Versailles: Don’t Miss the Queen’s Hamlet

The Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I was signed in the Hall of Mirrors in 1919. The same room where Louis XIV held his court from 1682, where Wilhelm I of Prussia was proclaimed the first German Emperor in 1871 after the defeat of France, the French chose it for the 1919 signing specifically because of that 1871 humiliation. History runs in layers here, and the palace rewards knowing which layers you’re standing in.

Versailles is enormous, operationally complex, and visited by 15 million people per year. Without a plan, you spend half your day in lines. With one, it is genuinely one of the more interesting places in Europe.

Getting There

RER C train from central Paris to Versailles-Château-Rive Gauche station: 35-45 minutes from Paris, around €8 return. Runs frequently. The station is a 10-minute walk from the main palace entrance.

Do not take the wrong train: Versailles has three railway stations. Versailles-Château-Rive Gauche is the closest to the palace. Versailles-Chantiers (the other main station) is 20 minutes on foot.

Tickets and Timing

Book online at en.chateauversailles.fr before you go. The passport ticket (€27 adults, €5-8 for under-18s depending on residence) covers the palace, the Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon, and the gardens. Buying at the gate on a busy day means joining a queue that can run 1-2 hours.

Open Tuesday through Sunday, 09:00-18:30 (gardens open from 08:00). Closed Mondays.

The palace is least crowded on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings in May, June, or September. In July and August it is crowded every day at every hour. Spring and autumn are genuinely the better seasons.

Arrive at 09:00 when the palace opens. The Hall of Mirrors is most bearable at 09:15; by 11:00 it is a solid wall of visitors.

What to Actually Spend Time On

Hall of Mirrors (Galerie des Glaces): 73 metres long, 357 mirrors reflecting 357 windows facing the gardens. Built 1678-1684. The Treaty of Versailles (ending World War I) was signed here in 1919. It is as extraordinary as it looks in photographs. Go early.

The King’s Grand Apartments: the sequence of rooms (Salon of Hercules, Salon of Venus, Salon of Diana, Salon of Mars, and the bedchamber) represents the daily ritualised life of Louis XIV. The paintings and tapestries are exceptional. Most tour groups rush through this section to reach the Hall of Mirrors; if you slow down here first, you understand the Hall of Mirrors better.

Royal Chapel: completed in 1710, two-storey interior, organ still occasionally played for concerts. Often overlooked because it’s near the entrance and visitors assume it’s a lobby area.

Grand Trianon (2 km walk through the gardens): Napoleon’s preferred retreat from the main palace, smaller-scaled, with a different feel. Worth 30 minutes.

Petit Trianon and Queen’s Hamlet: the Petit Trianon was Marie Antoinette’s private domain. The adjacent Hamlet (Hameau de la Reine) is a deliberately rustic fake village she had built in the 1780s as a pastoral retreat. It is strange, beautiful, and very easy to miss because it requires a 20-minute walk from the Petit Trianon. Most tourists never see it.

The Gardens

The formal gardens designed by André Le Nôtre cover 800 hectares. The geometric parterres immediately in front of the palace are the most photographed section. The Grand Canal (1.6 km long) was used for boating parties under Louis XIV.

Musical Fountain Shows (Grandes Eaux Musicales): Saturday and Sunday, May through October, plus some Tuesdays. Fountains throughout the garden are activated to music from the era of Louis XIV. Included in the Passport ticket or €11 separately. Much better than seeing the garden with silent fountains.

Rent a rowboat on the Grand Canal for about €17 per hour (two people). This is one of the better things you can do here.

Eating

Food at Versailles is expensive and mediocre. The restaurants on-site (Ore, La Flotille) are comfortable but budget €25-40 per person for a set lunch.

Better option: pack a lunch and eat in the gardens. There are plenty of spots. The French do this routinely; it is not frowned upon.

In Versailles town (10 minutes from the palace on foot): the market on Place du Marché Notre-Dame (Tuesday, Friday, Sunday mornings) has excellent cheese, charcuterie, and produce. Surrounding restaurant terraces serve proper French brasserie food at Paris prices, which is to say reasonable.

Staying

Trianon Palace Versailles (1 Boulevard de la Reine): the luxury option, 5-minute walk from the palace, spa, gardens. Around €400-700 per night.

Hôtel le Versailles (7 Rue Ste-Anne, Versailles town): comfortable mid-range, convenient, around €120-180.

Ibis Paris Versailles Château (4 Avenue du Général de Gaulle): reliable budget chain, 15-minute walk to the palace. Around €80-120.

Most visitors come as a day trip from Paris. Staying overnight in Versailles allows you to reach the palace at opening with no commute.

One Practical Warning

The estate is genuinely large. Walking from the palace to the Hamlet is over 3 km each way. The golf cart (€40 per hour, two people) that loops the main garden paths saves time but does not cover the Trianons on the standard route. Bicycles can be rented near the Grand Canal for €8 per hour and are the most efficient way to cover the whole estate in a day.