Versailles Palace Full Day or Half Day Tour with Local Guide
Description
Enjoy a visit to the spectacular Palace of Versailles. Walk the glittering Hall of Mirrors, see the State Apartments and stroll through the manicured gardens with an expert local guide to bring the Palace and its royal inhabitants back to life. For your convenience this tour starts in Versailles.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Meet your guide in Versailles and journey in the footsteps of the kings and queens of France! During the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, Versailles was the place to be and to be seen. Nowadays visitors from all over the world still come to Versailles to marvel at the splendors of this incredible palace. Your friendly local guide will bring you to the famous figures who once inhabited this palace back to life. See the dazzling Hall of Mirrors and the royal bedrooms where the king and queen would go to bed and get up daily in front of a large audience. Learn about life at the royal court - there was even a ceremony for the King putting on and taking off his hunting boots! - the glory of the Sun King that was symbolised by this magnificent palace, and the tragic downfall of King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution.
Stroll through the glittering Hall of Mirrors, as Kings, Queens and courtiers once did, as your guide brings the daily life, ceremonies and scandals of the royal court to life.
After visiting the state apartments inside the palace, your guide will lead you through the spectacular gardens, once the setting of balls, parties and elaborate firework displays, the symbol of the King's power over nature. Discover hidden groves and on fountain show days you will see the amazing waterworks, still running today as they did in the times of kings and queens. The fountains run according to a very precise schedule, and your guide will ensure you are in exactly the right spot at the right time!
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- From 1 April to 31 October, the gardens of the Palace feature special Musical and Fountain Shows. Fountain Shows take place on Saturdays and Sundays, as well as on Tuesdays in May and June and on national holidays. Please note that the fountains operate according to a set schedule — they do not run continuously throughout the day. On the other days of the week during this period, the gardens host the Musical Gardens, where music is played throughout the groves.
- This tour involves a considerable amount of walking. Please ensure you wear comfortable shoes. Please note, this tour in Versailles is not wheelchair accessible.
- You can cancel your tour up to 24 hours prior to departure and receive a full refund. Please note that refunds are not possible for missed tours.
- If you plan to arrive at the meeting point by taxi, please ensure you leave yourselves plenty of time, it can often take a considerable amount of time to find a taxi in Paris!
- Infants aged 0-3 years are free of charge and do not require a booking.
- Please note the full day tour requires a lot of walking. The tour is paced to be comfortable but you will need to be able to walk throughout the whole day.
Reviews(190)
We thoroughly enjoyed a friendly informative tour with Claire today. Her knowledge of the Palace and its extensive complex history was very impressive. Our small group of 10 was well managed at each stop to make sure we heard every detail via our supplied Audio ear pieces. Highly recommend this Tour
Thank you so much for this, David! We're delighted Claire's knowledge of the palace and its complex history came through so clearly, and that the earpieces allowed you to catch every detail. Versailles really does reward that kind of thorough approach - there's so much woven into every room and corridor. We'll be sure to share this with Claire, it'll mean a great deal to her. We hope you had a wonderful time here in Paris, and we'd love to welcome you back for another visit one day!
Very informative and accommodating. The tour guide went out of her way to make sure that everybody got it what they wanted out of the tour.
Thank you, Vlad! We're so glad Marjolein made sure everyone in the group got what they wanted from the day - that kind of attentiveness makes such a difference to your visit and we really appreciate our fantastic guides always going the extra mile to ensure every tour is special. Thank you for sharing this, we have shared your kind words with Marjolein.
The half day Versailles tour was wonderful! Able to hear and see so much history, the tour guide was so good to keep you engaged, and then plenty of time to continue exploring the gardens on your own after. I highly recommend!
Thank you Kari! We love that you had time to explore the gardens further at your own pace afterwards — and we're glad our guide took you through them first so you had the full story behind what you were seeing. The gardens are as rich in history as the palace itself, and we always make sure to give them the time they deserve. We really appreciate the recommendation! Hope you had a wonderful time here in Paris.
Look, this is an expensive way to waste time. The guide was pleasant but frankly, we didn’t need her. I should have known from when she said that she has to talk non-stop (and I declined to take the audio device on the basis that it would by and large be nothing I needed to compromise my visit with) . Our tickets said to arrive by 09.30: what they didn’t say was that this was to allow anyone else to get there by RER to the statue of Louis IV. Then we traipse up to the gate, and then we wait for people to use the loos while the guide prints the tickets. Another 20 minutes wasted. Then we join an another queue to get in as a group. The Memories blurb claims you beat the queue: not really. Then we have the excruciating commentary - and, on this occasion, in the midst of a heatwave. I went to sit down and the guide was very flustered. She said we could leave at any point and this inferred that we could do the rest of the tour solo. After another burst of commentary about Philip of Spain being queer - in rather a derogatory manner - I didn’t feel much like staying on the tour. My partner listened to the entire commentary about the interior and the gardens (which everyone was encouraged to film) up to the first bedroom, and the inference was - as the guide was busy taking photos of the rest of the group - that that was it. Only after we had walked through the rest of the palace, and past the point of no return, did we realise that our guide had in fact not given us tickets WHICH WE HAD PAID FOR to enter the gardens. We paid the additional €16 each and really enjoyed the rest of the day, despite the 41c heat. Versailles really isn’t difficult. It’s big, but not impossible. Once in the palace you see waiting rooms, a chapel, a hall of mirrors, and some beds. Very beautiful, but rammed with people. There is nothing gained by taking this or any other group tour. Right now, lots of the exterior ground adjacent to the main rooms of the palace is under renovation, and everything is under a layer of sandstone dust. To bill a tour as half a day when MAXIMUM - and after quite a lot of waiting about - one gets 90 minutes of fairly average commentary is daylight robbery. That mis-selling notwithstanding, we sought only to recover the €32 euros we had to pay due to the lack of diligence of the guide. Siobhan from Memories clearly has no understanding of customer service, and so I am posting this review far and wide. Memories is a clip joint: save your money; get a handset from the Chateau, and enjoy the beautiful surroundings.
