"If you're planning to visit just one palace in all of Europe, make it Versailles"
- Rick Steves
The Palace of Versailles estates is ridiculously enormous and over-the-top. It's hard to believe that all this belonged to just the royal family at one point. Now it is completely mobbed by tourists. The palace was gorgeous inside, but the mob so bad that we felt claustrophobic and helpless. Saying it is shoulder to shoulder slow shuffle is an understatement. I say it is more like an ear to ear, slow painful drip down the narrow corridors, with one way standstill traffic gawking over gold-gilded over-the-top state apartment after state apartment. After seeing 2 rooms, everything else states to glaze over and look the same. Rooms 3-10 we were gasping for air like fish out of water, looking for the nearest exit. Leave your kids out of this awful mess.
The gardens were manicured and beautiful. Free too! We spent 18 Euros per ticket for the palaces, but spent much more time enjoying the free gardens. The trianon palaces were very quiet and the courtyards are serene.
Do I agree with Rick? Well, the palace really is gorgeous in an over the top way, but you absolutely must go through it before the mobs arrive, as it is the absolute worst mob I have ever experienced. With kids the mob experience is multiplied 10 fold. Make sure they go the the toilets before being trapped inside the Chateau with a point of no return.
