Palace of Versailles Tickets and Guided Visits
Thirty-three ways into the estate, from a 90 minute guided walk to an 11 hour day, with 20,366 reviews behind them and a median price of 159 EUR.
Versailles is sold as one place and works as three. The palace has a time printed on the ticket and closes on Monday. The Trianon estate, which holds the Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon and the Queen's Hamlet, does not open until midday. The gardens open at seven in the morning, never close for the week, and are free for roughly half the year. Almost every complaint about a wasted day here comes from treating those three timetables as one. The 33 listings we track for Versailles carry 20,366 reviews, more than the rest of France put together, and a median price of 159 EUR against 35 for the estate's own full ticket.
What that 159 EUR buys is the journey and the person. Nineteen of the 33 listings are recorded as starting in Paris and eleven at Versailles itself, five include hotel pickup, and eleven are private tours, which is why the third quartile sits at 420 EUR while the cheapest listing is 55. The estate is half an hour from central Paris on the RER C and a single fare is 2.55 EUR, so nothing sold here competes on price with doing it yourself. What it competes on is a fixed departure, somebody holding the reservation, and a guide who has been through the state rooms before.
The other thing to settle before choosing anything is what the words on the ticket mean. A timed ticket at Versailles is a promise of admission within half an hour of the time you picked, which is not the same as no queue, and there are two separate security checks between the street and the state rooms that no ticket removes. The estate is direct about this in a way resellers rarely are. It also sells no palace-only ticket in 2026: the Passport at 35 EUR is the ticket, and it includes the Trianon and the gardens whether you plan to walk that far or not.
Two shapes of product split the catalogue, and they overlap. Twenty listings are day trips built around transport out of Paris, twenty are guided visits where somebody meets you at the estate, and since the destination holds 33 rather than 40, seven products are counted as both. They do not fail in the same way, which is why they sit on separate pages of this site. The scores differ before you read a word: the day trips run 4.43 weighted across 12,815 reviews, the guided visits 4.60 across 8,962, and the two sets share enough products that the review counts add up to more than the estate's own 20,366.
Underneath both sits a rating spread worth staring at. The best-rated Versailles product with a meaningful sample is a private half-day with hotel pickup at 5.0 from 183 reviews and 637 EUR. The worst is a full-day guided tour with Trianon entry at 4.0 from 185 reviews and 120.94 EUR. Same palace, same rooms, one full point apart. What separates them is length, group size and how much of the day is spent moving, and none of that is visible in a listing title.
Two numbers decide most Versailles bookings: how many hours you are prepared to give the day, and whether you want the estate or only the palace. The listings in this catalogue sort cleanly along both, from ninety-minute guided walks through the state rooms to eleven and a half hour days that add Giverny on the way home.
Choose a destination in Versailles
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Day Trips
Transport, entry and a guide in one product. Twenty listings, none shorter than three hours, at a median of 159.75 EUR against roughly 40 EUR for the RER and…
20 experiences -
Guided Tours
Guides who meet you at the estate rather than in Paris: 20 listings, a median of 167.03 EUR, and the only queue-skip two forums agree on, which the palace…
20 experiences
Castles Experiences in Versailles
Private Versailles and the 2,000 Orange Trees of the Orangerie
The Orangerie holds 2,000 orange trees from Spain, Portugal and Italy, and most visitors never go in. Named rooms inside, court etiquette explained.
Private Versailles Where You Pick the Route, Car or RER
No fixed itinerary, so the day goes wherever your interest does, and there is an RER option if you would rather not sit in traffic on the way out.
Private Versailles and Giverny, with Monet's Flowering Calendar
The Monet Foundation publishes which flowers open in which month, and the guide reads the garden against it. Versailles first, with its 55 fountains.
Private Versailles by Car, via the Place de la Concorde
Hotel pickup, a chauffeured car, and a route past the square where the palace's last residents were beheaded. Drop-off anywhere in Paris you like.
Private Versailles Half-Day, and the Treaties Signed in the Gallery
The Hall of Mirrors is where the First World War was formally ended on 28 June 1919. A private driver-guide, hotel pickup and skip-the-line tickets.
Private Versailles with a Three-Course Lunch Included
Lunch at La Flotille is in the price, wine and coffee included, unlike the other private days at the same restaurant. Trianons and Hameau in the afternoon.
