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Versailles Palace and Gardens Tour by Train from Paris with Skip-the-Line

Badge of ExcellenceParis, France

From $109.37

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

Overview

There are few palaces as world-famous as Versailles, but with some 10 million annual visitors, you could spend longer queuing outside than exploring inside. This half-day tour from Paris ensures a hassle-free experience with round-trip train transfers from the city, skip-the-line entrance, and a guided tour of the staterooms, palace gardens, and Marie Antoinette’s hamlet (if option selected).
  • Explore the Palace of Versailles on a skip-the-line guided tour
  • Multiple times offered throughout the day
  • All entrance fees and round-trip train fares included
  • Upgrade to include a visit to the Petit Trianon and Marie Antoinette’s hamlet

What's Included

  • Musical Gardens or Fountain Show (operates on weekend from April through October
  • Round-trip transportation from central Paris to Versailles by RER train
  • Fully accredited English-speaking guides
  • Headsets when appropriate so you can always hear your guide
  • Fully guided visit to the Petit Trianon and Marie Antoinette’s hamlet (if option selected)
  • All reservations and entrance fees to the Palace of Versailles, with skip the line timed entance.
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off
  • Fully guided visit to the Petit Trianon and Marie Antoinette’s hamlet (unless option selected)

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

  • Rue de l'Université
    Rue de l'Université, 75007 Paris, France

    Meet your guide by the news stand at the exit of Invalides Metro station. There is only one exit from the metro station which takes you on to rue de l'Université. Directly outside the exit you will see a news stand, and a yellow M on top of a pole, indicating the metro.

End point

  • Château de Versailles
    78000 Versailles, France

    Your tour will end in Versailles, your guide will provide return tickets and instructions for the easy train ride back to Paris.

What To Expect

Additional Info

  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking
  • Please note the gardens are not optimal for people with mobility issues or using a wheelchair
  • Our skip-the-line privilege does not extend to the security checkpoint
  • Please note: You will need to wear a mask when on the train to and from Versailles.
  • Not wheelchair accessible
  • Stroller accessible
  • Near public transportation
  • 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

