Versailles Palace and Gardens Skip-the-Line Tour from Paris

Highly recommend!

Martin, our guide, was so personable and kind! He gave a lot of amazing information and got us in great spots to see the best of the palace. Very happy with this experience!

Fun with history at Versailles.

The tour guides wealth of knowledge and sense of humor She gave background information that enhanced the total experience.

Great tour

The tour company was very professional and the communication was amazing.Our guide Nev was very knowledgeable.

Definitely worth the cost to skip the lines!

Our visit to Versailles was very enjoyable. Everything seem to go off without a hitch. The tour guide was excellent.

Great tour!

Very entertaining stories about the full reality of the palace and people that lived in it. Highlighted many fascinating details of Louis XIV life, ruling style, the design and how it impacted politics of the time, as well as history of the French Revolution and Marie Antoinette. Very enjoyable and insightful!

Tour guide could be better

The transportation to and from Paris and the skip-the -line portion of the tour was great. The company could invest more on the quality of the tour guide.

Great experience!

Great experience! The tour operators were very helpful, from the checking in, bus ride, to skipping the line, to the well versed guide throughout the tour, this was a well organized tour. Our family enjoyed this tour!

Amazing

What a wonderful experience! I have to fully attribute this to our guide, Nev! She was absolutely incredible, full of knowledge and had the most engaging way to include the whole group. Nev knows her history for sure and just made this tour perfect for me and my husband.

Beautiful

The guided tour was excellent. Our guide, Veronique, was very interesting and fun. Only downfall was they allowed us to choose to stay longer and told us to take the train back to Paris, which we did. Had lunch at the Angelina’s located there which was wonderful, got to the train station, purchased our ticket and then was told the train was shut down for at least 2 hours. We were able to schedule a taxi but don’t think I would have stayed if I knew that the train shutting down was a possibility.

Control the controllables

There are things that can be controlled and things that cannot. The tour did a great job adjusting to the things they could not control (train not running, highway closed due to Olympics preparation and Biden visit) but did a terrible job at controlling what they can control. The tour description is very clear to arrive early. We and many others did. However, the tour waited an extra 15-20 minutes after the scheduled departure time for a few members of a late arriving family. Combined with having to take backroads (can't control), we now arrived at Versailles extremely late. Skip the line (to buy) tickets is true but, as they were clear to highlight, nobody skips the security line. Because we were late in arriving, we (presumably) were now much later on the time stamp for our tour group to proceed through security. 30 more wasted minutes standing around. We spent a little over an hour of the advertised ~2.5 hours actually viewing the Palace/Hall of Mirrors/Gardens. Our guide, Imad, was quite friendly and knowledgeable. Once we actually were in the palace, he did a good job of moving us along and sharing the history. He is the reason the rating is not lower.

Too Rushed Visit to Palace

We booked this tour originally for 5, and 2 days before had to change to 3 due to illness. Changing the reservation was easy, and TripAdvisor staff were great in helping me do that. For the Tour guy, it was difficult to find the meeting stop. The Metro station had several exits, and we were told which one to meet at but they are not very well marked, so that caused some stress. The tour was much shorter than I realized. I expected the 1hr travel time (30min each way), however the total time start to finish was 3 hours, giving you approx 2 hours of tour, However, there were delays getting into Versailles, so we really did not start inside until 11:30am. The tour in the palace was about 1hr, then 30min free in garden (There was no additional 30 min in Hall of Mirrors, as advertised). Tour information said you would get a train ticket to return on your own if you wanted to stay longer, but that is not true. If you decide to stay, transport back to Paris is either on the bus, or you need to find the train or Uber on your own. Best part was the tour guide and information provided as we walked through. Guide was knowledgeable, easy to understand, provided a headset so we could clearly hear her in a very crowded space! I was not comfortable with trying to find my way to train station (not familiar with trains/ticketing) and almost everyone on our tour returned as well. I expected to have more time (the extra 30 min would have been nice), since it was crowded, getting in was delayed and too crowded to move through quickly, so being given a train ticket with instructions on returning on my own (as advertised) was what i expected. Overall I felt rushed and did not have a great experience.

All that shimmers actually is gold!

The Palace and its gardens were unbelievable with their opulence and grandeur. Our tour guide, Wei, was very knowledgable and shared lots of information regarding its history which was fascinating and identified just how disconnected royalty was from the commoner at that time. A must see when visiting Paris

Très Versailles

I had a great time thanks to our guide Vincent! He was very informative and made the tour very interesting. This was my first time taking a tour. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the tour due to the large amount of visitors. I want to do the tour again and explore more of Versailles.

