Spend a weekend in Versailles

Just a 40-minute metro ride from the centre of Paris is the town of Versailles, most famous for its stunning gold-trimmed palace (once home of Marie Antoinette), and site of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles after World War One. But take a little time to explore, and you’ll find this leafy town and its surroundings are well worth a weekend in their own right, not just the two-hour rush tour of the Palace highlights – though the Palace is a good place to start!

The Palace of Versailles

For wow-factor and grandeur, the Palace of Versailles is hard to beat. Gold-encrusted ceilings, mirrors, ornately decorated doors, opulent paintings and lavish fabrics combine to give you goose bumps as you explore room after room. The Hall of Mirrors (below) is breath-taking, as are the views to the formal gardens outside. The embroidered hangings on Marie Antoinette’s bed are amazing to see – if you’ve ever wanted to master the craft, these will inspire you. There’s also an intriguing gallery of French historical art, with sculptures of famous figures from writers and revolutionaries to Joan of Arc. Other highlights for lovers of master craftsmen include the locks, door handles and window fastenings, all beautifully made, with pretty little details; even the staircases contain occasional monograms of Marie Antoinette.
Inside info: You can choose a ‘passport’ ticket to visit the grand palace, and the other ‘retreats’ based on the same site in one day – the Petit Trianon beloved of Marie Antoinette (don’t miss the child’s goat-drawn carriage, and the pretty garden pavilion), the Grand Trianon (a beautiful long gallery, with a hint of a family home about the other rooms), and Marie Antoinette’s rather peculiar, whimsical ‘Hamlet’, created as an escape from the palace life, where she had a miniature working dairy to enjoy the stress-relief of cheese-making (go in summer if you want to go inside these buildings).

Give yourself plenty of time, and the chance to beat some of the crowds by turning up as early as you can manage. Or for a more chilled-out experience if you’ve chosen a long weekend, consider seeing the Grand Palace one day, and getting a ticket to see the other attractions on another day, so you can split your time between history, walking in the grounds, and shopping in the town.

The Palace gardens and grounds
The magnificent formal gardens combine sweeping views of the Palace buildings, with large-scale water features, intimate little hideaways, leafy avenues where you stumble across fountains, and garden ‘rooms’ where you can imagine ladies of the court enjoying picnics and entertainments, ‘constitutional’ strolls, and trysts with paramours in shady corners. It’s hard not to imagine yourself bedecked in a high wig, satin slippers and huge dress decorated with ruffles and bows, fluttering your fan to send messages to the courtier you have your eye on, as you go. Marie Antoinette was given a diamond-encrusted fan as a wedding present by her husband Louis XVI, but you can buy a paper one in the gift shop! Find out more about the language of fans here.
On the outer edges of the more formal grounds, the park is more wild, with huge mature trees, and the acreage to allow you to enjoy a good hike to build up an appetite for a good lunch. In fact, garden lovers could spend a whole day exploring outdoors, with several cafés available for pit stops.
Inside info: Entry to the gardens and grounds is free! Make the most of the wonderful parklands and gardens by taking a picnic on a sunny day; trying a Segway safari; or doing what local families do and cycling around before a hearty dinner.

Fireworks, opera and dancing horses!
Throughout the year the royal opera house at Versailles has a programme of shows and music; and in summer, you can enjoy fireworks, music and dancing fountains lit up in the evenings within the palace grounds. Fans of horses, or just of skilled practitioners of their art, will love a visit to the Academy of Equestrian Arts where international horsemen and women come to train and perfect their dressage techniques, in a centre based around Louis XIV's stables.
Inside info: Plan carefully and book in advance – not only do these events get booked up, but they also have particular opening times, which mean you need to work out what you fancy doing before you get there, or risk turning up to find something shut!

Enjoying the town

Foodies will love the market stalls selling everything from fabulous French cheeses to Portuguese and Lebanese specialities. And don’t get us started on the boulangeries, patisseries and chocolatiers. So many lovely shops, making and serving fresh produce is a real delight. Make time to feast your eyes on the artistic window displays, before enjoying a treat, and stocking up with goodies to take home. Click here for shopping inspiration.

If antiques and vintage books make your heart flutter, explore the higgledy-piggledy lanes of the town’s antique sellers’ district, where paintings, prints, books, furniture and other art works are displayed in delightfully individual shops.
If you like stylish home wares at surprisingly low prices, make time for a visit to department store Eurodif, where table linens, home decorations, cushions and other stylish wares will add a touch of chic to your living space.

Fashion and beauty stores are also well represented – treat yourself to a massage or facial before dinner in the Trianon Palace Hotel’s Gordon Ramsay restaurant.

If you really want to push the boat out, or one of the French or Lebanese bistros in the cathedral quarter if you want to enjoy the local ambience. There are crêperies and bistros serving omelettes and chips or great value plats du jour, as well. Or consider an artisan sandwich and pastry from a boulangerie, eaten as you wander, if the evening is pleasant.

Culture vultures will enjoy an amble around the Musée Lambinet, with art and revolutionary artefacts on display; a tour of the King’s Kitchen garden with its intriguingly shaped fruit trees (best from spring to autumn; and a moment or two quietly contemplating the inside of the cathedral – make your way behind the altar at the back to see a starburst of gold in the chapel where locals drop in to offer up a prayer.
Inside info: Check those opening times – the Palace is closed on Mondays and pretty much everything else in the town seems to close, too, apart from the restaurants and department stores.

Exploring the area

If you’re staying a little while longer, the obvious place to go is Paris itself. But if you’ve already enjoyed the city of light, why not turn your sights to Impressionist country, so close to Versailles you can get there with a metro and bus ride, or hire a taxi via your hotel. Visit Marly-le-Roi’s old palace grounds, the house of Alexandre Dumas, author of 'The Count of Monte Cristo', and the tumbling high street with craft shops; then walk by the river Seine, where you can see spots from famous impressionist paintings and stop for lunch at cafés on the water in the area called Le Port-Marly.

Claude Monet’s house at Giverny (left) is also around an hour’s drive away, or you can visit the palaces at St Germain en Laye.

Essential information

● Flights with everyone from British Airways to Easyjet, or Eurostar trains are easy to book online or through your local travel operator to Paris are easy to come by.
● Versailles is accessible on the metro and train lines out of the city. On the RER C go to "Paris - Versailles Rive Gauche" (zones 1-4 ticket). On SNCF Trains, Arrive at Versailles Chantiers station from Paris Montparnasse or at Versailles Rive Droite station from Paris Saint Lazare. Find train tiemtables at www.transilien.com
● Whatever your budget, you can book package holidays via operators such as Expedia, LastMinute, Trivago, Eurostar Holidays and Easyjet Holidays at hotels ranging from Ibis two-star prices, to Mercure three-star, and Trianon Palace or Pullman Versailles Chateau four-star.
● If you include a Monday in your stay be aware that Versailles Palace – and much of the town – is shut that day.