Music] They should ban big tour groups though because because of them it’s creating these like bottlenecks where everyone gets stuck behind these tour groups and it’s not very pleasant. Also in 1919, Versailles became the stage of one of the most pivotal moments in modern-day history, and this was with the sighting of the Treaty of Versailles, which officially ended World War I. However, this treaty did impose harsh penalties on Germany, which planted seeds of resentment, and many historians linked this to the start of World War II. [Music] We have now entered the gardens of the palace. Something to keep in mind, once you exit the palace and come to the gardens, you cannot return to the palace anymore. So, make sure you see that first. And secondly, when buying a ticket, make sure you get a ticket that also includes a garden entrance. It looks like you can also buy it on the spot, but we bought something called the passport, which also includes this garden and apparently also the garden of Marie Antoanet. I’m not sure where exactly that is. We’ll see if we also check that out. But yeah, they will check your tickets again. And also here in the gardens, they have some spots where you can refill your water bottles. So, if you would be smart, maybe bring like an empty water bottle or buy also one at the lad like we did and then you can also refill the bottle later on, especially if it’s a hot day like today. [Music] [Applause] Wow, it is such a hot day. But luckily, we found a spot where to sit in the shade. And yeah, I can say my feet are starting to feel quite tired. I did see you can rent like a golf cart or jump on like a mini train. I would have honestly wanted to do that, but the lines were so long. So, we’re like, ah, let’s just walk. For me, actually, seeing these gardens was almost the more anticipated thing than the palace because I don’t know. I love gardens. So excited to see this. But first, a little feet dangling break. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] We have now actually exited the garden. We can still go back in, but we’ve entered the park instead. And there’s like a pond with a bunch of people rowing little boats and a lot of people sitting here in the shade by the water. It looks so inviting that we’re also going to sit down here for a bit. Oh, this would be like the perfect place for a picnic. I wish I had like some fresh strawberries and I don’t know, a cold drink. That would be the life. Let’s enjoy this for a bit. Look how nice this is with all the people. It’s a proper summer day. So there would be a completely different area. It’s basically well I don’t think this helps but that way it’s an area with the Queen’s Hamlet and I think that’s like the Marie Antoanet Garden. It would be included in our ticket, but I checked. It’s like a half an hour walk away. Also, it’s like closing semi soon. I guess if you would take the train, it would be quite doable, but the lines for the trains were also kind of crazy. Unfortunately, we’re a bit too tired to go there now. I guess I understand now why people only visit the palace for the day because it’s quite a lot. We already walked and did a lot before we came here. Maybe that was a mistake, but then again, I had a great time and I really enjoyed walking around the city as well. If you do come here, apparently it is really, really nice and worth it. Even without it, we’ve had a great visit. I’ve really enjoyed this palace, the garden, the city. I understand why it’s such a popular spot to visit. [Music] We are now back on the train and as you can see from my red face, it is really hot, especially walking straight in the sun upstairs, up hill in the gardens. We were super lucky. We got some seats and there’s even an open window, so once we start moving, it’s going to feel good. Air conditioning would be even better, but this is the second best. As we’re now going back to Paris, I’m going to end this video here. I hope you have found it useful if you’re planning to visit Versailles. And yeah, let me know, have you ever been? Would you like to be? Leave a comment down below. But thank you so much for watching and I’ll see you guys again on my next adventure. Bye-bye. [Music]