Great Versailles tour

Our guide was very knowledgeable and careful with all her guests. The best part were the ceiling art. We also enjoyed the gardens.

Excellent tour with Way!...

Excellent tour with Way! Very informative and attentive guide. Kept us all together and made sure we did not miss anything with all of the crowds.

Excellent Tour with Ahmet!

We booked this tour last minute while we were in Paris and were glad that we did. We easily found the meeting place for our tour. The bus was nice and not crowded. We had Ahmet as our tour guide and we made the tour! He was excellent! Versailles was not a long drive from Paris. Ahmet led us to the tour entrance, where we waited for maybe 10 minutes (not long) and then entered the building. We stopped for a bathroom break and then started the tour. Ahmet let us through Versailles, with the best history lesson ever. He was so knowledgeable and entertaining. The rooms were cramped and crowded with people, but Ahmet made sure he made space for our whole group. After viewing a few of the interior rooms, we made our way to the gardens, which were incredible. Ahmet always told us the most important details and fact about what we were seeing, and in a very entertaining way. Ahmet really made the tour—he was delightful! It was worth the money to visit and especially with Ahmet—the best guide ever!

Beautiful tour of Versailles

The tour of Versailles and Gardens was beautiful and amazing! The tour company was so nice and accommodating. They welcomed us and made it so easy to get to Versailles and were so helpful getting us in Versailles and guiding us through this amazing palace! Well done!

Too crowded

Parts of the gardens were great. There were far too many people touring at the same time. No trash cans. Very few furnishings.

Superb

Our guide, Anastasia, was excellent. Very knowledgeable, funny with lovely little ‘tongue in cheek’ comments

The Palace of Versailles is a favorite among all ages of visitors.

The Palace of Versailles is a “do not miss” when visiting Paris. This tour was the highlight of our Paris trip. All three generations in our group fully agree we will always spend time at Versailles whenever we travel to Paris.

Versailles in June

Great tour ! We loved it ! The guide was great , the history amazing , and the gardens are wonderful . Plan to spend a little extra time relaxing in the garden

Temper Your Expectations

Temper your expectations: although it’s called “Skip The Line”, you will have a significant weight in the group line. We chose this tour because my wife has MS and I didn’t want to chance her standing in this hot sun for very long. When we got to the group entrance, there were quite a few groups, and, align for the groups wasn’t moving in at all. We had a more than 20 minute wait outside and they did not tell us why. Other than that, the bus ride went as expected and our tour guide had a good bit of knowledge about the daily life of the royal families. The guide’s information doesn’t go very deep but it’s helpful.

Great trip and highly recommend it

Martin was amazing. He was extremely knowledgeable and answered all our questions. We had plenty of time to see the highlights

Guide should have not left us until we were on the bus!

We enjoyed the palace, although we were most dissapointed that none of the fountains were in use. But what really upset us & what almost put us in a compromising situation was that our guide left us stranded at the end of the tour & it was only by chance that we finally found our bus!

Ahmed was amazing! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Ahmed was amazing. So knowledgeable and the tour/history/facts flowed so well. His excitement was permeable. I wish he gave other tour guides lessons!!!

Careless customer service at corporate level

You sent us to the wrong meeting place. Wasted an hour at the wrong place looking for something that wasnt there. Then had to scramble in 15 min to get to the right spot miles away. If you cared about your customers so much why dont you update your directions.

Rushed and limited.

First of al lthje bus to take us to Versailles was late then did not even show up. We then had to take a train (with 4 stops) and ended up with a 189-20 minute walk to the palace. Our tour of the gardens was very rushed with the guide continually saying we have to hurry. We were not able to stop and spend time really examining the gardens and their patterns. Fron there we went into the palace but once again were told we must be quick if we are to make our bus trip back. Each room was very briefly described but in a hurried-up manor. There was not an opportunity to wait in a certain roof for the crowds to move then get close for a better picture. All in all, our tour was very rushed and limited, I believe because of the initial delay in beginning the tour wkth the bus that never showed. I will add that this was my third use of Viatour on this trip (Dinner cruise on the Seine and tour of the Eiffel Tower) and these were both very well done.

Fantastic tour with Imad

Imad our tour guide was excellent great tour super informative and fun. This is a must see tour and was well planned. Skipped all lines!

Our guide Nadia did an excellent pivot

We went to the gardens first with Nadia because a castle was too crowded. By the time we got back, there was a fire and so we had to wait. Nadia was very helpful. She filled the time by telling us history about Versailles and when we needed a restroom, she found one for us. And she was smart enough to get us to the front of the line in case it reopened which it did And so we were able to see the sites a bit hurried but we saw them. She was excellent

Decadent days

The palace is the most decadent place I have ever seen. Power and wealth in unabashed glory. The guide was great - really informative and managed the group well in terms of moving forward in a very busy space. We stayed longer and picked up a later bus to travel back to Paris.