Private Versailles with Lunch at La Flotille on the Grand Canal
Lunch at the restaurant on the Grand Canal, bought separately, then the pink marble Grand Trianon that Louis XIV built to escape his own court.
Giverny and Versailles, with Lunch in a Mill Modelled on the Hameau
Lunch is in a 200-year-old mill on the Epte, built in imitation of Marie Antoinette's hamlet, before the coach reaches the original that afternoon.
Giverny with Monet's Grave, and Versailles with Timed Entry
The churchyard at Sainte-Radegonde, where Monet is buried, is on this route and on almost no other. Versailles follows on a timed ticket with free time.
Private Versailles Half-Day, Through the 17th-Century Town
The town in front of the palace was built in the 17th century to house the court, and this private route crosses it. Mercedes with WiFi, hotel pickup.
Versailles and the Estate of Marie-Antoinette, by the Petit Train
The afternoon crosses the park to the queen's private estate, theatre included, and the Petit Train runs both ways so the walk does not eat the visit.
Private Giverny and Versailles, with the 221 Garden Sculptures
The park holds 221 sculptures, which makes it the largest open-air sculpture museum anywhere, and this guide treats it that way. Nine hours, both admissions.
Semi-Private Versailles: Guiding Starts on the Train From Saint-Michel
A guide meets you at the Saint-Michel fountain and begins the history during the 40-minute train ride, then walks a small group through the palace and gardens.
Versailles and the Trianon Estate, with a Picnic by the Canal
In good weather the lunch break happens on the grass beside the Grand Canal. The afternoon is Richard Mique's hamlet, thatched cottage and farm included.
Versailles by Golf Cart and Bike, with the Palace at 3:30
The order is the trick: the park by cart and bike first, then the palace at 3:30 once the crowds have gone outside. Shuttle instead of a bike at no extra cost.
Versailles Half-Day by RER, Timed to the Fountain Shows
The fountains run to a fixed schedule and the guide has it, so you are in position when each one starts. Skip-the-line entry, return train tickets provided.
Versailles Guided, Four Options and Seven Pickup Points
Meet at the gates, at a Paris square or at your hotel, and the group runs from 11 to 28 depending which option you take. Thirty guided minutes in the gardens.
Versailles in 90 Minutes, with Free Gardens in Winter
The gardens cost nothing from November to March and need a ticket from April to October. Book the afternoon: Versailles fills up in the morning.
Versailles in 90 Minutes, with the King's Bedroom and the Gardens
A stated 90-minute route through the State Apartments and the King's Bedroom, then 800 hectares of garden planted with 210,000 flowers a year.
Versailles Small Group and the 357 Mirrors of the Grande Galerie
The Grande Galerie holds 357 mirrors, and a small group is where a detail like that gets explained. Departure near the Eiffel Tower, Le Nôtre's park after.
Private Four-Hour Versailles, Guide Included in the Gardens
Most guides stop at the garden gate. This one carries on with you, fountain show days included. Four private hours with hotel pickup and a minivan.
Versailles Full Access: Palace Guided, Trianons Included
The Trianons and the Hameau are inside the price, not an upgrade. Note that trains from Paris Austerlitz stop running 15 July to 23 August.
Versailles Guided, Then Giverny with an Audio App
Versailles is guided with skip-the-line entry; Giverny is yours with an audio app. 2026 is the hundredth anniversary of Monet's death.
Versailles Guided Tour: Hall of Mirrors, Royal Apartments and Gardens
A guide leads the walk from the Royal Apartments through the Hall of Mirrors and out into the fountains and sculpture of the gardens. Tickets are non-refundable.
Ratings collected by Viator, Tripadvisor and Tiqets
What the Passport covers, and what it leaves out
For 2026 the estate sells one main ticket and one satellite. The Passport is 35 EUR, 32 reduced, and it covers the palace, the whole Trianon estate and the gardens including the exhibition programme. The separate Château ticket that existed in earlier years is gone: if you only want the state rooms, you still buy the Passport. The satellite is the Estate of Trianon ticket at 15 EUR, 12 reduced, which works on its own and does not require the Passport. For a second visit, or for anyone who finds the palace unbearable and the park lovely, it is the most underrated purchase on the estate.