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Traveler Tips

If you are looking to actually tour the palace and enjoy all of its inner workings its best to go towards November-March.
Reviews
4.5
104 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 104 reviews
Great Tour
Brittany_M, Mar 2023
Marian was an amazing tour guide. She was incredibly knowledgeable and had answers for every question the group asked. This was a great tour despite the delays due to the strikes.
Response from Host, Mar 2023
Thank you for your review which we were very happy to read and to share with Marion. We are very glad you enjoyed your tour with her! Our team of guides and coordinators and of course all of us here in the office are here 24/7 to ensure that everything runs smoothly, and we are happy that this was the case on the day of your tour! We hope that you had a great stay here in Paris and look forward to seeing you again if you return.
Quick Cold Visit in January
Carissa_C, Jan 2023
The visit was organized and succinct, but I wish we were able to visit more rooms of the building. Since we went in January, the temperature was cold and windy, so we didn't tour the outdoor gardens as much as we would've liked to in the warmer months. Our tour guide seemed very knowledgeable and was very friendly. I would definitely return for another tour for a longer duration in a warmer month!
Response from Host, Jan 2023
Thank you for your review, we are happy to read that you enjoyed your visit of the chateau with your guide. It can get very cold here in winter! Versailles is often a couple of degrees colder than in Paris, and so the guides do tend to spend more time in the palace than in the gardens at this time of year. All visitors have to follow a specific circuit in the palace, allowing you to see all of the rooms in the State Apartments which are open. Our tour visits all the rooms in the State Apartments, and as you saw our guides will bring the characters of the French court and their rather eccentric and extravagant lives back to life for you! In the spring and summer months the gardens are of course very beautiful, and we do spend a lot more time exploring them. We'd love to have you back on a warmer day, and perhaps you could stay for the full day and we could take you to the wonderful private estate of Marie-Antoinette tucked away at the bottom of the gardens. We hope to welcome you back on a beautiful sunny summer day!
A few hiccups & setbacks but Christina got us through it!
Hannah_A, Oct 2022
We used the Google Maps option on the app to figure out our meeting place. Guides were at the meeting spot on time & handed each of us two RER tickets for Versailles- one is for going and one is the return ticket. When we got to Versailles, there were issues with the entry tickets and microphone/headsets that set us back about 1 hour. Christina powered through with her positive and bright attitude. She provided detailed history & fun facts as she took us into each room & through the gardens. We were fortunate enough to catch the dancing fountains at the Mirror Pool. We broke for lunch for about 1.5hrs. Half the group had lunch reservations inside the castle & the rest of us ate elsewhere. Christina & the lunch reservations group met up with us again about an hour after the designated meet up time. She sent a text saying she hasn't forgotten about us but that the lunch ran late because it was a 5 course meal. We waited & was rejoined with the whole group again for Marie Antoinette's Petit Trianon. By this point, we were well into the afternoon & quite tired from walking, Christina maintained a professional and cheerful attitude the entire way through & was patient enough to wait while we took pictures of everything. After Petit Trianon, she escorted us back to the main palace via the little train & collected our headsets & said goodbye. I would do this tour again but maybe just the half day and explore the rest of the grounds via a rented bike; the full day was quite exhausting and draining but I am thankful we covered so much!
Response from Host, Nov 2022
Thank you for taking the time to leave us such a detailed review, we very much appreciate all your comments which are really helpful for us. We spoke to Cristina on the day of your visit, and she confirmed that there were some considerable delays at the group entrance that day. For information, we book our reservations many months in advance, but on the morning of the visit the guides have to go and pick them up, get the tickets and the sticker with our time slot on that allows them to guide inside the palace. We have a fantastic team of coordinators who escort you from Paris, so that the guides can go straight to Versailles and take care of all of this before you arrive. However on that day there was a backlog at the group desk and issues with the computers that caused some waiting, and we were very sorry to hear that. This then also caused a back up at the entrance. She also had told us that the microphone was not working, and the coordinator had to run back for another one, again we are sorry that you lost some time with that. However we are sure that Cristina took great care of you and made sure you missed nothing! Based on feedback from our guides and guests like yourselves we have changed our full day tour next year so that everybody can have lunch in the gardens together, and that will avoid any waiting for guests having lunch in the palace. The restaurant knows that the group have a set amount of time to eat and they are usually very good at sticking to it, but it seems on the day of your visit this was also slow, and again we are sorry for that. It is a big day, there is so much to see! We are glad that you were able to see everything and we hope very much that you may come back with us again to see more, perhaps doing just the morning or just the afternoon - we also do those visits separately. We are very grateful to Cristina for looking after you so well and we thank you for your patience! We hope you had a really wonderful stay here in Paris and we very much hope we may see you again.
Average Experience
Chris_H, Oct 2022
It felt a little rushed and the garden/fountain portion was skimpy to say the least. In other words, all the garden pathways I would’ve taken on my own including going down to where the boats were and also the manicured garden with the orange trees - neither were included. So given all of that, it did not feel with the price.
Response from Host, Oct 2022
