Versailles is the day trip travellers most often describe afterwards as exhausting.Â
Not because it disappoints: because almost nobody arrives with a plan.
They queue at eleven, reach the Hall of Mirrors at its worst hour, walk until their feet hurt, see perhaps a third of the estate, and go back to Paris having been there without quite having seen it.
The estate covers 800 hectares (about 2,000 acres)Â or roughly two and a half times Central Park. The Grand Canal alone is 1.7 km long, just over a mile. The palace takes more than eight million visitors a year, and on a summer Saturday it feels like all of them are in one corridor.
So the question isn’t whether Versailles is worth it. It’s how much of it you want, and how much of your day you’re willing to give. Three answers below.
It comes down to how much of the gardens you reach.
Palace & Royal Gardens (4.5 hours) gives you the State Apartments, the Hall of Mirrors and the great central axis : the parterres, Latona, the Tapis Vert running down to Apollo. Versailles at its most photographed, and as much as anyone covers comfortably on foot.
By golf cart (4.5 hours): the same palace, then the whole park. The Four Seasons, Enceladus, the Ballroom, the Colonnade, Apollo’s Baths :Â groves hidden behind hedges that most visitors walk past without ever knowing are there. Which ones depends on the day; when the fountains are playing, your guide builds the route around the best of them.
Versailles & Giverny (9 hours, April to November) spends a whole day on two opposite gardens: Louis XIV imposing geometry on nature in the morning, Monet handing it back in the afternoon.
How to count the Number of Participants  for a Tour ?Â
The number of participant for tours depends whether the tour involves a transfer of not.Â
If there is a Transfer every single participant at any age ( even couple of months old ) count as for a major cost of the tour is in the transportation, and even a baby takes a seat it is important for us, if the limit of participants exceeds the capacity of the vehicle, we will have to add an other vehicle or book a larger one, thus a more important cost.
If there is no transfer in the tour then any children under 6 years old is free of charge, the parents and guides are both aware that the focus is always going to be on the kids that are 6 and older. That said, our guides try to engage any child on tour regardless of the age between 4 and 6 years old.Â
Strikes at the Versailles are called by unions and are outside our control, but here is exactly how we handle them.
When a strike is called, we typically receive notice by email from the Louvre museum, usually at least 2 days in advance.
What’s usually affected. Strikes generally only affect early morning tours, roughly those starting between 9:00 and 10:00 am. During a strike, the Louvre often reopens around 10:30 am, though this isn’t guaranteed.
If your tour is affected:
Note : When a strike is annouced we will always try to push the start the latest possible. (Depending on your schedule and that of the guide.Â
Alternative tours and experiences (subject to availability): other museums such as the MusĂ©e d’Orsay or MusĂ©e de l’Orangerie; monuments such as the OpĂ©ra Garnier, Notre-Dame Cathedral, or Arc de Triomphe; and walking tours of the Palais Royal, the covered passages, ĂŽle de la CitĂ©, ĂŽle Saint-Louis, Le Marais, the Latin Quarter, or Saint-Germain-des-PrĂ©s.
All alternatives are adapted to your group’s interests, pace, and accessibility needs.