Unforgettable

I cannot describe the beauty and opulence. A must see at least once in a lifetime. This was my second trip but the first time for my daughter of 37years. She was amazed too.

Wonderful Tour!

Our guide was an extremely knowledgeable storyteller. Very enjoyable listen to and learn from. The skip the line is a must and helped make everything more enjoyable.

Beautiful palace definitely worth a visit

Excellent guide very knowledgeable friendly got us through the long lines very fast The palace was beautiful definitely worth a visit

Lovely experience

Anastasia was a wonderful guide! She was creative in her presentation and leadership of the group! Loved her beautiful smile!

Pretty Good

Pretty good tour, not long enough. It's only 3hrs and that includes the 30min bus ride there and back. Didn't get to tour the gardens due to time constraints which was disappointing.

Very good.

Very good. We arrived earlier and went to grab lunch and walked to the bus station but because we were late for 2 minutes the bus left in front of us. The tour guide texted but we were walking and could not replaied on time. We were waiting for the next bus for 45 min and so we were lucky to get to the next bus. Don't be late.

Great tour

Veronica made this tour fun and interesting. Be clear that you do not have time in the gardens if you do not try to wait for the 2nd bus or take the train. Still I believe the tour is worth it.

Great tour

Carolina was an amazing guide and told the story of Versailles. I wish there was a bit more time to explore the gardens and still catch the bus though

A tour well done

We enjoyed the tour, well organized. Every step of the tour, guides are very helpful and knowledgeable. Our guide Wei deserves many pats on the shoulder.

Great tour!

Tour was fantastic and guide really knew his stuff. Perfect amount of time to spend in the palace. I’d highly recommend this tour.

Basic tour and skip line.

Tour in Versailles was great! Would have enjoyed some tour info on the bus rather than simply a bus ride sitting with a tour guide. Would have enjoyed more time allowed in gardens, however, we chose metro to return to paris

Did not live up to expectations

The bedroom curtains. The Chapel Perhaps the experience was over hyped, but I left distinctly disappointed. Not the tours fault but the entry to the museum was insensitive. Despite our skip the line - we had a 30 minute wait on the sun.

Great tour!

This was a great trip with a great guide. Armât was very knowledgeable and made the tour interesting. Our daughter & family happened to have the same guide the week before and said the same thing! He encouraged audience participation by asking and encouraging questions. Our group of 5 included 3 generations.

Great day at Versaille

Great tour presented by Mez. Mez was very informative. Tour was on time and easy to use via app. Enjoyable day had by all.

Versaille

Our guide, Arthur, was fantastic, friendly and very knowledgeable. Tour was started late, part of a large family showed up late and the bus waited for the rest of them before leaving. That set us behind, so our 9:00 am departure left us still in line for security at 1030, the groups with subsequent departure times entered museum before us. Thankfully our guide gave us some later options for return bus, but it did not allow time to utilize option for Trianon Estate given that the metro station was also closed that day. Again, guide was phenomenal and accommodated as much as he could...

Lovely place, guido not so good

Nice place! Beautiful Versalles and had a lovely weather on top. Did not have to wait much. However the guide was not very good.

Good but rushed

The guide was very knowledgeable and we loved everything about it except that it went so fast I felt rushed at one point could not find guide quick pics

Easy logistics, plenty of time

Boarding logistics on both ends (from Paris / leaving Versailles) were straightforward and easy. Read and follow the instructions and you'll be good to go! Worth noting that we were on the first bus of the day, though, so traffic was lighter / easier to wrangle / etc. Several other reviewers said they felt rushed -- we did not b/c the palace itself has a fixed number of things you can see. After that, the question is how long you want to spend in the gardens. These could easily occupy a full day and, if that's what you're looking for, suggest staying at Versailles rather than taking the bus home.

Beautiful! Walking through HISTORY

Transportation was nice to have and the tour guide was very good. The only negative is that the microphone on his headset kept cutting out.

Run through Versailles

Having the tour guide made getting in quicker and she did provide a fair amount of history on a lot of what we were seeing. That being said, it really seemed like the entire time we were rushing from one room to the next. We walked straight through some rooms without stopping at all. The tour ends in the gardens and correctly the guide recommends we not take the provided bus back so we have time to properly explore them. If I had it to do again I would probably just get my tickets directly and do everything at my own pace so I could get pictures of everything I wanted and not have to worry about slowing the group.