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Skip the Line: Versailles Palace and Gardens Day Trip from Paris by Train

Badge of ExcellenceParis, France

From $81.70

Select Date and Travelers

Free cancellation
Up to 24 hours in advance.
Paris Tours
All Paris Tours
Audio Guides
Kid-Friendly
Likely To Sell Out
Unique Experiences
  • 4 hours (approx.)
  • Mobile ticket
  • Offered in: English

Overview

Don’t like to waste time waiting in lines? Book this half-day Palace of Versailles tour that includes round-trip train transport from Paris, a skip-the-line entrance ticket and an audio-guide. After reaching Versailles by RER train, an informative guide takes on you a pleasant 2-hour tour of the garden grounds. Then, sail past the queue at the palace and explore its stately rooms at your own pace before returning to Paris via train at a time of your choosing.
  • Versailles day trip from Paris with round-trip train transport
  • Enjoy skip-the-line access to the Palace of Versailles, with an audio guide included
  • Tour the spectacular Versailles Gardens with your expert guide and explore the Palace of Versailles at your leisure
  • Watch the famous Versailles fountain display or musical gardens show on select days in summer
  • Group is limited to 20 people, ensuring a more personalized experience

Why Travelers Choose This Tour

Skip-the-line entrance to world-famous Palace of Versailles makes this a stress-free experience. And if you go in the summer, you might also get to see the famous dancing fountain show!

What's Included

  • Professional guide for the gardens
  • Gratuities
  • Food and drinks

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

  • 1 Av. Emile Zola
    1 Av. Emile Zola, 75015 Paris, France

    This tour meets in Paris, in a small park/clearing on Avenue Emile Zola opposite a café named "Café Regalia". The closest métro station is Javel-André Citroën (line 10). Use exit 1 (sortie 1, right side). Your guide will be wearing a Fat Tire Tours t-shirt and holding a sign.

Start time

08:30 AM

End point

  • Versailles
    78000 Versailles, France

    This tour concludes in Versailles and guests are welcome to stay in the Palace of Versailles until closing. Roundtrip train tickets to/from Paris are included in the cost of the tour.

What To Expect

In the morning, meet your guide at a central location in Paris and take the RER train together for a 30-minute ride to Versailles. A short walk later, arrive at the gilded gates of the Palace of Versailles.

The gardens and forests of Versailles span 1,976 acres (800 hectares), and are crisscrossed by a network of picturesque trails and tree-lined paths. Follow your guide on a 2-hour walking tour of the grounds, and learn about the palace’s history, the royal family including Marie Antoinette, and the French Revolution.

If you’re here during the summer, make sure to check out the spectacular Versailles fountain display or musical gardens show that takes places on select days (included with your tour). See below for more details.

Next, make your way to the Palace of Versailles, where your guide bids you farewell and gives you your skip-the-line entrance ticket, audio guide and return train ticket. Stroll past the entrance lines and enter the palace immediately.

See the King's State Apartments and Chapel, and walk through the unforgettable Hall of Mirrors, where the treaty ending WWI was signed. Your audio-guide takes you around the highlights of the palace and provides historical background.

Take as much as you’d like to discover the sprawling palace. When you’re ready to leave Versailles, hop on the train to Paris with your provided train ticket.

Palace of Versailles

Skip-the-line entry into the chateau

2 hours • Admission Ticket Included

The Royal Chapel

Skip-the-line entry into the chateau

2 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking
  • Not wheelchair accessible
  • The guided part of the tour is approximately 2 hours. The length of time you spend exploring the Palace and Gardens independently is up to you.
  • Dress accordingly to the weather with appropriate shoes.
  • Near public transportation
  • Infant seats available
  • Most travelers can participate
  • This tour/activity will have a maximum of 20 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

  • For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
  • If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
  • Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
  • Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveler Photos