Thank you for taking the time to write this, Sara. A few things worth clarifying for anyone reading: the stop before entering the palace is intentional, since there are no facilities again until the very end of the one-way route, and it gives everyone a moment to be comfortable before a long visit, especially in the heat. On timing, our timed-entry reservations do get guests in ahead of the general public queue, which we stand behind. The tour itself runs 3 hours in total, split evenly between the palace and the gardens, rather than the 90 minutes described. For any guest who ever wants to head off earlier than planned, just let your guide know and they'll make sure you have your tickets and any information you need before you go. We're sorry this tour wasn't for you, but we'd push back gently on it adding nothing — without a guide, the rivalries, scandals and sheer theatre of court life are easy to miss walking through what would otherwise just look like beautiful, empty rooms. We hope you enjoyed the rest of your stay here in Paris.
Don’t be misled by the prospect of a great Memory; this is a poorly organised, expensive waste of money. The tour may start on time - depends on the connecting trains - and you then spend 15/20 minutes hanging around whilst the guide collects tickets etc so a 9:30am meet becomes a 10.30am start. The Palace itself is very crowded - not their fault - but the tour narrative is at a Love Island level and not worth the time or money. However if you choose to go at your own speed or get disconnected, make sure you catch up with the guide as she has the tickets to the garden which are another €32 per person. The garden themselves are spectacular but best viewed at your own pace and without a guide - the chances of getting an advertised golf cart are close to zero so be prepared to walk. Versailles is undoubtedly worth a visit but this guide option adds nothing for what is quite a lot of money.
Thank you for sharing this, Stephen. A couple of points worth clarifying for future guests: this tour runs on a single direct train with no connections, and we build in a buffer specifically so the schedule holds — our records show the group arrived at the meeting point ahead of time, and the tour began on schedule. We should also mention golf carts aren't something we advertise or provide — the walk through the gardens is genuinely part of the visit. We're sorry the guiding style didn't land for you, though we'd gently push back on it adding nothing — it's the stories woven through the rooms and gardens, not just the architecture, that bring Versailles to life. We hope the rest of your time here in Paris was a good one.
There is a lot of walking!! And it lasts the whole day — which was worth it. I got to see so much more than just the main chateaux and garden. Our tour guide was Sarah and she’s fantastic. She took excellent care of our group and despite the large crowds inside, I still got to learn a great deal.
Thank you Annette! A full day at Versailles really does let you discover so much beyond the main chateau and gardens, and we're so glad it was worth every step. Sara has a wonderful way of taking care of a diverse group while making sure everyone learns so much, even on a busy day. We'll make sure she sees your kind words. Hope you had a wonderful time here in Paris!
An excellent well informed guide who made the journey through Palace & Hardens very accessible to all. It would be difficult to negotiate a meaningful experience without a guide as it’s such a vast property.
Thank you Susan — and what a wonderful title for your review! You've put it perfectly: Versailles is so vast that without a guide, so much of its story is simply invisible. We're so glad the palace and gardens felt accessible and meaningful for your whole group. Hope you had a wonderful time here in Paris!
Ivan did a great job of herding a bunch of cats (our group) through a super crowded Versailles, all while giving us interesting and entertaining information about the history of the palace and the many things that we were seeing. My daughter and I enjoyed our tour very much and would recommend Ivan to other groups!
Thank you Helen — 'Ivan the Great' and 'herding cats' made us laugh! Ivan really does have a remarkable ability to keep everyone together and fully engaged even on the busiest days at Versailles, and we're so glad the history and stories came through so clearly for you and your daughter. We'll make sure he sees your kind words — he'll love this review! Hope you both had a wonderful time here in Paris.
It was the best experience I ever had on a guided tour. Ivan was the best . So knowledgeable, and it was marvelous to see that he used every bit of time to educate us and walk us through the marvels of the history behind this masterpiece. Thank you so much for making this memorable.
Hi there! Here at Memories we are just over the moon at your stellar review - this is what we strive to provide for you every single time and are so proud to know we knocked it out of the park. We are here to make your experience in everyway extrardinary- thank you for taking the time to let us know we succeeded!
Our guide, Batu (apologies if misspelled) was incredible. He combined historical perspective with contemporary comparatives to ensure an educational, engaging tour. Definitely 5 star!
Helllo, Ross! Bayo will be so thrilled when he reads your high praise. We do try to make the over the topness of Versailles make sense to a modern eye - we are delighted to know we hit a bull's eye. Thanks so much for the stellar review!
