Self-guided Sightseeing Tour #1 in Versailles, France

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Tour Facts

Number of sights 23 sights
Distance 5.3 km
Ascend 142 m
Descend 141 m

Experience Versailles in France in a whole new way with our free self-guided sightseeing tour. This site not only offers you practical information and insider tips, but also a rich variety of activities and sights you shouldn't miss. Whether you love art and culture, want to explore historical sites or simply want to experience the vibrant atmosphere of a lively city - you'll find everything you need for your personal adventure here.

Activities in VersaillesIndividual Sights in Versailles

Sight 1: Parc Balbi

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Balbi Park is an English-style park, located next to the King's vegetable garden in Versailles, France. It is free to access and its entrance is located on rue du Maréchal-Joffre.

Wikipedia: Parc Balbi (FR)

130 meters / 2 minutes

Sight 2: Le Potager du Roi

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The King's Vegetable Garden is a 9-hectare vegetable garden, created in 1683 near the Palace of Versailles by the director of the Royal Orchards and Vegetable Gardens Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, at the request of King Louis XIV to supply the court of Versailles.

Wikipedia: Potager du roi (FR), Website

401 meters / 5 minutes

Sight 3: Salle du Jeu de Paume

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The Jeu de Paume room is located at no. 1 rue du Jeu de Paume, in the heart of the Saint-Louis district, in Versailles (Yvelines). It is famous for the oath of the Jeu de Paume that the deputies of the Third Estate took there on June 20, 1789.

Wikipedia: Salle du Jeu de paume (FR)

219 meters / 3 minutes

Sight 4: Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Versailles Grand Parc

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Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Versailles Grand Parc

The Hôtel de la Chancellerie is a private mansion located in Tours, 60 rue de la Scellerie.

Wikipedia: Hôtel de la Chancellerie (FR)

301 meters / 4 minutes

Sight 5: Hôtel des Postes

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562 meters / 7 minutes

Sight 6: Musée de l’Histoire de France

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The Musée de l'Histoire de France is a museum that was created by King Louis Philippe I in the Palace of Versailles and opened in 1837. At the time, it represented an ambitious project of national reconciliation between the hitherto competing narratives of the French monarchy and the French Revolution, to which Louis-Philippe devoted significant personal attention. Whereas it gradually faded in importance as a museum in the later 19th century, its lavish historicist decoration remains a major exemplar of the art of France's July Monarchy.

Wikipedia: Musée de l'Histoire de France (Versailles) (EN)

59 meters / 1 minutes

Sight 7: Grand Appartement de la Reine

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Grand Appartement de la ReineJorge Láscar from Melbourne, Australia / CC BY 2.0

The Queen's Grand Apartment is a set of five salons located on the first floor of the central body of the Palace of Versailles. These rooms were the reception areas for the sovereigns of France Marie-Thérèse, Marie Leszczynska and Marie-Antoinette. Both for the Duchess of Burgundy as dauphine. These spaces are now presented as they were under Marie-Antoinette, when she left them on October 6, 1789.

Wikipedia: Grand Appartement de la Reine (FR)

114 meters / 1 minutes

Sight 8: Parterre du Midi

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The Parterre du Midi is a flower bed comprising two circular basins, located in the park of the Palace of Versailles.

Wikipedia: Parterre du Midi (FR), Website

117 meters / 1 minutes

Sight 9: Vase de la Paix

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The Peace Vase is a marble vase sculpted in 1684 by Jean-Baptiste Tuby. Located on the terrace of the garden of Versailles, it faces the vase of war, sculpted by Antoine Coysevox. It celebrates the Treaties of Aachen and Nijmegen, which ensure peace between France, Spain and Holland.

Wikipedia: Vase de la paix (FR)

433 meters / 5 minutes

Sight 10: Apollon servi par les nymphes

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Apollon servi par les nymphes

Apollo Served by the Nymphs is a group of seven marble statues made in 1666 by François Girardon and Thomas Regnaudin for the Grotto of Tethys at the Palace of Versailles. They are accompanied by the Chevaux du Soleil, two groups signed by Gilles Guérin for one and the Marsy brothers for the other.

Wikipedia: Apollon servi par les nymphes (FR)

82 meters / 1 minutes

Sight 11: Appolonius

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The Philosophers' Roundabout is a crossroads between several alleys in the gardens of Versailles.

