Highlights
- Full-day trip to Versailles from Paris with an expert local guide
- Enjoy fast-track entrance to the Palace of Versailles with your skip-the-line ticket
- Tour the State Apartments and gaze in awe at the Hall of Mirrors
- Explore Versailles Gardens at leisure
- Relax over a 3-course lunch in a restaurant near the Grand Canal
- See the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Grand Trianon and the Queen’s Hamlet
Useful Information
Best of Versailles Day Trip from Paris: Skip-the-Line Palace of Versailles Tour, Grand Canal Lunch and the Grand Trianon
First stop is the Palace of Versailles, the town’s sprawling palatial compound where Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, once lived. At the center of French royal power throughout 17th and 18th centuries, the building oozes royal elegance and, as such, draws visitors from all around the world.
Head straight past the long lines of visitors outside the palace with your skip-the-line ticket, and head inside to experience the history and opulence of it. On a tour led by your expert guide, discover the stunning State Apartments that comprise the Hall of Mirrors and Queen’s Apartments. While walking, your guide will enthrall you with tales of the kings who lived there.
After an hour of touring Versailles Palace, stroll out into the gardens to explore them at your leisure. Every bit as grand as the palace, the French Baroque-style gardens took nearly 40 years to complete with magnificent features like the Versailles fountains and the Orangery. After strolling around, meet your guide for lunch at a restaurant, close to Versailles' Grand Canal. Please see the Itinerary below for your sample menu.
Your afternoon is spent at the Grand Trianon, the UNESCO-listed marble palace in the middle of the gardens. Admire its distinctive pink marble colonnades with your guide and hear tales of Napoleon who re-styled it after Louis XIV and his family left. Marie Antionette’s Queen’s Hamlet is nearby, and this is the last Versailles sight to be seen before your journey back to Paris. Designed by the popular French architect Richard Mique, the retreat features a charming thatched-roof cottage, lakes, streams and even a little farmhouse.
After exploring the Queen’s Hamlet, head back to your luxury minibus for the return journey to Paris.
Itinerary
First Course:
• Tomato and goat’s cheese salad with basil
Second Course (choice of one):
• Sirloin steak with Béarnaise sauce and creamed potatoes
• Roast salmon with butter sauce and creamed potatoes
Third Course:
• Seasonal fruit tart
• Tea or coffee
Reviewed by Susan L, May 2013
It's a short ride from Paris. Make sure you get the smaller group tour of 8 people, it's well worth it. It's less crazy, when having to deal with the other hordes of people walking through all the rooms. The palace was opulent and the gardens were breathtaking. The lunch offered was at a petite restaurant and was quite good. After lunch, the guide took us to the summer home of King Louis and then the summer home of Mary Antoinette. The guide was wonderful, she was informative and funny, with a great personality. It was worth the trip!
Reviewed by Geoffrey L, May 2013
Very enjoyable and a great 3 course lunch, guide was very knowledgeable, big advantage withe skip the line.