See more

Traveler Tips

Our advice is that don't lose the map because it has the golf cart route and is different than the walking tour map.
Reviews
4.5
655 reviews
Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews
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Reviews by Viator travelers.
Showing 1-10 of 655 reviews
Get line
Kychau_N, Mar 2023
Quick enter Garden in the morning, but still get line for Palace. Tour guide was nice, knowledgeable and helpful.
Well-Worth the Price!
Theodore_K, Sep 2022
Fantastic tour and guide. Seeing the Versailles palace and gardens in September was well worth the trip. The train ride from the meet up location was ~20 minutes. My wife and I went to the gardens on a “music Tuesday” where 17th century music played throughout the gardens. The tour guide—Rory—was also polite, knowledgeable, and helpful as we walked through the gardens (even adding bathroom breaks as needed). Once Rory left, we quickly breezed through the entry line and enjoyed walking through the palace at our own pace. Bottom line: excellent trip well-worth the price of admission.
The garden tour was the...
Nikki_B, Jul 2022
The garden tour was the perfect way to start our visit to Versailles! Richard had many great stories to tell and gave us all the info we needed to have a great rest of the day!
Amazing gardens
Debra_F, Jun 2022
We had a tour of the gardens then we’re on our own in the palace. Our tour guide was amazing, super knowledgeable on the history and even gave us recommendations on where to get lunch after. The gardens were absolutely stunning. The palace was crowded in spots and we all agreed that the gardens were the best part! Our tour guide Chris was fantastic!
Awesome tour!!
Lucy_L, May 2022
Great tour!!! Nick was so informative and he even offered to take pictures of us all at any given time. We spent a lot of time in the gardens which we preferred. Inside the palace we were able to stay after the tour for more. It was a long hot morning so we left for foo. I suggest sunscreen, breakfast, and bringing a water with you! The train wasn’t bad at all. The fountain show throughout was a huge plus!!
Book this tour!
jdmillers1990, May 2022
Nick was a GREAT tour guide. He really brought the history alive. I would highly recommend. After the garden tour, you can spend as much time as you want going through the palace.
Perfect day in Versailles
Roberta_A, May 2022
Had a wonderful time at Chateau de Versailles! Nick was a fantastic guide, entertaining us while providing the important historical background. He was thoughtful and took care of us Americans :) Versailles is gorgeous in all respects, but Nick made the difference between an organized and efficient tour versus wandering aimlessly in the garden all day. I highly recommend taking this tour with Nick.
Visiting to Versailles was great. . However tour guide not much useful except to show where to go .
Michael_D, May 2022
The gardens , hall Of mirrors . The guide was not useful . Except to show where we are to go . Cheaper yo go in your own than use this service .
Worst experience using Viator
Thomas_D, Jun 2019
This tour was definitely not what the four people in our group expected. We were supposed to skip the line however when we were going to skip the line we waited for a guy named Kit to get the tickets. The regular line was shorter than the skip the line. Kit had us all wait on line while he went to retrieve the tickets. He came back with 10 purchased tickets and 10 children’s tickets that he must’ve had in his possession before and he gave us the children’s tickets to try to use them to get us in. That caused a 45 minute delay for all 20 of us to get in. Therefore we never skipped any line. We got in one hour before closing and were not able to complete the entire palace. Everyone on the tour appeared frustrated. When we finally got in, we had to wait another 15 minutes for him to give us headsets. He never even explained how to use them. He appeared to be in a rush to get out of the palace.We always use Viator and I am quite upset about the whole situation and experience as we all traveled thousands of miles to see the palace. I raved about this company to my friends and I’m very disappointed. Even with the poor experience, we continue to use this company to book our tours.. I called and put in for a refund and I am waiting to hear back because this experience was sub par. We are loyal customers and I am hoping that your company will do the right thing and refund us the money that we put out for this tour.
We had a wonderful time with our guide...
eyleung2030, Sep 2018