Around those two sit the extras, and they are extras. A guided tour of the parts you cannot reach alone, the apartment of Madame du Barry among them, costs 10 EUR on top of the entry ticket and is optional. The virtual reality experience is 7 EUR alone or 42 bundled with a Passport. The little train through the gardens is a separate paid service and is included in no ticket at all, neither the Passport nor the Paris Museum Pass. An Afternoon Saver rate opens from 15:00 in low season and 16:00 in high season, which is the cheapest legitimate way in and works only if you have already decided to skip the Trianon.
One more, for anyone coming twice. The estate sells a card called 1 year in Versailles from 65 EUR with unlimited access to the domain and priority entry to the palace. Two Passports cost 70. If your trip includes a second day here, or if you live within reach, the annual card is cheaper than the pair of tickets it replaces.
| The Palace | Trianon estate | Gardens and park | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening | 9:00 to 18:30, last admission 16:45 | 12:00 to 18:30 | 7:00 to 20:30 |
| Closed | Monday, 25 Dec, 1 Jan, 1 May | Monday, 25 Dec, 1 Jan, 1 May | No weekly closure |
| Timed slot | Required, including for free tickets | Not required | Not required |
| Sold on its own | No, only inside the 35 EUR Passport | Yes, 15 EUR | Free, except on show days |
| Paris Museum Pass | Yes, free timed ticket still needed | Yes | No on show days, April to November |
| Time the estate suggests | 1 h 30 for the state rooms | Takes the day to 4 h | 2 h for the basins, 3 h with the groves |
The half hour that skip-the-line actually means
The estate's own wording is worth reading slowly, because it is the sentence that every reseller paraphrases into something stronger.
Admission to the Palace within half an hour of the booked time slot can only be guaranteed for tickets purchased online.
That is a queue with a ceiling on it, not the absence of one. The estate also states that only the palace requires a slot at all, that the same booking obligation applies to visitors entitled to free entry, and that tickets are neither refundable nor exchangeable. Pick the wrong date and the money is gone. A traveller on the TripAdvisor Paris forum bought 130 EUR of tickets for a Monday and found out from the confirmation email; the sales system had taken the order without a word.
What the slot does not touch is the rest of the route in. Visitors describe a security filter on the way into the courtyard, then the timed entry queue, then a second bag check at the palace door. One regular on the same forum put it bluntly: most skip the line tickets are actually to skip the ticket booth line on site, which is a queue you never join if you bought online in the first place. The honest summary is that a timed ticket buys you a bounded wait, and the hour you choose matters more than the seller you choose. The people who report walking straight in are almost always the ones who booked 9:00.
The half of the estate most visitors skip
The main axis runs from the water parterre down to the Grand Canal, and the estate's own advice is to allow two hours for the basins and three if you take in the groves. Add the Trianon and it becomes four. The palace, by comparison, is quoted at an hour and a half.
Regulars are consistent about which half rewards the walk. The gardens are much less crowded and much more enjoyable because a lot of people do what you did and skip them, runs one exchange on the Paris travel forums; a former member of staff advises doing the palace last. It is also the cheap half. From November to March the gardens cost nothing, and the Domaine de Marly, a short way off, is free all year.
When the gardens stop being free
This is the single most expensive misunderstanding at Versailles, and it catches pass holders hardest. The gardens are free for most of the year. From April to the start of November they are charged from Tuesday to Sunday, on the days the fountain programmes run: Les Grandes Eaux Musicales from 3 April to 1 November 2026, and Les Jardins Musicaux from 1 April to 30 October. On those days the Paris Museum Pass does not cover the gardens, and its holders pay the supplement like everyone else. Mondays in season stay free, which is a strange consolation given the palace is shut that day.
So the seasonal question at Versailles is not the weather. It is whether the water is running, and whether you mind paying for it. From November to March the estate is cheaper, quieter and half switched off. From April to October it is fully on and the garden is a separate purchase six days a week. The matrix that follows says which months belong to which regime.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
Getting there, and the fare rule that changed in 2025
Every older guide to Versailles explains which fare zone you need. That question no longer has an answer. Since 2025 Île-de-France Mobilités has run two flat single tickets with no distance limit: 2.55 EUR for metro, train and RER, 2.05 EUR for bus and tram. One RER ticket from anywhere in Paris now reaches Versailles.
