Louis XIV's palace and its endless park, the market halls of Notre-Dame and the old streets of Saint-Louis – the tables, the hotels and the quartiers, in one guide.
In Versailles now
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Weather
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MICHELIN
4 ✱ tables · 2 Key hotels
Photo: Mistervlad/Adobe Stock
In this guide
Every table and hotel the MICHELIN inspectors have chosen in Versailles – 4 starred, 5 more restaurants and 4 hotels – on one map, with our own stories as we write them.
From the Place d'Armes, walk down rue de Satory to the Cathédrale Saint-Louis, listed since 1906, and the Carrés Saint-Louis – little shop-houses built under Louis XV for a second market.
Dinner a short walk away on boulevard du Roi with Xavier Pincemin, the 2016 Top Chef winner cooking in his home town; dinner service 19:30–23:30, Tuesday to Saturday.
Be at Entrance A for the 09:00 opening with a timed ticket (free for under-18s, but still booked). On the weekend of 1 November the palace stays open until 19:00, last access 18:30.
The season ends on 1 November: the Latona and Apollo fountains play 14:00–14:30, the groves 14:30–15:15. On 31 October and 1 November the fountains are turned off at 17:00. Garden entry is charged on show days (free under 5).
By little train or on foot to Marie-Antoinette's estate; the Trianon closes at 18:15 this weekend. At the Petit Trianon, the exhibition marking twenty years of Sofia Coppola's film Marie Antoinette runs until 24 January 2027.
The Académie équestre's Saturday show at 18:00 in the Grande Écurie's riding hall – about an hour, then a look round the stables. The hall is unheated, so bring a coat.
A ten-minute drive north of the palace, the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle's living museum of trees, with a Halloween smartphone trail until 2 November; from 1 November it closes at 17:00 (last entry 16:30).
✱ MICHELIN star · Bib Gourmand: good cooking at a fair price · ◆ selected in the Guide · € to €€€€: the Guide's own price bands, from «on a budget» to «spare no expense».
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Sunset and drinks
Where to drink
Palace-hotel bars, a wine bar facing the château and a terrace on the Grand Canal.
Photo: Lucas/Adobe Stock
Photo: Waldorf Astoria Versailles – Trianon Palace / Affyrm Studio
The 1910 palace hotel at the edge of the château park – where Clemenceau dictated the terms of the Treaty of Versailles on 7 May 1919 – now has a hushed bar of signature cocktails named after Versailles figures, such as La Marquise.
Wine, cocktail and tapas bar · Notre-Dame, opposite the châteauChez Les Filles
Around forty wines, most of them organic, gourmet tapas to share and a 100 m² terrace looking at the Château de Versailles, with live music, dance nights and blind tests through the year.
Terrace on the Grand Canal · Park of Versailles – Grand CanalLa Flottille
A 1900s guinguette-style restaurant whose terrace faces the Grand Canal – the place for a glass at the end of a day in the park, with traditional French cooking devised by Michelin-starred chef Jean-Baptiste Lavergne.
Sources: Destination Yvelines, the Château de Versailles, Paris Zigzag and the bars' own pages, read 27 October 2026.
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Where to stay
The hotels worth the trip
The MICHELIN Guide's Keys first – its mark for hotels with character, service and a sense of place – then the rest of its selection and the ones we would book ourselves.
An hour from the RER to the room of the Tennis Court Oath, past the hall where the Estates General opened – the first days of the Revolution, street by street.
Past Hôtel des Menus Plaisirs, where the Estates General met on 5 May 1789, Cathédrale Saint-Louis and the Carré à l'Avoine, Salle du Jeu de Paume (Tennis Court Oath)
All year; check opening hours of the Salle du Jeu de Paume before going inside.
A short town walk on pavements; Visorando notes bars and restaurants along the route.
Start: Versailles-Château-Rive Gauche station (RER C)
Louis XIV's new town in a morning: classical squares, the parish church of the kings and the market that has stood on the same spot since the 17th century.
Past Place Hoche (18th century), Notre-Dame church, Musée Lambinet
All year; the market halls are open Tuesday to Sunday.
Town streets throughout; finish at the market halls for a snack.