Thank you for your review, which we are however sorry to read. Our tour spends as much time in the gardens as we do in the palace, as the gardens were really extra rooms of the palace in the days of the French court and are equally as important to the history and life at the palace. The guides show you the main parts of the gardens, but also take you to the more hidden parts - there are many beautiful groves with gorgeous fountains that are not signposted and that you may easily miss on your own. The guides also of course are able to tell you the fascinating stories of what went on in these groves in days gone by. You can get a wonderful view of the Orangerie from the perspective above it, this is really the best view and is why the guides stop here to show it to you. The boats are on the Grand Canal, which is also best seen from a particular spot where all the guides stop so they can explain the very clever use of perspective in the construction of it and so you can appreciate the view as the French royals did. Both of these places are very easy to find and to access after the tour if you want to explore them in more depth. The aim of our tour is to ensure you see as much of the variety offered by the gardens as possible and that you are in exactly the right spot when the various fountains come on if you have picked a fountain show day (they don't all come on at the same time). That way if you want to stay after the tour you can take your time to explore more, the gardens are huge as I'm sure you saw! We hope you enjoyed your visit nonetheless and that you had a great stay here in Paris.
A must see when in Paris!
Brian_G, Oct 2022
Our guide Astrid was wonderful. Full of historical info and great stories. We did the full day which included the castle, gardens and petite Trianon. Gave a full perspective of Versailles.
Response from Host, Oct 2022
Thank you very much for your review! We are delighted you had such a good day at Versailles. We love the full day visit, seeing the Domain of Marie-Antoinette really allows us to better understand her and her life as queen. We hope you had a wonderful stay in Paris!
Worth the time to go to Versailles
brad_s, Oct 2022
Worthwhile to spend time seeing Versailles. Knowledgeable guide. We did the whole day tour - 9 to 5. Unfortunately missed the last 1.5 hours due to a schedule conflict.
Response from Host, Oct 2022
Thank you very much for your review! We are very happy you enjoyed your day in Versailles and hope you may come back someday so we can show you the rest of it. There's so much to see and learn there, we could happily spend many, many days! We hope you had a great stay in Paris and look forward to seeing you again!
One of the highlights of our trip!
Shane_L, Sep 2022
What a fantastic day beginning with a tour of the palace, a relaxing lunch and exploring the gardens for as long as we wished in the afternoon. Our tour guide was excellent and did an amazing job of guiding us through the crowds inside the palace while sharing the history of this amazing place. We would like to return some day when all the fountains are running and have the opportunity to see Marie Antoinette's estate.
Response from Host, Sep 2022
Many thanks for your review! We are delighted to read that this visit was one of the highlights of your trip. Please do come back some day, we would be so pleased to take you to Marie-Antoinette's estate - it's one of our favourite places. We hope you had a wonderful stay in Paris and look forward to seeing you next time!
Must see!
Po_S, Aug 2022
Merlyn our tour guide and Victoria your arranger were fantastic. It was a small group tour and very organized. We completely enjoyed listening to some of the stories about the palace.
Response from Host, Aug 2022
Thank you for your review which we are very happy to read. We are delighted that you enjoyed your day in Versailles, there certainly are some amazing stories to be told about the place! We hope you had a wonderful stay in Paris and that we may see you again on future visits here.
The first part was...
Jennifer_D, Aug 2022
The first part was fantastic!!!! Until it was time to go to the gardens. The tickets our guide had wouldn’t let us in. She kept calling the company and was sent more, but still couldn’t get in. My daughter and I ended up buying tickets separately (even though we had already paid for them) to get in. We finished the gardens and our group was still waiting to get in. I would like to get a partial refund. And let me say the guide was great and I felt sorry for her, it was not her fault
Response from Host, Aug 2022
Thank you for your review. We are so sorry about the garden ticket mix up on the day of your tour, and the delay it caused. We buy our tickets in advance so that guests avoid the ticket lines, and for some reason the tickets that day were showing as invalid. The time it took us to sort this out with the people who manage the gardens was much longer than it should have been, and we do apologise for that. We contacted all guests right after the tour and have issued partial refunds for 1/3 of the cost of the morning tour, please let us know if you have not received it yet. We are glad that you enjoyed the palace part of the tour. We take great care in preparing our tours and we always want our guides to be able to work in the best conditions possible, so we take it very much to heart when things occasionally go wrong. We hope that you and your daughter had a wonderful stay here in Paris, and that we will be able to welcome you again and show you a 100% perfect tour. This is what we work hard to provide every day and we apologise again for the mix up on yours.
Great tour!
Tiffany_B, Jul 2022
What a great tour! We had a wonderful and knowledgeable guide, Humberto. We saw Versailles and the garden at a great pace. The meeting place and trip to Versailles was easy and wonderfully guided as well. Overall, I would definitely recommend this tour.
Response from Host, Jul 2022
Many thanks for your review and recommendation which we have shared with Humberto. We are very happy to read you enjoyed your visit to Versailles and we'd also like to thank our fantastic team of coordinators who take such good care of our guests on the trip to Versailles. We hope you had a wonderful stay in Paris and we hope to see you again!
Too much walking in order to save money
Judith_C, Jul 2022
Tried to save money by choosing this option to travel by train to palace. The train was extremely crowded and the walk from station to palace is really long when faced with walking the palace grounds. We bailed out midway
Response from Host, Jul 2022
Thank you for your review. We are sorry that you felt there was too much walking for you on this tour. We don't actually take the train because it's cheaper, but because it allows our guests much more flexibility if they want to stay on in Versailles and see more after the tour. We don't like to demand people leave to take a bus if they have not finished seeing all that they want to. As you saw, there is a lot to see! The trains can get a bit crowded, but you are escorted all the way by our wonderful team of coordinators who take very good care of everyone during the trip. We take the train to Versailles Chateau, which is the closest station to the palace and just a few minutes walk away. There is quite a lot of walking in the gardens, this is because the most beautiful groves are hidden (and they are well worth seeing!) and our guides want to ensure that you see the very best of the palace and the gardens. We are sorry that you left half way through the tour. We hope that perhaps we'll have the opportunity to welcome you on a different visit in the future that you will find more suited to you. We do hope you had a wonderful stay in Paris!
