Friday, June 16, 2017

Palace of Versailles, France

Palace of Versailles (pronounced as Ver-Sai) is a grand and beautiful palace/château just 20km south west of Paris. Foreign leaders and dignitaries are also often hosted here whenever they come for French official visit. It is actually very easy to get here by train from Paris but lack of maps and instructions in English may make it complicated for first timers. Versailles is accessible by RER C trains. There are various RER train stations in Paris all running in different directions. Depending on which station you enter, you may actually need to take the train in the opposite direction and then change again at the station few stops later. The best stations to board the RER C trains are at Invalides or Champs de Mars Tour Eiffel. Here, you don't have to change trains. You need to buy ticket at the vending machine. A round trip ticket only costs around 7 euro under the Paris (Outer Region) selection. Once you entered the gate, you have to look for the correct platform. Look out for RER C train platform going for the direction of Versailles Château (Rive Gauche). The same platform will have trains going in west directions like Versailles Chantiers or Versailles Droit. So make sure you check the arrival board on the platform and only board trains going to Versailles Château (Rive Gauche), also abbreviated as VICK on the same screen.

Versailles is just a short walk from the station once you arrive. You can safely follow the crowd, cross the road, turn right and there is a ticket office where you can purchase your tickets. Then you can follow the crowd again to the palace. If you missed the first ticket counter by turning left instead after crossing the road, you can still buy ticket from the building on the left at the palace itself. Remember only join the long queue at the entrance if you have tickets.

The palace is huge. If you would like to learn its' histories as much as possible, then I suggest you plan a whole day event here. Half day in the morning for palace interior, and then another half afternoon in the huge garden. You can have a picnic here if you would like.

Click on the image for picture gallery

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