Versailles by Golf Cart: Exploring the Palace Gardens S-l-o-w-l-y
The Palace of Versailles sits high on a lot of people’s must-see list when they go to Paris. Located about 40 minutes away from Paris by train, we got to the town in the morning, grabbed a quick snack, then walked over to the palace. When we arrived, we saw a gigantic line of people waiting to get into the actual palace, where you can go on a guided tour of the rooms. My dad remembers being bored to tears when he walked through it when he was our age. So that, and the line, steered us towards exploring the grounds and gardens, rather than the palace itself. (If going inside is really important to you, I’d look into a private tour or some other way to bypass that line.)
Versailles’ gardens are HUGE; there are statues, hedges, fountains, etc. No one could deny that royalty lived there. In the far back, you can eat lunch, and rent bikes or golf carts (you can also rent golf carts right behind the palace, but they didn’t have any available when we were there). My dad and I debated going on bike, but in the end, we all opted for the golf carts. This was a mistake. We only rented one cart for the seven of us, so we had to take turns. The boys took the cart out for about half an hour, then the girls took a turn. Technically, you needed a driver’s license to drive the cart, but that wouldn’t have been any fun, so the parents drove it until we were out of sight from the company, then passed the wheel to us.
The biggest problem with the golf cart? The Palace only allows the golf carts on a limited number of paths. Some sort of sensor in the cart stopped it any time it went onto a path that didn’t allow any golf carts. Most of the paths didn’t allow any golf carts. We’d go down the main path and turn onto another one. A few minutes later, the cart would ask us to turn around. There were so many smaller paths that we didn’t get to see because of that stupid cart. Also, the paths were not in top notch shape, which is surprising given that it is a palace. The former kings of France should be ashamed of themselves. We drove down one path (which the cart actually let us go on) that was so bumpy I thought the cart was going to tip.
I’m glad we saw it, but, if you go, try riding bikes instead 🙂
Think we’re funny? Or dream of being a princess? Pin it for later!
Our itinerary has links to the sights we saw and to our other blog posts on the trip.
Trip Date: July 2015
Kids’ Ages: Jonny 15 & Emma 13 (plus cousins ages 16 & 14)