A Visit to Versailles: Make the Most of Your Olympic Ticket
No trip to France's most gilded palace – for the Paris Olympics or otherwise! – is complete without a deep-dive into its winding avenues, hidden hallways, and, of course, its seriously horsey history.
So you’ve secured your tickets – an achievement in its own right, honestly – you’ve pinned down an AirBNB that’s not going to cost you an arm, a leg, and a first-born infant, and you’ve even pre-planned your routes around Paris and its environs, taking into account the RER’s worst behaviour. It’s official: you’re going to the Olympics!
But unless you’re there for that whopping eventing dressage day (65 tests in a day, we suspect, will be enough to test even the most die-hard fan’s mettle), you’ll find yourself with a few hours to kill at one of the most remarkable and opulent chateaux in the world. Naturally, you’re going to want to spend them exploring it.
Fortunately for you – and all of us in Paris – the team at the Chateau de Versailles aren’t just committed to making sure you can do exactly that, they’re also putting on a whole host of extras to ensure that your visit is truly special, and really, really Olympic. Read on for our guide on making the most of the Versailles experience – no guillotine required.
Note: the Chateau de Versailles is, like much of France, closed on a Monday. You’ll still be able to explore the grounds, but the buildings themselves will not be accessible.
Tickets, please
Your Paris 2024 entry ticket will only get you access to the spectator areas specific to your day of entry – so the arena and grandstands if you’re there for dressage or jumping, and the cross-country course that wraps around the Grand Canal if you’re there for cross-country day. You'll also be able to access the public area of the Park – basically, the Trianon end of it, accessible via the Gardens, the Queen's Gate, and St. Anthony's Gate.
That means that you’ll need to purchase your Versailles entry passes separately, though, to see any of the rest of the Estate – and that’s something we recommend getting on as soon as possible, because a lot of people will have much the same idea as you.
The Chateau de Versailles has several different ticket options available, and the one you choose will depend on what you’d like to see. You could purchase a gardens pass, giving you access to the famous sculpted gardens of the estate and the Trianon, which consists of the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon palaces, as well as Marie Antoinette’s sweet, odd little hamlet of cottages and farmhouses, at which she’d escape the hustle and bustle of court life by playing with lambs and whatever else it is that nepo babies get up to. You can also buy a Palace pass, which will allow you entrance to the extraordinary, gilded Chateau de Versailles itself.
Our recommendation, though? A Passport ticket, which gives you access to all of the above for the day for €32.00, which is just shy of $35.00 or just over £27.00, at the time of writing. Even better? Some days also offer the chance to upgrade that Passport to include a trip to l'Académie équestre nationale de Versailles, which hosts classical, high school dressage performances (and, inexplicably, fencing on horseback) in an equally palatial stables just outside the chateau grounds.
That special ticket is €56.00 (£48 or $61), and is available on the following dates during the equestrian competition at the Paris Olympics:
- July 27 (Eventing dressage day) – performance at 8.30 p.m.
- July 30 (Grand Prix dressage, day one) – performance at 6.00 p.m.
- July 31 (Grand Prix dressage, day two) – performance at 6.00 p.m.
- August 3 (Dressage Team Grand Prix Special day) – performance at 6.00 p.m.
- August 4 (Dressage Individual Grand Prix Freestyle day) – performance at 5.00 p.m.
- August 7 (no competition) – performance at 5.00 p.m.
Performances are an hour long, and are followed by a tour of the stables.
A haven for horse-lovers
Access to the Académie isn’t the only special provision that Versailles is making for the truly horse-obsessed this summer. Also on the calendar during the Games is ‘Horses in Majesty’, which is – according to Versailles, anyway – the largest exhibition ever devoted solely to horses. And who are we to quibble, when the evidence feels so compelling: the exhibition will be split into thirteen sections, hosted across some of the most famous swathes of the chateau’s floorplan, including its crown jewel, the Hall of Mirrors.
The exhibition will follow the journey of the horse through an ever-shifting society, starting with its relationship with global monarchs over the centuries. Expect extravagant, richly-detailed oils of the favourite steeds of Kings and Queens, and a closer look at the incredible stables they’d have lived in, before taking a darker turn into warfare, the cavalry, and the unsung sacrifice of these conscripted animals.
The exhibition also covers equestrian festivals (of the ceremonial variety, rather than, say, the Boekelo variety); ornamental horseware that’ll make even the most hardcore dressage queen wonder if perhaps taste does have limitations; horses in science, with some seriously rare opportunities to ogle da Vinci’s early drawings, and plenty more besides. The exhibition officially opens on July 2 and runs until November 3, and entry is included with your Palace or Passport ticket.
Take in the golden age of transport
Well, golden in a very literal sense, anyway. If you’ve not quite fulfilled your thirst for horsey history, head over to the Great Stables just outside the grounds for a poke around the compact, but hugely impressive, Gallery of Coaches. Here, you’ll find ceremonial carriages, horse-drawn hearses, kiddy-sized carts and ice sleds, and no shortage of feathery ear bonnets – eat your heart out, LeMieux – on display. Visiting this collection is free, even if you don’t have a Palace or grounds ticket, and it’s open from Tuesday to Sunday each week of the Games from 9.00 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.
Giddy-up in the Gardens
Versailles’ gardens, created by the royal gardener André Le Nôtre, are a work of art in their own right, pairing atmospheric avenues of trees with intricate, knotted decorative gardens and honestly, so many fountains that you simply have to give up on the idea of seeing all of them. You just won’t! But in the height of summer, you’ll certainly enjoy trying, not least because of the Musical Gardens and Fountains shows that are regularly scheduled through the summer evenings. The Musical Gardens run from 10.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m. from Tuesday to Friday, while the night show is on every Saturday evening. Don’t expect performances – instead, baroque music is piped in around each fountain as it spits and spurts and explodes in various degrees of nicely-timed drama. The French! They can turn anything into a party.
Prices for tickets and availability are correct as of the time of writing.
Subscribe to our newsletter
Get the latest from us, straight to your inbox.