Versailles Palace Live Tour with Gardens Access from Paris

Dissapointment

Prepare for long day with a lot of walking. Enjoyed the grounds but disappointed in the upkeep. Chandeliers dirty and grounds of the garden unkept. Bushes shaggy, no flowers planted. Wondered if they were waiting for the Olympics but for the price of admittance, I expected better presentation. Also suppose to be fountain show??? Never saw one fountain go off while we were ther. Glad we took a bus versus train for this trip. Everyone in family agreed it was their least favorite site.

Worth the visit

Easy to locate location near cafes and Eiffel Tower. Bus was clean and comfortable. Guides were courteous and knowledgeable. Recommend morning booking to avoid heavy crowds. Unfortunately the gardens were being prepped for Olympics so weren’t as pretty as we anticipated. Rent a golf cart to get around

Excellent tour guide - beautiful palace and gardens!!

Excellent tour guide - Mauro was interesting and fun and made the tour so enjoyable! Everything ran on time. Bus was comfortable. Versailles was amazing and beautiful - great tour!!

Versailles Palace Tour

The palace tour was very informational and we really enjoyed our tour guide. He was very personable and knowledgeable about the history of Versailles.

Best way to experience Versailles!

Our tour guide, Mauro, was excellent: informative, great anecdotes, & responsive to our questions . The overall tour was well organized and a great way to experience Versailles. Would highly recommend.

Worth it

Jennifer was our guide and we enjoyed it immensely. She brought the paintings and sculptures to life. She also commented on works that were duplicated in Versailles and my kids were excited when they saw them there. Thanks Jennifer!

Great Experience!

Our guide Sergio was amazing! Really knowledgeable and shared a lot of great history and stories behind the things we were looking at we wouldn’t have learned if he wasn’t our guide. It was well organized and we had plenty of time to wander through the gardens. Would definitely take this tour again!

Versailles

Very well organized tour. Our guide Nathan was friendly and knowledgeable. The palace was extremely crowded.

Worth the Trip But VERY Crowded

Th palace is quite impressive. Worth seeing for sure. The crowds however were a bit of a challenge. Lots and lots of people in there at once making it hard to see and a bit hard to enjoy. The gardens are impressive and expansive! You can take golf carts down to various areas of the garden by no through the trails themselves. If you are older or have trouble walking, you will not be able to see anywhere near all of the gardens…they are very spread out…but beautiful to b sure.

Beyond expectations

The palace and grounds are massively beautiful beyond what I was already expecting….if you need a meal getting it at one of the multiple options all over the gardens is much easier than anything inside the palace.

Very good

Good experience overall. Our tour guide was lovely and company was easy to find for return home, the town was nice to explore if you’ve already seen the gardens. The gardens you need to purchase the train ticket or golf cart at the entrance not by the vehicles which was not clearly marked.

Must see !!! The place...

Must see !!! The place where Caroline lived, what else can I say - you have to see it! Excellent excursion, very good service, although there are a lot of people in Versailles, but this cannot be corrected. You simply plunge into the history of the Palaces of Interweaving of the French Kings. Unforgettable feelings !

Hard to Describe the Grandeur

The history alone is obviously worth the visit, but even if you’re not up on all the history, the opulence is breathtaking. And don’t miss the gardens. They’re worth every franc (I know, Euro) of the extra fee.

Great tour guide; lack of details on Viator

The tour with Gabriella was very good…she told the history of the Palace and French royalty while taking us on a journey through each room, and added extra details and insights into each space. I’m taking one star off because of the lack of detail in the description of the event, such as duration, logistics, and tour operator. Viator doesn’t share enough details for you to be able to plan the rest of the day, and their customer care/support is very limited.

Yes to the palace, no to the Gardens, since the fountains don’t work!!!

Palace was awesome, and the tour was good. The gardens were not worth it as only three of the fountains were on. Lots to do in Paris, so I would pick something else until they decide to make the gardens truly operational.

Exciting

Palace is so beautiful.I had a lot of pictures in the palace and garden . Guide is very kind and good .But it was.rainy. That was little bit sorry.

It was easy to book and we did enjoy our time in Chateau Versailles

It was unfortunate that the guide from the office did not know where the bus was parked and led us on an unnecessary walk. The guide at the palace was friendly and knowledgeable but quite difficult to understand. The friends I was with felt the same and in the end zoned out.

Beautiful day full of interesting history and gorgeous views of the castle.