Beautiful Versailles
Audrey_L, Jul 2022
Valerie was a great tour guide, beautiful gardens and palace! Valerie gave us so much background information and was helpful getting us thru metro!
Response from Host, Jul 2022
Thank you for your review which we have shared with Valerie. We are really happy you enjoyed spending time at Versailles with her (and on the metro, another very Parisian experience!) We hope you had a wonderful stay here in Paris.
Great tour & Superb service
David_R, Jun 2022
We had train mixups on our way to meet the tour, and Memories France staff kept in communication to successfully help us catch the tour, they were so kind and professional. Our wonderful guide Valerie was upbeat and navigated us with ease through the crowded palace, providing so much interesting commentary that our teenager was never bored. The audio headphones were great to have since we didn’t have to be close to hear her. Excellent commentary continued through the gardens. Highly recommend this tour and Memories France. Be sure to meet the tour early in case you run into train problems like we did.
Response from Host, Jun 2022
Thank you David for taking the time to leave us a review! We were really happy that you made it and of course we're always glad to help! We have passed your kind comments on to Valerie and are sure she'll be as happy to read them as we are. We hope you and your family had a great stay in Paris and would love to see you again should you ever come back!
Very knowledgeable and...
Jayne_S, Jun 2022
Very knowledgeable and entertaining guide. Thank you for getting a w/c for my mother and making sure she was able to see everything from the w/c. It was a trip she had been looking forward to for some time.
Response from Host, Jun 2022
Thank you for your review! We are really happy to read that you and your mother enjoyed your visit to Versailles, and that your mother was comfortable and able to make the most of it. Our amazing guides really do all they can to ensure everyone has the best time, and we also thank them for that. We hope you are both having a wonderful stay in Paris, and that we will have the opportunity to welcome you again!
Must see
Katelyn_M, May 2022
The tour from start to finish was exceptional. Our guide was so knowledgeable and genuinely interested and excited by the history of Versailles which have such a wonderful layer to an already breathtaking tour.
Response from Host, May 2022
Many thanks for your review which we are very happy to read! We are so pleased you enjoyed your tour to Versailles, we love it there and it's wonderful to see that you had such a great time with your guide. We hope you had a great stay in Paris and look forward to perhaps seeing you again on future visits!
Send in the crowds
John_H, May 2022
It was a mostly enjoyable tour but crowds and delays in entry were disappointing. Our guide was pleasant. The train trip by RER from Paris was fine and a guide met us as promised. When we arrived in Versailles, despite having skip the line privileges, we waited in very long lines for entry. Once inside the palace was packed with visitors. The gardens were attractive, but huge, and it was too early to enjoy much of the flowers. As it turned out we were there during the French Easter holiday week so the crowds might have been more than expected for April.
Response from Host, May 2022
Thank you for your review. We are sorry that you experienced some delays in entering the palace. The major sites in Paris can get very crowded, and this spring it seemed more so than ever. In order to facilitate the entry of our guests at Versailles we have a coordinator to assist the guide and the guests. The guide arrives early and collects our tickets and reservations and the coordinator takes care of making sure all our guests are met, this way we are as efficient as possible and do not lose any time. We have a pre-reserved entry at Versailles which is timed, and generally the staff at the palace are able to ensure that the groups enter at their allotted time. However sometimes when it gets very busy there can be delays, but I would like to assure all guests that any wait time we may sometimes experience is much less than the lines for the general public! We have had a very busy Easter here in Paris, we hope that your guide was able to ensure you navigated the crowds in the palace and to show you the best parts of the gardens. As for the flowers, we find the structure of the gardens beautiful at all times of year, but we'd love to take you back to Versailles again a little later in the year when the flowers are all out - don't hesitate to contact us if ever you are back in Paris! We hope you had a great stay and that we will see you again on future visits.
Great tour of the louvre for families
MariaC_P, Apr 2022
The tour is perfect for teens and families. Our Guide Lilian was amazing 🤩! The length is perfect and she tells the most interesting stories, not the run of the mill that everyone knows.
Response from Host, May 2022
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. It seems your reviews may have got mixed up between your tours, but we are very happy to hear that you had multiple great tours in Paris! We hope you had a wonderful stay!
The tour was very...
Katherine_B, Oct 2021
The tour was very extensive and our guide was great. There is a lot of walking so be prepared for that. The pickup and train ride were both very smooth. I think it was just a little much on the history side for us
Magnificent Versailles
Joanna_W, Oct 2021
Sylvie is an excellent excellent guide. From the moment we met her she displayed professionalism. She was wearing pink so we could easily spot her. She absolutely embodies passion as she speaks about the history related to Versailles. She is extremely knowledgeable. She used so many pictures on her phone to help us understand the history while we were travelling to Versailles on the train and she continued her excellent commentaries as we went through the different rooms in the palace as well as the palace gardens..!!! A memorable tour indeed!!
The most beautiful place!!!
Monica_C, Feb 2020
It was a great experience. The meeting point was easy to find and tour guide was there in time to set up the group. She was knowledgeable and had a great time.

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