Versailles Transportation

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best way to travel, and see up close and personal the beauty around you, driving in my old city of Versailles is wonderful. Streets are pretty square made,and from the castle you have 3 axis out towards Paris.
parking best by ave de Paris at Saint Cloud vinci parc underground or by Sceaux after the rive gauche train station open air.
cheers

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It seems a strange thing - we can travel from Paris to Versailles and when you arrive there are no problems getting through the ticket barriers. However when you want to leave Versailles and return to Paris - you need to buy a new ticket as none of the Paris tickets work.

Good and frequent service.

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To travel by the RER C5 to Versailles Rive Gauche (Château de Versailles) you need a "BILLET ILE-DE-FRANCE" which combines Metro inside Paris and the RER trip from the Invalides to Versailles RIVE GAUCHE (do not take the other RER C7 or C8 trains).
You can buy this Billet IDF (3,05 € since 1/07/2010) as well as the return ticket at the metro stations desks or the machines. For details see my tip at Paris Transportation RER.
You have to validate your ticket when you enter your Metro station but also when entering the RER platforms and leaving the station of Versailles. So keep your ticket for the entire trip.

When arriving on the platform of the RER station, for example Invalides or St-Michel NotreDame, look well out to take the right RER C5 to Versailles RIVE GAUCHE. There are trains about every 25 minutes and the trip takes 30 minutes. The RER of 08.26 h at Invalides will bring you at the opening of the Château gates at 9.00 h.

I'm not sure whether this is transportation or Warning or General

I took a bus tour of Versailles one afternoon. This is what I wrote to my mom later:

My seatmate was high as a kite before the tour even started. It started to rain lightly and was slippery as we went out to Versailles. My seatmate and I were directly behind the driver on the bus, so we could see both to the front and to the side, unlike the people in the back who were kind of entombed in their seats.

The driver applied the brakes, and the bus skidded on the cobblestones. It turned 180 degrees and hit the curb on the other side of a four to six lane road. Fortunately the streets were deserted because of everyone being at lunch and because of it being rainy.

I could see what was happening (as could my seatmate, and I was really afraid that she would throw up). The other people felt the spin, but couldn't really see what was happening.

We went on an did the tour (although my seatmate sat in the cafe and did some more drinking instead of the tour).

Card to my Daughter:

Dear Daughter

Look in the back on the right and you will see Mummy. This is the group picture they took of our guided tour in Versailles. When this was taken I was changing film. The lady on the left with the raincoat and rolled up newspaper was the guide.

As of January 2009, it appears that they've discontinued the Forfait Loisirs, too bad it was very convenient

It's very simple to do a day trip on your own from Paris to the palace at Versailles. We were staying near Invalides so we walked to the Invalides RER station, bought our Forfait Loisirs ticket that included the return trip on the train plus admission to the palace.

We took the RER C line, direction Versailles Rive Gauche (train called VICK) and got off at Versailles Rive Gauche station. For the train we were on, Versailles Rive Gauche was the end of the line and coming back, Invalides was the end of the line. The platform was clearly marked at Invalides and we had no trouble figuring out what train to get on to get us back. The train took about 40 minutes and they run fairly frequently.

There are several other options using the SCNF trains from Saint-Lazare station or Montparnasse station or by bus listed on the website attached.

Once we got off the train, it was only about a 5 minute walk to get to the palace and it was clearly marked which way to go plus we had a herd of people to follow to get there.

Versailles is several kilometers southwest of the city of Paris. To get there, you have several options. First of all a train reaches Versailles in 30 to 40 minutes. Three rail lines will get you to Versailles from Paris. Besides that you can take the number 171 bus from Paris.

The third option is of course by car. I always like the excitement of driving a car in a different (huge) city. I stayed in Paris for the night and left for Versailles in the early morning just after breakfast. I took the Motorway A13 (direction Rouen) and saw the exit Versailles-Château almost immediately after leaving the city centre, and took it to get to Versailles. After that it is just a matter of following the sings. Like I said … I went by car from Paris to Versailles and had no troubles in getting there. The fine thing was that just outside the Palace there is a huge parking lot (Place d'Armes) where I could park my car on a payed parking spot. From that point on it was only a short walk to the Palace. I stayed for 12 hours and was charged €12.-, which is the price for an entire day. Not too bad to be honest!

The little train leaves from the back of the palace and it works like a hop-on, hop-off train. It is an easy way to get around the estate for those who are not so mobile or fit.

It's very simple to do a day trip on your own from Paris to the palace at Versailles. Take the RER C line, direction Versailles Rive Gauche (train called VICK) and get off at Versailles Rive Gauche station, which is at the end of the line . Just make sure you get on the train scheduled for Versailles-Rive Gauche, as there is also a different train on the "C" line stopping at Versailles-Chantier. The train takes about 40 minutes and they run fairly frequently.

Once you get off the train, it is only about a 5 minute walk to get to the palace and it is clearly marked which way to go, else just follow the herd of people to get there