Laura or Laural was our guide from get your guide. She told great animated stories to us as we followed together as a group through the highlights of the Palace. They gave us each a device and an earpiece so that we could all hear her over the crowd. (If you are given headphones from an airline save them, they will work too. The headphones from the airline were softer and more comfortable) I really appreciated being able to hear her over the crowd. It rained this day, but we still enjoyed the beautiful gardens and the castle. However, due to the rain and traffic the bus was late. There is a gulf cart you can rent to see the gardens I would recommend this. We didn't see it until the end. I would recommend they offer water on the bus and that they maybe have a snack the lines for the food around the palace was far too long. The bus ride was comfortable. They had one guide load the bus and a different one take us on the tour. This was a little confusing. However, everyone was welcoming and friendly. Highly recommend get your guide tours. Bring an umbrella. I forgot mine and bought on from the tour and everyone kept asking me if I was a tour guide.

Very good

More description of France enroute would have been appreciated ,otherwise the guide was skilled.cost too much for the experience compared to other tours

Fabulous tour

The gardens and fountains were spectacular. The palace exquisite. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and pleasant. Tour was very organized.

Not great

No where to sit while waiting for the bus. Did not like needing to walk to the bus - should have people meet where the bus is. Did not like that there were no chargers on the bus. Guide was good but moved too quickly. Tour length needed to be longer (more free time). Versailles was not very user-friendly, not enough signs, did not understand that the train went OUTSIDE the property and was not at all way to view the gardens, did not have enough info on the fountain shows. Based on this experience I would not do another tour.

Forgotten by Tour Guide

This tour, for the general visitor, would have been fine. I've done a tour of Versailles in the past and this one didn't differ in terms of what to see. However, I do not recommend it if you cannot or do not want to walk long distances. To start with, the bus to Versailles was not parked near the tour office. We had to walk several blocks to board the bus and the tour guide walked very fast. Hard to keep up. Once we arrived at Versailles, half of our group was transferred to another guide. I informed her that I wasn't interested in seeing the palace - I only wanted to go to the gardens. Instead of directing me to the gardens, she told me to wait in the courtyard until the group had completed the palace tour. I guess the guide forgot about me because neither she nor the group ever came out to the courtyard. My friend told me later that the guide concluded the tour inside. After waiting what I thought was more than a reasonable amount of time, I made my way to the garden. Unfortunately, by the time I went to the garden and saw that the access had changed since my prior visit and would require a significant amount of walking to even reach the stairs, there wasn't sufficient time to visit the garden. So, I waited for my friend outside. I specifically booked this tour because it included access to the garden to see the fountain show. I never saw the garden nor the fountains, despite having told the tour guide up front that was what I wanted to do. I spent over $100 to sit in the courtyards and watch tourists walk by for over 4 hours. I'm not denying partial responsibility for the way this turned out but I believe the guide should have directed me to the garden when I first expressed that was what I wanted. As part of her group, I feel she had a responsibility to at least point me in the right direction instead of telling me to wait in the courtyard for the group and never come back. Huge waste of money and time.

The king Louies of Versailles!!!

The tour guide, Gabriella, was fantastic!!! She knew her history to a tee!! The palace itself was beautiful. The gardens were even more beautiful !! Loved the experience!!

Great tour, very informative

We had a great tour of the Palace of Versaille and the gardens mainly because of our tour guide Mauro. Mauro went onto so much detail about the tour and was very informative when we went through the palace rooms. He put his personal touch to his commentary which was well received.

Excellent Experience

Versailles will blow your mind. The opulence of the palace and gardens will help to explain why the French revolted against the king.

Great experience

Our guide Mauro was a delight to be with. Well organised, comfortable, and interesting excursion. Greatly recommended !

Make sure you have plenty of time!

The tour itself was great. But unfortunately, they did not plan for contingencies with the traffic and the bus left and then could not get back on time. Knowing the traffic is the way it is the bus should stay there so that it can take people back. This was supposed to be a 4 to 6 hour tour and I'm sure it turned into about eight. We're not sure because we had to leave. My husband and I ended up taking a cab to the tune of €80 so we wouldn't miss our flight.

Lots of walking

The stories of the kings & families were good. Very opulent. Too crowded to really enjoy. No benches to rest.

Good Tour Company

Overall experience was very good. The motor coach was comfortable. Nils, our tour guide inside Versailles, did a great job explaining everything. He was interesting and funny.! When we left Versailles to wait for the coach to return to Paris, it was pouring and motor coach was late. That was a disappointment. Otherwise, well worth your time and money to go to see Versailles with this company.

Educational, beautiful, too short

Versailles was spectacular. The docent on the bus was outstanding; very knowledgeable on the history of the palace and its occupants. The next guide taking us through the palace was very steeped in the castles interior and the art; however, he was over enthusiastic in his presentations taking too much time on the background and production of the art. This, unfortunately, took away from our available time in the gardens and tat was unfortunate. Suggestion - shorter in castle tours, longer garden tours; perhaps a full day with lunch on site.

Great trip

The guide was amazing. The trip was well organized. Plenty of time to explore and see the grounds. Get your Guide agent , was very knowledgeable and gave great history of Versailles.

Excellent Tour! worth every penny!!

