Early this month, my sister and I spent an extended weekend at Versailles. It's altogether not a bad idea to stay in Versailles itself, instead of Paris. The distance between Paris and Versailles is easily around 40 minutes by car or by metro.
There are various hotels in Versailles, but the grandest is the Trianon, a Waldorf Astoria hotel that is actually divided into two different hotels: the chateau (5 stars) and the pavillon (4 stars). It hosts a 2 Michelin star restaurant too. We were lucky to have been able to use hilton honors points (saved up quite a few) to secure a room there for three nights.
We left on Friday afternoon and arrived early in the evening in Versailles. On Saturday we visited to palace of Versailles (we had booked our tickets online). Must say, though the palace is grand, it did not make an impression on me. We've seen prettier palaces and castles. Only the Hall of Mirrors lived up to its expectation.
That being said, you can easily spend a day at the terrain. The grounds around the palace are vast. You can walk in the gardens, visit the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon, as well as the Grande Epicurie (where the horses were stabled and you also find the carriages.
Versailles is a village, but not a small one. There are enough restaurants and cafés. On Sunday morning there is a market in the center of the village, which is worth seeing.
On Saturday the weather was sunny and warm, but in the afternoon we got a heavy thunderstorm, which flooded parts of the country. On Sunday it was more overcast and you could expect rain.
All in all we had a good weekend, but the next time we'll head to France we'll stay in Paris itself.
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