Wikipedia: Rond-Point des Philosophes (FR)

161 meters / 2 minutes

Sight 12: Le Bassin de la Pyramide

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The Pyramid Basin is a basin in the gardens of Versailles.

Wikipedia: Bassin de la Pyramide (FR), Website

81 meters / 1 minutes

Sight 13: Opéra Royal

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The Royal Opera of Versailles is the main theatre and opera house of the Palace of Versailles. Designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, it is also known as the Théâtre Gabriel. The interior decoration by Augustin Pajou is constructed almost entirely of wood, painted to resemble marble in a technique known as faux marble. The excellent acoustics of the opera house are at least partly due to its wooden interior.

Wikipedia: Royal Opera of Versailles (EN)

65 meters / 1 minutes

Sight 14: Aile Nord

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The North Wing is a part of the Palace of Versailles, France. Built in the 1680s, it is in the classical style.

Wikipedia: Aile du Nord (FR)

118 meters / 1 minutes

Sight 15: Grand Appartement du Roi

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Grand Appartement du Roi

The King's Grand Apartment is a set of seven salons in the Palace of Versailles designed to be the setting for the monarch's official acts. These salons are very richly decorated, in the Italian fashion of the time of Louis XIV.

Wikipedia: Grand Appartement du Roi (FR)

299 meters / 4 minutes

Sight 16: Salles des Croisades

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The Salles des Croisades is a set of rooms located in the north wing of the Palace of Versailles.

Wikipedia: Salles des Croisades (EN)

448 meters / 5 minutes

Sight 17: Domaine national : ancien Pavillon des Sources

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70 meters / 1 minutes

Sight 18: Lazare Hoche

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Lazare Hoche

Louis Lazare Hoche was a French military leader of the French Revolutionary Wars. He won a victory over Royalist forces in Brittany. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 3. Richard Holmes describes him as "quick-thinking, stern, and ruthless... a general of real talent whose early death was a loss to France."

Wikipedia: Lazare Hoche (EN)

115 meters / 1 minutes

Sight 19: Temple de Versailles

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The Protestant Temple of Versailles is a place of worship located at 3 rue Hoche in Versailles, founded in 1828. The parish is a member of the United Protestant Church of France.

Wikipedia: Temple protestant de Versailles (FR)

346 meters / 4 minutes

Sight 20: Statue équestre de Louis XIV

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The equestrian statue of Louis XIV is a bronze equestrian statue of the King of France Louis XIV, located on the Place d'Armes in front of the Palace of Versailles. Until 2008–2009, it was located in the cour d'honneur.

Wikipedia: Equestrian statue of Louis XIV (Versailles) (EN)

294 meters / 4 minutes

Sight 21: Bâtiments du Manège

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The Armoury Building was a former military building under Napoleon III in Versailles, France. It was demolished in 1988 with the exception of its gate which remained on the Avenue du Général-de-Gaulle.

Wikipedia: Bâtiments du Manège (FR)

189 meters / 2 minutes

Sight 22: Borne du Serment de Koufra

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Borne du Serment de Koufra

The Capture of Kufra was part of the Allied Western Desert Campaign during the Second World War. Kufra is a group of oases in the Kufra District of south-eastern Cyrenaica in the Libyan Desert. In 1940, it was part of the colony of Italian Libya Libia Italiana, which was part of Africa Settentrionale Italiana (ASI), which had been established in 1934. With some early assistance from the British Long Range Desert Group, Kufra was besieged from 31 January to 1 March 1941 by Free French forces which forced the surrender of the Italian and Libyan garrison.

Wikipedia: Capture of Kufra (EN), Website

684 meters / 8 minutes

Sight 23: Chapelle Notre-Dame des Armées

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The Chapel of Notre-Dame-des-Armées is a Catholic religious building located in Versailles, at 10 impasse des Gendarmes. Built in 1877 by Frantz Blondel under the direction of the Eudist Fathers, it was first used as the Soldier's Home. Roland-Gosselin, bishop of Versailles, entrusted the work of the military to the Eudist priests and had a chapel built for them. The latter was, until 1967, an integral part of the French Army's home and chaplaincy, which was still led by the Eudists.

Wikipedia: Chapelle Notre-Dame-des-Armées de Versailles (FR), Website

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Disclaimer Please be aware of your surroundings and do not enter private property. We are not liable for any damages that occur during the tours.

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