Wonderful Tour. Wow this place is amazing! So much opulence never ending room after room of shameless wealth. Really impressive. Now I understand why this was the downfall of the Monarchy. Tour guide was excellent.

My Favorite Tour!

Emily in Versailles did a wonderful job navigating us through this incredible palace! This was the tour I was looking forward to the most! The palace is full of incredible works of art and Emily was able to tell the story about each piece and the people who lived in the Palace. The gardens are incredible! Make sure you visit them as well!

The tour guide was very...

The tour guide was very knowledgeable about French history so if you’re in to that then it was great. Was nice not to have to worry about transportation to and from the palace, however it was quite expensive compared to just the price for entry. They also have audio guides at the palace that probably would have been just as good as the live tour. We still enjoyed ourselves and the palace and gardens were lovely, just pricey!

Very disappointed as were the other people with me.

Unfortunately I was very disappointed in my tour of Versailles. First of all it was about an hour getting started because of having to wait for one of the buses to arrive and a woman in a wheelchair. The Palace was so packed with people you couldn’t enjoy the tour! It was so warm inside that it was uncomfortable. Ivan our guide was nice but went on and on about some of the pictures with info that was no important. Overall for the money I paid for the tour I was very disappointed ! I didn’t really like the Gardens.

Beautiful palace

I hate to give this 4 stars because the tour and guides were amazing. What a beautiful place to see and experience. The cons 1. It’s just sooooooo overcrowded. 2. We arrived at the tour office and they don’t let you use the restroom. 3. It was hot, and after a long day we get in the bus back to Paris and the vents were blowing hot air. We were sweating profusely after one of the passengers adamantly complained all the sudden we had air.

The only way to see the palace is with Viator.

A well organized tour with a friendly, knowledgeable guide. A beautiful walk back thru time bringing history back to life.

Great guide and great detail

Our tour guide was extremely friendly and very knowledgeable. I felt like we got a really good overview of the palace and the royal rooms. Skipping the line was a huge time savings.

Well worth it to skip the entrance line!

Very convenient and well organized - from the pickup in central Paris to skipping the long lineups baking in the hot Sun. Isabelle and Nathan were cheerful and helpful guides. If you really want to see the gardens properly book the longer version.

Was very good until the bus part

A perfect day was ruined by the trip back to the city. How come in a very hot day the bus doesn’t have AC and the fan only working with hot air !!!! It’s a closed vehicle for an hour trip . Honestly we can’t breath

Super tour, wonderful guide!

The tour was incredible! Our tour guide was Nils, super informative but hilarious so pay attention otherwise you will either an amazing historical fact, or a joke. The company was great, and consider yourself lucky if you get Nils.

Excellent tour with Joachim

Great group tour of Versailles! Our guide Joachim was very knowledgeable and gave an excellent tour of the palace and its former inhabitants.

Good experience!

Our guide was great! Our bus driver provided a safe smooth ride. Check in staff were friendly and we received good instruction about drop off and pick up. We did guided tour inside and self explore garden outside and would choose that again.

Good experience

It was an average experience! The tour guide was very knowledgeable and did a good job keeping the group together. I would recommend this to someone else going to France but it wasn’t overly exciting

Versailles !!!

Amazing… great tour, beautiful and our tour guide was full of information. It rained so we didn’t get to spend as much time in the gardens as we wanted.

Very nice tour

Everything was nice only exception is I purchased a t-shirt from the Palace gift shop and the sales clerk failed to remove the theft magnetic tag and I didn’t notice it until I was packing to go home so now I have a shirt I can’t use, very disappointed

Interesting

The Versailles chateau was impressive but much more crowded than we expected and it was not easy to see the rooms because of the cramped condition. The guide was informative and the headsets critical to hearing her. To her credit she encouraged us to move through the crowd. A couple problems could have been avoided: we waited in the cold much too long before and after the tour, due to waiting for the site guide (before the tour) and for no-show passengers (after, probably 30+ minutes, shame on them). The site guide also misinformed us about restrooms, saying there are none after the tour is finished. Luckily we asked a Versaille employee and were able to use the W.C. before returning to the bus. As if not busy enough, our guide cheerfully pushed one of two wheelchairs in our tour while describing the site. A good sport.

Tiring & beautiful gardens

Our guide Tiffan was very helpful and knowledgeable. We wish the tour included more of the fine art history. We wish we had more time at the gardens. Gardens was our favorite part.

A wonderful tour of the Palace and grounds

No question, the prebooking of the tour was very valuable for three reasons: a comfortable bus ride from Paris with all the pre-olympic traffic interruptions; the ease of access to the Palace without a waiting line; and the great advantage of an enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide, Mauro. Be advised: few restrooms and long lines!

Way too crowded

The tour guide was great! It was way too crowded which made the experience miserable. I've been before and it was never this bad. They need to sell less tickets - I will not go again.