Visit the Palace of Versailles in France

“IMO, no. it’s not really a trek [...] but the biggest problem for me though was that at peak tourist time, you genuinely cannot move through the exhibits. there is no air conditioning obviously, and everyone is back to front squished together slowly moving through. it wasn’t enjoyable for me because i’m a bit claustrophobic. also the rooms were quite similar to the Louvre, and we had just seen that so I wasn’t super impressed. the gardens are very pretty but it was hot and there isn’t much shade until you get all the way down to where the bike rentals are. the bikes were kinda uncomfortable as well so we didn’t ride them around for long. overall, it was hot and crowded, so i didn’t enjoy it very much. in the off season it would be wonderful.”

“The first time I visited, I didn't know what to expect. I knew of the palace of Versailles, but I didn't know of the beauty of the gardens. I went out, saw a little bit. Looked back towards the palace, beautiful. Heard the music start to build up, walked a little bit and took a look across the stairs as the music hit perfectly. Between seeing the full gardens, the grand canal, the music, the beauty of it all, I was so full of emotion I was speechless.”

“We had trouble buying tickets online so we thought we would just go and see how the free part went and go from there. You will see giant line ups when you get there. Those are from people who have tickets and waiting to get in. They break up the entry times every hour or so. So if you arrive without a ticket, I would immediately go to ticket booth (off to the left of the huge entry courtyard area). We arrived at noon and we got tickets for the 3pm entry. Once you have your ticket , then you can view the grounds which are phenomenal. It's quite a wait to enter as it is very busy. I can't imagine what it is like in July/August.”

“It's worth a full day. I don't even think you'll see the city much. The palace and grounds alone will take up your whole day. Keep in mind that's it far more than just the palace, which itself is quite a lot. The grounds are huge, and absolutely breathtaking. I can genuinely trace the first even "breath taken away" moment of my life to when I walked around the palace and the grounds came into view behind it.”

“This reminds me of my first experience in Versailles, got there in the afternoon, absolute disaster, super crowded, already tired and little energy to do the gardens. Went back 10yrs later and decided to book a bike tour of the gardens for most for the morning, did the farmers market near neighborhood, picnic by the water then had a guided tour in the afternoon inside the palace. The gardens really are the stand out event! I was so happy I didn’t give up on Versailles after my first experience!”

“If I had one tip it would be do the gardens FIRST and then come back and do the palace. We got there, immediately rented a golf cart, did the gardens and had lunch, then came back and did the palace. It was the opposite of what 90% of people were doing so we didn’t have to fight crowds. Then another time we did the English language tour and that also helped us avoid crowds. But do it, everyone needs to see it at least once.”