A Week in Paris - Versailles

When everyone thinks about Paris, Versailles immediately comes to mind. The palace that Louis XIII started as a hunting lodge and Louis XIV expanded into the opulent, gold encrusted symbol of monarchical excess that led to the French Revolution. When we started exploring what to do when visiting the Sun King’s Palace, we were overwhelmed with the options. There simply isn’t enough time to take in it all. We gave ourselves most of a day, arriving with the very first timed entry of the day (this is an absolute must). You can book a guided tour - that has access to some of the other spaces in the palace, but we opted to wander on our own with the audio guide in the palace’s own app. The vast majority of the other people walked through the Chapel, King and Queen’s apartments and then left. Do not miss the Gallery of Battles and the other spaces. These areas are quieter and missing the people in their elaborate outfits in the palace just for the ‘gram.

The most overwhelming of the palaces features is the Gardens. The scale of these spaces is so far beyond what I imagined, reminding me of the National Mall back home. We wandered out from the palace and through many of the outdoor rooms that border the Tapis Vert. The Salle de Bal, Bosquet de la Girandole, and Bosquet de la Colonnade were simply stunning. We skipped the more formal dining options for lunch in the palace and stopped in the small outdoor cafe in the Bosquet de la Girandole for a quick bite. It’s not the most elevated experience, but far better than anything like it in attractions elsewhere (read: get the wine). Given the amount we were walking during our week, we did not make the trek over to the Trianon Palace.

Unless you’re horribly pressed for time the easiest way to get to the palace is to take the RER C line all the way to its end and walk up. The approach to the palace showcases the immense scale of this amazing “Hunting Lodge.”