While living in Paris for the past 6 months, we consider ourselves to be Versailles experts. We normally target Saturday or Sunday with an arrival time at 9am.
Breakfast – First Things First
If you aren’t morning people like us, it’s probably best to start your day off with some coffee and amazing pastries from Eric Kayser. Even though it is a chain restaurant in Paris, it is still one of the best places for your morning croissant, brioche, pain au chocolat and café.
American Note: If you ask for “coffee” you will not get drip coffee. Drip coffee in Paris is as rare as rain in Death Valley. This is for good reason, the coffee in Paris tastes a-heck-of-a-lot better. If you want something similar, ask for either café crème (coffee with creme) or café allongé (black). I’ve found the go-to source of coffee information in Paris, check out Ordering Coffee in Paris.
The important thing to note about this Eric Kayser is that IT IS OPEN ON SUNDAYS – something that is hard to find here in Paris.
The Route
From Eric Kayser, you can take the RER C that leaves from Musée d’Orsay using this route.
Once you arrive, you’ll have a choice of either taking the scenic route to the castle or not. I’d obviously recommend the scenic route as you can check out a couple small streets that might be good for a drink or meal after you are done with your visit.
Once through the security checkpoint, if you didn’t already buy your tickets on the website. You can easily get them. There are TWO LINES, one for the castle entrance (usually very long), and another one in the ticket building for tickets. If you are traveling with friends, have one person go grab the tickets for everyone else.
SECRET: When entering the ticket building, you will see a lot of people waiting in line. After you go through the entrance, turn left, then turn right and step over the couches that are there. Continue straight to the back wall and turn right. Follow this hallway down until you enter the room with the automated ticket machines. Use these machines to grab your tickets and bypass the line of people standing in line!
Have fun at Versailles!
