The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles has just come out of works that stripped fourteen chandeliers out of twenty, and it hands you back a room taller than you remembered. It is the most significant change the palace has seen in years, and it is the best reason to go back even if you have already seen Versailles.
The Palace is not a single building. It is a Palace, a Domaine de Trianon with two smaller residences and a fake village, and gardens laid out by André Le Nôtre that would ask for a whole day on their own. The Palace is closed on Mondays, and the same closure applies to Trianon: if you are fitting Versailles into a weekend in Paris, take Monday off the table straight away, before booking anything else.
Below I explain what has actually changed in the Gallery, which ticket to actually buy (because a non-existent one is being sold around), when the gardens charge, and Trianon and the Hameau de la Reine’s own hours, different from the Palace’s.
What did they really take out of that hall, to make it look so different?
Off we go!
A hall that has just found its height again
Until the summer of 2026 the Hall of Mirrors was crossed under a double row of twenty crystal chandeliers, hung so densely they partly hid the ceiling. The restoration works, finished that summer and officially announced on 12 September 2026, removed fourteen of them: today six remain, aligned in a single central row, and the gallery looks taller, because your eye now reaches the painted ceiling by Charles Le Brun without obstruction, which tells the story of Louis XIV’s reign in images.
Look at the photograph below with a critical eye, because it does not show today’s hall: it was taken on 3 June 2023, three years before the new arrangement, and the chandeliers you see, with more of them running densely along the whole gallery, are the old ones. It is the same hall you will find, three years apart on the ceiling.
The ticket being sold around that does not exist
If you search online for “Palace of Versailles ticket only”, you will find sites offering it at a lower price than the Passeport. Be wary: that ticket does not exist. The official site says so without ambiguity, and on 30 September 2026 that was still the case: the Passeport is the only ticket that opens the Palace, and it also includes the Domaine de Trianon and the gardens.
The figure changes with the season, and it is worth knowing before you buy: 35 euros (32 reduced, for those with residency or citizenship in the European Economic Area) from 1 April to 31 October, and 25 euros (22 reduced) from 1 November to 31 March. The 2026 low season begins on 1 November. You can book it here. Also keep in mind that the Passeport does not let you in whenever you like: as at the Louvre, you still collect a timed entry slot for the Palace, free and included in the ticket.
If you already have other Paris stops planned, before buying single tickets compare the cost with the Paris Museum Pass, which includes the same Passeport.
Le Nôtre’s gardens, when they charge and when they do not
In which months do the Versailles gardens charge, and in which do they not?
It depends on the month you go, but not the way you would think: the gardens are free to visit every day of the year, high season or low. The exception is the days of the Grandes Eaux Musicales and Jardins Musicaux shows, when entering the gardens requires the show’s own ticket: check the calendar on chateauversailles-spectacles.fr before you go, because on those days the park is not free.
On the days of the Grandes Eaux Musicales and Jardins Musicaux shows, which bring the fountains to life between spring and autumn, an extra ticket is needed even for Passeport holders: these are shows with their own separate ticket office, apart from the Palace’s. For those days you can get the Versailles gardens ticket with the Musical Fountains show. The Latona fountain, the one with the golden frogs shown below, is one of the most spectacular when the water is running.
Trianon and the Hameau de la Reine, a world (and a timetable) apart
Why does the Palace’s timetable never apply here?
The Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon and the Hameau de la Reine, the fake village Marie Antoinette had built to get away from court etiquette, do not follow the Palace’s timetable: they open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 12:00 to 18:30 in high season and from 12:00 to 17:30 in low season, three hours after the Palace opens. If you plan your day thinking everything opens at 9:00, you will reach Trianon and find the gates still shut: note it down, because it is the easiest mistake to make here.
From 17 October to 1 November 2026 the Petit Trianon opens exceptionally at 10:00, for an exhibition celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Sofia Coppola’s film “Marie Antoinette”, made with the director herself: if you pass through on those days, make the most of it, because it is not just a different opening time.
How to get there from Paris
Take the RER C to Versailles Château Rive Gauche: from there it is a ten-minute walk to the Palace. If you find it crowded or delayed, which often happens during morning rush hour, you have an alternative: the Transilien trains from Gare Montparnasse, which leave you an eighteen-minute walk from the entrance, or from Gare Saint-Lazare, seventeen minutes. If you would rather not think about trains at all, the guided tour of the Palace with transport from Paris includes timed entry and access to the gardens.
Practical information
Details checked on 30 September 2026 on the official website of the Château de Versailles. Prices and opening hours change: check again before you travel.
Before you go
If you have a single day, order it like this: the Palace in the morning, as soon as it opens, for the Hall of Mirrors before it fills up; gardens in the early afternoon; Trianon and Hameau in the late afternoon, when they open and the light is better for photographing the village. And remember Monday: you do not get in here, whatever ticket you are holding.
If you have two more days outside Paris, the other two I have chosen for you are opposites of each other: Giverny, Monet’s house and garden, and Chartres Cathedral, where you get into France’s widest nave for free. Provins and the Soissons abbey are also just a train ride away.
Photographs: gate and facade by iMahesh, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons; Hall of Mirrors by Thomas1313, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latona fountain by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Hameau de la Reine is in the public domain (CC0).