We had a wonderful time with our guide Phil from Florida. He was charismatic and didn't follow script so you control how much history you want to hear. He didn't have a public speaking permit so he showed us various gardens in Versailles. We also rent a golf cart after the official tour. Our advice is that don't lose the map because it has the golf cart route and is different than the walking tour map. We don't recommend eating there because there are many bees. The waiters put electric fly swatters on each table. Phil also explained how to ride the train and metro back to Paris. One of our return tickets didn't work but the customer service rep at the Train was nice enough to let us in. We just needed to buy a one-way metro ticket.
Great trip in Versailles
Ioanna_A, Aug 2018
Our tour guide George was amazing! Very knowledgable, energetic and a pleasure to be around. We got to Versailles at 10 am and there was already a 3 hour long line. We skipped the line and were inside the palace in 10 minutes. Highly recommended tour, worth every penny!
vers
popcornjlh, Jun 2018
The trip was great, the only problem was the palace was on strike and we couldn't go in. Our tour guide made the best of things by giving us a tour of the gardens. She made the day much better and our disappointment less.
Awesome day! Great way to cover the...
Linda D, Apr 2018
Awesome day! Great way to cover the grounds as the property is much bigger than it appears. Palace is awesome and its great to skip the lines
We took this tour while spending 3...
George P, Apr 2018
We took this tour while spending 3 days in Paris as it turns out, May 5th was a partial holiday. Met the tour director near where we picked up the local train. Interestingly enough, a few guys playing accordians and a trumpet came through the car, playing mariachi music for Cinco de Mayo, and accepting donations. Wasn't really expecting that in France! The train ride is brief, and we disembarked at Versailles. Our guide explained on the way down that he was there to show us the gardens, but that we'd be on our own in the Palace. That was a disappointment I don't know if the inability to have a tour guide in the Palace is unique to Versailles, but other tours we've taken have guides with radio headsets, so that they could talk to everyone in the group quietly into our earbuds. This was done extensively in Italy, so it was a bit of a disappointment. In any event, the guide was very knowledgeable about the gardens, and then we toured the palace on our own. The gardens are interesting, but the Palace is over the top in terms of decor, art, etc. So much to see! The Palace does get a bit crowded, but the hallways are wide enough that you could go as quickly or as slowly as you wanted. We wrapped up our tour of the Palace, walked back to the local McDonalds yes, a McDonalds at Versailles, and then across the street to the train station to make our way back to Paris. We managed to remember which stop to get off at, and our tour was complete. I marked it 4, knocking off 1 because we were not aware of or missed the note that the guide wouldn't accompany us through the Palace. It would have been more informative if the guide could have helped us understand all of what we saw in the palace. By the way, Skip The Line proved well worth the extra cost we also used it at Eiffel's Tower and at various locations in Italy.
Oh my goodness! As our guide said...
glee54, Apr 2018
Oh my goodness! As our guide said, all that glitters IS gold at the palace in Versailles. The gardens were beautiful though we were too early for the flowers to be in bloom. The palace was packed full of beautiful art and furnishings of the period. The Hall of Mirrors was unbelievable! This was a GREAT reprieve from the crowds and traffic in Paris. Kudos to Fat Tire tours for making it such a fun and memorable day!!
I would highly recommend this tour...
Cary G, Mar 2018
I would highly recommend this tour to everyone. the train made the trip quick and easy. Versailles is elegant and huge. Something for all interests. When the guided tour ended we were free to visit as long as we liked and catch any train back to Paris that day.
By Far Extraordinaire....to much to...
Dennis A, Feb 2018
By Far Extraordinaire....to much to absorb in one visit. Amazing history of Louis XIV and ornate placements of the Palace along with the vast beauty of the grounds and gardens. Certainly worth a revisit!
This tour was excellent, and Sonja, our...
Adalberto L, Nov 2017
This tour was excellent, and Sonja, our tour guide was the best! Highly recommend!
So easy we met at an appointed...
Karre J, Oct 2017
So easy we met at an appointed place, and even as we hit traffic and were a bit late, the tour waited on us. Our guide, Jess, was fantastic, knowledgeable and warm. The palace is a must-visit, as are the gardens. Gorgeous classical music plays as fountains dance. Just a great outing.
FANTASTIC! we really enjoyed going...
tjwic, Oct 2017
FANTASTIC! we really enjoyed going to Versailles. So important to book a tour... skipping the long lines!
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