Have you ever dreamed of visiting the beautiful and historic city of Versailles in Paris, France? Check out our experience sightseeing in Versailles and plan the vacation of a lifetime!
Exploring Versailles, Paris
After we explored the Palace of Versailles in the morning, we made our way out to the expansive and opulent gardens, which sprawl over nearly 2,000 acres of land surrounding the palace.
The vast gardens hold a lake where you can rent a row boat and paddle around in beautiful weather during the spring and summer.
In one section of the gardens is Marie-Antoinette’s Estate, built for the queen in 1783.
It was a place where she could escape from the rules and formalities of Versailles, and return to simple, rural life.
The Belvedere Pavilion in the English garden of the Petit Trianon served as the Queen’s music room.
Inside it looks just like the gazebo where Liesl and Rolf sing “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” in The Sound of Music. :)
Tips for Visiting the Garden of Versailles
Be sure to bring comfy walking/hiking shoes if you plan to wander the gardens, they are massive and filled with endless, colorful tree-lined paths to explore.
One of my favorite parts of the garden was Marie Antoinette’s Hamlet houses.
The Hamlet was built for Marie-Antoinette in 1783, so she and her ladies in waiting could entertain themselves with the charms of country life.
The Hamlet was styled to represent a typical village in Normandy at the time, and was made up of eleven houses encompassing a large lake.
Each house had its own garden planted with cabbage, cauliflower and artichokes, surrounded by a hedge and enclosed by a private fence.
Five of the houses were used by the Queen and her guests: the Queen’s House, Billiard Room, Boudoir, Mill and Refreshments Dairy, where milk was skimmed and churned, and creams and cheeses were tasted by the Queen.
Four other houses were reserved for the peasants who ran the farm and its annexes, the mill, the barn, and the Warming Room, where the dishes were prepared for the dinners given at the Queen’s House.
The Mill is located at the edge of the lake, and its wheel was used to grind the grain for bread.
The Queen’s House, shown here, is composed of two separate buildings joined by a wooden balcony. On the right, the ground floor contained a dining room and a games room. Upstairs was was a large living room, a small living room and a Chinese room.
On the left, the ground floor housed a billiard room and a private apartment upstairs.
From the balcony, the Queen could oversee the work being done in the fields.
The banisters of the staircases and balconies were adorned with colorful climbing plants all over the Hamlet.
The Boudoir is the smallest structure in the Hamlet, and was nicknamed “the little house of the Queen.”
Marie Antoinette would retire here by herself, maybe joined by one or two of her friends.
The small boudoir is made up of a living room and a wardrobe and is surrounded by a closed, private garden.
Outside is its charming thatched reed roof, dormer window, and old stone staircase.
The Malborough Tower is located on the banks of the lake and was the point of departure for boat rides or fishing outings.
The Farm was home to varied livestock such as cows, goats, sheep, chickens, and pigeons.
According to the Queen’s wishes, animals brought from Switzerland were raised on the farm.
The farm included three bedrooms, a kitchen, and a dining room. It was well stocked with animals and vegetable gardens, whose crops led to agricultural and culinary experimentation at Versailles.
Seriously so gorgeous.
It was like stepping back in time.
This was one of the beautiful houses in the village of Versailles that we passed on our walk back to the train station.
I’d never ridden a double-decker train before!! :) See this post for step-by-step instructions on How to take the train from Paris to Versailles.
View Versailles in a larger map
Here’s a map of everything we did in Versailles. It’s got the GPS location of all the spots you see in this post in case you want to find them on your own. :) Click here to see this map on a larger screen, with a list of all the places we went.
Follow along on our Scotland, London, and Paris Vacation!
Things to Do in Scotland
Scotland Day 1 & 2 — Inverness, Loch Ness, Skye, and Talisker Bay
Scotland Day 3 — Skye, Fairy Pools, The Highlands, and Oban
Scotland Day 4 — Islands of Scotland: Mull, Iona, and the Cave of Melodies
Scotland Day 5 — Fa’side Castle, Edinburgh
Scotland Day 6 – Edinburgh & Castle Driving the Coast of Scotland
Everything I Ate In Scotland — Restaurant Guide for Scotland
What to Do in London
London Day 1 — Notting Hill, Seven Dials, and The London Eye
London Day 2 — Tower of London, Borough Market, and Big Ben
London Day 3 — Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Fortnum and Mason
London Day 4 — Bakery Hopping, Harrods Food Hall, and the London Tower Bridge
London Day 4 — Sunset at The View from The Shard
Where We Stayed In London — Hotel Indigo Tower Hill
Everything I Ate In London — Restaurant Guide for London
Where to Go in Paris
Paris Day 1 — Sunset at the Eiffel Tower
Paris Day 2 — A Walk Through Montmartre
Paris Day 3 — Palace of Versailles
Paris Day 3 — Garden of Versailles
Paris Day 4 — Sightseeing & Landmarks
Paris Day 5 — Hidden Paris (Self Guided Photography / Walking Tour)
Everything I Ate In Paris — Restaurant Guide for Paris
Where We Stayed In Paris — Incredible View of the Eiffel Tower
Thanks so much for looking!!
Simply gorgeous! All of it! Everything looks like it’s straight out of a fairly tale. :)
Beautiful photos!!
Beautiful, amazing shots – as always! When I was in Paris, it was early December. With the days being shorter, we weren’t able to spend as much time exploring the grounds as we would have liked. What we did see was beautiful! – and the Palace? Well – the Palace takes my breath away – even now, when I re-run the video in my head! :)
I’ve been fascinated by Marie Antoinette, since high-school history classes – and feel a great deal of empathy for the poor girl……..even though it seems she lived a life of greed and opulence.
She was not quite 15 years old, when she was taken from her home in Austria to marry the young king of France – only a year older than she was, and a complete stranger to her – a marriage arranged for the political and financial gain of the Countries of Austria and France.
Her life wasn’t easy – her health was fragile, her children didn’t survive past the age of about 15 – and her life ended after the death of the King – when, during a trial on trumped up, ugly and untrue charges, she was convicted – and died, at the age of 38, on the guillotine! Knowing the challenges she faced – and – her untimely death, it’s hard to begrudge her the luxury she enjoyed for 20 short years!……………although she is still pretty reviled in French history books! They’re an unforgiving lot – the French! :)
Amanda – you have me completely entranced with your travel pictures this spring/summer! What a beautiful place – and such amazing photos!
This is GORGEOUS Amanda ~ pack me next time would you?!
When we went to Versailles we completely skipped the Palace and spent the whole day exploring the grounds. When we go back we will need to spend and overnight so we can go for two days. There is just so much to experience!
My other favorite thing is the train ride from London to Dundee. Stunning. Advise spending as much time as you can in the dining car for an amazing ride.
These and yesterday’s pictures make me want to go to France now!!
I seriously can’t get over your photos. Stunning, stunning, stunning! I visited Versailles once before and fell completely in love. So much beauty all around!
Your shot of the boats is my favorite in this post, by the way. :)
Beautiful! It makes me want to visit there. Thanks for the tips too. I hope you all keep traveling and we benefit so much from it! :)
Oh my goodness, stunning. The Hamlet houses are the best! Love!! <3
If you enjoy that kind of architecture, go to Carmel, California. We were there two months ago for a week and one of my favorite things was walking the neighborhood in the early morning before the tourists and locals came out looking at the Comstock storybook homes. Google them and you'll see what I mean.