Palace of Versailles

History

Versailles started out as a modest hunting lodge built for Louis XIII in 1623. His son, Louis XIV, transformed it into the seat of French government, moving the royal court and the entire administration there in 1682. Construction ran on and off for decades under architects Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin-Mansart, with landscape designer André Le Nôtre laying out the gardens.

The Palace served as the primary residence of the French kings, from Louis XIV to Louis XVI, until the royal family was forced to leave for Paris in October 1789 at the start of the French Revolution. In 1789, it was also where the National Assembly convened, one of the opening moments of the Revolution. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were later imprisoned before their execution.

The Palace fell into disrepair after the Revolution and was largely spared demolition when King Louis-Philippe converted it into a museum of French history in the 1830s. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most visited monuments in France.

Opening Hours & Wait Times

The Palace and the Trianon Estate are closed every Monday, as well as on 1 January, 1 May, and 25 December. The Gardens stay open daily, including Mondays. Hours differ between high season (1 April to 31 October) and low season (1 November to 31 March).

Low season (1 November – 31 March):

High season (1 April – 31 October):

The Trianon Estate opens later, at 12:00 PM, on the same closing days as the Palace. The Gardens open at 7:00 AM in high season and 8:00 AM in low season.

Versailles draws heavy crowds, and the on-site ticket queue can run 60 to 90 minutes on a summer weekend. A timed-entry booking, now required for Palace admission, gets you past the ticket queue and straight to security. Tuesdays and Sundays tend to be the busiest days since the Palace is closed Mondays; Wednesdays and Fridays are calmer.

Tickets & Prices

Since 14 January 2026, Versailles has separate prices for high season (1 April – 31 October, when the Gardens require a paid ticket) and low season (1 November – 31 March, when the Gardens are free). Residents and citizens of the European Economic Area get a 3 € discount on every ticket type with proof of eligibility.

The Passport ticket is the only one that includes a timed Palace tour and covers the whole estate: the Palace, the Trianon Estate, and the Gardens.

Admission to the Palace and Trianon Estate is free, regardless of season, for: all visitors under 18; EEA residents and citizens under 26; holders of an ICOM card, carte Culture, or carte Relais Culturels; and recipients of French guaranteed minimum income welfare benefits. Proof of age or eligibility (ID card, passport, or residence permit) is checked at the gate. From November to March, admission to the whole estate is also free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month.

Tickets are released on a rolling schedule on the official ticket office rather than a fixed date, and popular morning slots for the Palace sell out days in advance during summer. Booking online secures a fixed time slot and lets you skip the ticket-purchase queue entirely.

Guided Tours

A free audio guide, available in 12 languages, is included with every Palace ticket and covers the State Apartments, the Hall of Mirrors, and the Royal Chapel. It's a reasonable substitute for a live guide if you're visiting on your own.

Third-party guided tours typically bundle transport from central Paris with a fixed-time Palace entry and a guide who can walk you through the State Apartments in a set order, useful on a day trip when you don't want to work out routing and train timetables yourself.

Getting There

The Paris suburb of Versailles is easiest to reach by train: the RER line C, or Transilien lines N and U, run from several stations in Paris and stop at Versailles Château – Rive Gauche and Versailles Chantiers, both a 5- to 10-minute walk from the Palace gates. A third station, Versailles Rive Droite, is served by Transilien line L. Versailles sits in fare zone 4 of the Paris transport network, so you'll need a ticket covering zone 4, or a single point-to-point ticket, which costs 3.55 € from central Paris. A day-trip coach tour direct to the Palace gates and back is also available if you'd rather skip working out train tickets yourself.

Address: Place d'Armes, 78000 Versailles, France

Highlights of Versailles

Good to Know

Versailles is easy to underestimate in scale. Seeing just the Palace's highlights takes about 2 to 3 hours; adding the Gardens and the Trianon Estate turns it into a 5- to 6-hour day. Decide before you arrive which parts you actually want to see, since backtracking across the estate eats up a lot of time.

On Musical Fountains and Musical Gardens days in high season, the fountains run on a schedule through the day and the Gardens require their own ticket, included automatically in the Passport. On other high-season days, Gardens access is also ticketed but without the fountain displays.

The Palace and Trianon are open to the public every day except Monday, so plan around that if a Versailles day trip is the centerpiece of a short visit to Paris.

Photo Gallery

Frequently Asked Questions

Night Fountains Show

From June to September, the Gardens of Versailles host the Grandes Eaux Nocturnes, the Night Fountains Show, on select Saturday evenings after dark. It's a roughly 2.5-hour walk through groves and past fountains that are normally closed to the public, lit up and set to baroque music, ending with a fireworks display over the Grand Canal.

The show requires its own ticket, separate from daytime Palace or Passport admission. Alongside the standard ticket, VIP options (Prestige and Royal) add a reserved parking spot, priority entry, a glass of champagne, and better viewing positions along the route. A handful of themed evenings run through the season, such as a special edition tied to a public holiday or an electro-music night in September, priced the same as the standard show unless stated otherwise.

Buy Night Fountains Show tickets →