A sumptuous green setting for the Sun King’s palace: this is how one can describe the magnificent gardens designed by André Le Nôtre around the Palace of Versailles…
The Park and Gardens are open every day and free to access (entry to the Gardens is ticketed on *Grandes Eaux Musicales* and *Musical Gardens* days).
Access to the Park only is available via:
- the Queen’s Gate (*Grille de la Reine*) — for pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles every day
- Saint-Antoine Gate (*Porte Saint-Antoine*) — for pedestrians and cyclists every day, and for vehicles on weekends and public holidays
- the Sailors’ Gate (*Grille des Matelots*) — for pedestrians and cyclists every day, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., last entry at 6:15 p.m.
In the past, the park stretched over some 8,000 hectares, divided between hunting grounds and pleasure gardens. It is the latter that is known as the French formal garden (*jardin à la française*), the benchmark for 17th-century gardens across Europe. Organized around an infinite perspective axis, it unfolds across 77 hectares of elegant pathways lined with marble statues, some leading to surprising groves.
These groves, true green salons hidden along winding alleys, were designed to serve as settings for royal festivities. Rich in statues and adorned with magnificent fountains offering an endless variety of effects, they are best experienced during the *Grandes Eaux Musicales* and *Musical Gardens*, accompanied by baroque music from the time of Louis XIV.
After the Sun King’s reign, Versailles’ gardens were enriched with new types of groves not to be missed: the romantic style is illustrated by the charming *Bosquet des Bains d’Apollon*, created just before the Revolution. The 21st century has added two remarkable creations: extraordinary water features moving in time with music at the Mirror Pool (*Bassin du Miroir*), and the newly designed *Bosquet du Théâtre d’Eau*, imagined by Louis Benech and Jean-Michel Othoniel on the site of a long-lost 17th-century grove.
Access to the Park only is available via:
- the Queen’s Gate (*Grille de la Reine*) — for pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles every day
- Saint-Antoine Gate (*Porte Saint-Antoine*) — for pedestrians and cyclists every day, and for vehicles on weekends and public holidays
- the Sailors’ Gate (*Grille des Matelots*) — for pedestrians and cyclists every day, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., last entry at 6:15 p.m.
In the past, the park stretched over some 8,000 hectares, divided between hunting grounds and pleasure gardens. It is the latter that is known as the French formal garden (*jardin à la française*), the benchmark for 17th-century gardens across Europe. Organized around an infinite perspective axis, it unfolds across 77 hectares of elegant pathways lined with marble statues, some leading to surprising groves.
These groves, true green salons hidden along winding alleys, were designed to serve as settings for royal festivities. Rich in statues and adorned with magnificent fountains offering an endless variety of effects, they are best experienced during the *Grandes Eaux Musicales* and *Musical Gardens*, accompanied by baroque music from the time of Louis XIV.
After the Sun King’s reign, Versailles’ gardens were enriched with new types of groves not to be missed: the romantic style is illustrated by the charming *Bosquet des Bains d’Apollon*, created just before the Revolution. The 21st century has added two remarkable creations: extraordinary water features moving in time with music at the Mirror Pool (*Bassin du Miroir*), and the newly designed *Bosquet du Théâtre d’Eau*, imagined by Louis Benech and Jean-Michel Othoniel on the site of a long-lost 17th-century grove.