Which station you choose is worth thirty minutes. The RER C ends at Versailles Château Rive Gauche, ten minutes on foot from the gates. The Transilien from Saint-Lazare arrives at Rive Droite, a walk the estate's own pages describe as either 17 or 20 minutes depending which page you read. From Montparnasse you land at Versailles Chantiers, the best-connected of the three and the furthest out, quoted at 18 or 25 minutes. Chantiers is the trap: it looks like the sensible choice on a map of the rail network and costs you the better part of an hour on the round trip. There is also bus 171 from Pont de Sèvres on line 9, about thirty minutes when the traffic behaves.
One piece of advice comes from the estate itself and is worth following: buy the return ticket when you arrive. The machines at Rive Gauche are the real bottleneck of the evening, when several thousand people leave the estate inside the same hour.
What the ratings are actually measuring
A full point separates the best and worst rated Versailles products in this catalogue, and both have samples large enough to trust. The 5.0 is a private half day with hotel pickup, 183 reviews, 637 EUR. The 4.0 is a full-day guided tour with Trianon entry, 185 reviews, 120.94 EUR. Nobody rates a palace; they rate a day.
The pattern across the 33 listings supports the obvious reading. Short products score well: the ninety-minute guided visit with reserved entry holds 4.6 across 2,662 reviews, and the three-hour palace and gardens tour by train holds 4.7 across 1,038. Long ones with a second destination bolted on hold up less well; the 4.1 on a six-hour palace tour with optional gardens comes from 1,912 reviews, which is far too many to dismiss. The variable that predicts the score is not the price, it is how much of the day is spent in transit.
That is a useful thing to know before choosing, because the catalogue is unbalanced in exactly that direction: eleven of the 33 listings run eight hours or more, and only four are under two hours. If you want the estate rather than the coach, the short end of the range is thinly stocked and worth hunting for.
Versailles questions with numbers in the answers
How much is a ticket to Versailles in 2026?
The Passport is 35 EUR full price and 32 reduced, and it covers the palace, the Trianon estate and the gardens. The Trianon estate on its own is 15 EUR, 12 reduced. There is no palace-only ticket this year. A guided tour adds 10 EUR, and the virtual reality experience is 7 EUR alone or 42 EUR bundled with the Passport.
Does a timed ticket mean I skip the queue?
It means admission is guaranteed within half an hour of your slot, and only for tickets bought online. There are two security checks on the way in that no ticket removes. Visitors with 9:00 slots consistently report walking straight through; afternoon arrivals report 30 to 45 minutes even with a reservation.
How long should I allow?
The estate publishes its own figures: 1 hour 30 for the highlights of the palace, 2 hours for the gardens and basins, 3 hours if you include the groves, and 4 hours once the Trianon is added. Its own summary is to plan a full day. Products in this catalogue run from 90 minutes to 11 hours 30.
Why is the Trianon closed when I get there in the morning?
Because it opens at 12:00, while the palace opens at 9:00 and the gardens at 7:00. The Queen's Hamlet follows the same midday start. Any plan that puts the Trianon first loses the morning; the usual order is palace at opening, gardens, then Trianon after lunch.
Are the gardens free?
From November to March, yes, and on Mondays in season too. From April to 1 November 2026 they are charged Tuesday to Sunday because of the fountain programmes, and the Paris Museum Pass explicitly does not cover them on those days. The park and the Domaine de Marly are free all year.
What does the trip from Paris cost?
2.55 EUR each way on a single Metro-Train-RER ticket, with no fare zones since 2025. The RER C to Versailles Château Rive Gauche leaves a 10 minute walk; Rive Droite and Chantiers leave 17 to 25 minutes. Buy the return when you arrive, because the machines queue badly at closing time.
Can I change the date on a Versailles ticket?
No. The estate states that tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable. That applies to the free tickets too, which still require a booked slot. Products sold in this catalogue are a different matter: 30 of the 33 Versailles listings carry free cancellation.
Data verified on. Prices, hours and slot rules from en.chateauversailles.fr and the estate's 2026 ticketing pages. Fares from Ile-de-France Mobilites. Catalogue figures from our database, 5 September 2026.