Start: Versailles tourist office, 1 place du Maréchal Lyautey
Sources: the Versailles Grand Parc tourist office, the Château de Versailles and Visorando, read 27 October 2026. Coastal paths close in rough seas – check before you set off.
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With kids
Versailles for children
Rowing boats on the Grand Canal, horses in the Great Stables and a farm at the end of the park.
Children go free, and the château's own app has children's tours of the palace and gardens with two young guides, Pierre and Camille, so the state apartments come with a story.
Le Nôtre's parterres, fountains and groves are free to roam on ordinary days, and pushchairs are allowed on the paths, so even toddlers can do the great view down to the Grand Canal.
The easy way for small legs to reach the Trianon palaces and the Grand Canal: a hop-on, hop-off circuit with a Baroque soundtrack and a roof against the rain.
The park's long avenues and the loop of the Grand Canal are made for bikes, and pedalling to Marie-Antoinette's estate is far more fun for children than the walk.
Every day 10:00–18:45 from April to October; 10:00–17:00 from early to mid-November; closed from mid-November to mid-February.
Marie-Antoinette's hamlet of rustic cottages round a lake is the part of Versailles children take to most, and in autumn the English gardens around it turn copper and gold.
Bartabas's riders perform haute-école dressage to Baroque music in the riding hall of Louis XIV's Great Stables, and afterwards children can walk past the horses in their stalls.
Shows on Saturdays at 18:00, Sundays at 15:00 and some Wednesdays at 15:00 (2026 season from 21 February); annual closure from early August to mid-September.
Voted the most beautiful market in Île-de-France, on the same square since the 17th century: children can graze on fruit, cheese and crêpes while you shop.
A horse-drawn tour of the town, from Notre-Dame cathedral to the Saint-Louis quarter and the Jeu de Paume, which is how Versailles was meant to be seen; there is also a one-hour country ride on the Plaine de Versailles from Bailly.
Rides by arrangement; prices on quotation according to carriage, place and number of passengers.
A private ride through the park's woods with views of the Grand Canal or the Petit Trianon, paced for beginners, so an older child can ride where kings hunted.
Private rides by booking; no fixed timetable published.
Gilded ceremonial coaches, sedan chairs, sledges and the little carriages of Marie-Antoinette's children fill two vaulted galleries – free, and about eight minutes' walk from the palace.
Weekends and French public holidays (except 1 January, 25 December and 1 May): 12:30–18:30 in high season, last entry 17:45; 12:30–17:30 in low season (from 2 November), last entry 16:45.
To do · Ages Farm workshops from 3 to 12 (bread from 3; most others 5–12). Pumpkin-carving from 3.Ferme de Gally – Ferme Ouverte
Donkeys, sheep, goats, cows, Shetland ponies and dwarf pigs in meadows along the edge of the Park of Versailles, with 45-minute workshops where children make bread, butter or apple juice.
Fête de la citrouille 2026: pumpkin carving 10:00–17:00 continuously from 23 to 31 October, with the farm visit open 10:00–18:00 during the festival.
The Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle's living museum of trees, part of the royal estate, and in autumn one of the best places near Paris to kick through leaves; in the Toussaint holidays there is a Halloween smartphone treasure hunt.
Open all year except 1 May and 25 December–1 January.
Leisure park · Ages Free under 3; child rate 3–11.France Miniature
117 French monuments at 1:30 scale, from the Pont du Gard to the Sacré-Cœur, plus 25 attractions, so children can stride across France in an afternoon.
Regular season 5 April–2 November 2026, generally 10:00–18:00; Halloween programme 3 October–1 November.
A lakeside leisure park with an 18-hole mini-golf, a 9-hole disc golf and a free farm with goats, sheep, pigs, a cow and a donkey – an easy afternoon when the château has worn everyone out.
Sources: the Château de Versailles, the Versailles Grand Parc tourist office and the places' own pages, read 27 October 2026. Drive times from the town centre without traffic. Check seasons and ages with the place before you go.
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The atlas
Versailles at a glance
The MICHELIN tables, the hotels and the sights, on one map.
Photo: Matthew/Adobe Stock
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The directory
Every place in Versailles
Every restaurant, hotel and sight the MICHELIN Guide lists within 5 km – 15 places, each with its own page. The six nearest the centre of each kind are here; the rest are in the directory, A to Z.