Château de Versailles and Gardens

After a few days passed from visiting the Louvre I visited the Palace of Versailles and the Gardens on Saturday, June 11, 2022. 

My reserved timeslot was for 9:00 am, which was the first available timeslot available on Saturday. I arrived about maybe 1 HOUR early, so I had nothing to do but wait, if that what I wanted to do, but it was just too early to wait.

When I arrived at the gate entrance for Versailles not many people where there, except for a few people, not including security screening.

Interestingly, as I entered the palace gates, that was supposed to be the first security check, but none of the security checked me because it was too early or I didn't have any bag or anything else, so they just let me inside and I had to think what I would do next.

Since no one was waiting in line and no line was formed yet I decided to go to the garden via the garden exit gate. 

The garden was supposed to open an hour before the palace but no one was checking tickets yet so I just entered the exit gate, which other people used. There were some people but it was not that busy in the early morning. Most people in the garden where only walking and marveling at how magnificent it looked, including me.

Partial View of Palace from Inside the Gardens

Another View of Palace from Inside Gardens with Partial View of a Fountain

It was getting close for the palace to open so I decided to exit the garden and get in line. As soon as I arrived in the main courtyard entrance the line was already formed so I just got behind the last person and it only grew from there, close to the street. 

Below is a picture of the main courtyard, which is right after the first security check, and to the right you will see a golden gate, but inside that gate is another courtyard that is accessible after a second security checkpoint.

Courtyard to Palace Entrance

To the left you will notice the letter A, which is the entrance for individual ticket holders, while entrance B is meant for tour groups, but more about that later.

Below, you will see the courtyard again, but from the side and to also enter the gardens.

Sideview of Palace in Courtyard Entrance

Courtyard Entrance to Gardens Entrance

As the time was getting closer for the palace to open the line started to move and an employee asked everyone to make a straight line and to separate into 2 separate lines for their respected timeslot, one for 9:00 and the other for 9:30. 

It didn't take long for the lines to become orderly but the line moved quickly as people started going into the palace where security started to scan their tickets.

Royal Courtyard

After about 10 minutes I was by the doors to the palace and I showed my ticket to the employee and he scanned my ticket. I then proceeded to security screening where I emptied my pockets of everything and took off my watch and placed them on top of the x-ray machine where other people placed their belongings who didn't have any bags. After going through the metal detector I took all of my belongings from the side of the x-ray machine and proceeded to the palace.

It took me about 65 minutes to explore the palace but it was just magnificent to see everything about it, besides the history, but it is worth the visit if you have time.

Below you will see a picture of the Queen's Bed Chamber which is part of the Queen's Apartments at the Palace of Versailles.

Queen's Bed Chamber

The Queen's Bed Chamber is part of the Queen's Apartments at the Palace of Versailles and whomever was Queen at the time had the choice of different styles and decorations. If the Queen at the time didn't like it then it would have been replaced.

Below should be a picture of the Noble's Room also belonging to the Queen's Apartments at the Palace of Versailles. This room could be described as a sitting or dressing room for the Queen and her friends when she had people over.

Noble's Room of Queen's Apartments

Besides the Queen's Apartments there is also the King's Apartment as well as another apartment known as the King's State's Apartment. The picture below is the Apollo Room of the King's State Apartment, which is considered the throne room and was designed as a ceremonial room.

The Apollo Room

Next you will see a room known as the Gallery of Great Battles, which simply depicts giant paintings of different battles fought by France that were deemed great.

Gallery of Great Battles

Below are two pictures inside the Palace of Versailles.

After finally touring the palace I went to find the exit and proceeded to the Gardens. Below is a picture indicating the way towards the exit.

Palace Exit Directions

The palace was magnificent and probably more since this was the second time I visited the palace and the third time I visited Versailles.

After finding the exit I went to the entrance of the gardens and waited in line. It took around maybe 15 minutes because there was only 2 or 3 booths open for people with reserved tickets. The other booths were for people who didn't purchase tickets for the gardens.

Below are 5 different pictures of the gardens below

This picture above is generally near the front after you get your ticket validated by an employee or after you purchase it.

This is another picture near the front of the gardens after you are allowed in. You can notice the large fountain and will see a glimpse of the palace.

Above, you will see the landscape of the gardens extending to the grand canal. If you choose you can rent a boat.

Here is a close up of the Grand Canal but you still have a distance to walk in order to get to it so I will suggest be prepared to sit down if you get tired.

On the path towards the Grand Canal is a green field of grass, but you will still need to probably walk another 15 minutes or so depending on how fast you are, if you are not that tired from walking already from the entrance.

A landscape view of a large fountain and the Grand Canal can be seen here in the picture above.

A view of the Grand Canal in the distance with people looking around. This isn't a closeup but close to the green field of grass.

This picture above was taken in one of the many mazes of the gardens. Nearby you can probably find some restaurants in one of these mazes but you have to walk to get there.

A picture of a fountain and the stairs in the distance. You can probably see the palace in the background but to get to this point you need to walk down the stairs.

This is a better picture of the view of the Grand Canal. You get to see more of the gardens because the lens was not zoomed in and this was taken when I was leaving the gardens so it was farther away from the other pictures.

Above you can see the palace and 2 fountains. If you don't want to buy a ticket for the palace this is a great photo just to look at it from inside of the gardens.

After getting to the Grand Canal I decided to head back to the front of the gardens so I could exit it, and that took about 15-20 minutes because I was tired and it was too hot.

I exited the garden through the exit gate. 

Now, I mentioned above about tour groups, and well there were many charter buses parked in the parking lot nearby, but this is probably because many people want to visit Versailles after the restrictions were lifted a while back. Also, the line to get inside was just too long after I exited the garden, going all the way to the start of the street. It was a memorable experience but if you want to visit Versailles you should reserve the timeslot at the first available time and then arrive an hour or no more than 30 minutes the Palace opens because you will be waiting if you visit in the afternoon.

After viewing the long line I left to go to the RER C and headed back to the apartment. It was a long morning, from touring the palace for over an hour and exploring the gardens for around 90 minutes and that includes just getting back to the exit, so it was time to head back.