Five-star hotels in Versailles, at the gates of the palace

Versailles, the royal new town

Versailles began as a hunting lodge built by Louis XIII. His son made it the seat of power: Louis XIV had Le Vau and Le Nôtre transform the château and the park, and on 6 May 1682 the court and government moved in for good. A new town grew up around them, with the Notre-Dame and Saint-Louis districts laid out on either side of the Avenue de Paris.

Versailles remained the de facto capital until 1789, then became the cradle of the Revolution: the Third Estate swore the Tennis Court Oath here on 20 June 1789, and in October a Parisian crowd forced the royal family to leave for Paris. The palace has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. Today Versailles is the prefecture of the Yvelines, with 84,095 residents (2023), about 17 km from central Paris, in its western suburbs.

Where to stay in Versailles: estate, square or park

Versailles is easy on foot: the tourist office notes that the palace, the Notre-Dame and Saint-Louis districts, restaurants and shops are all a few minutes from the main stations. The register counts three five-star hotels in town, and the hotel list on this page currently shows 1 of them; choosing between these luxury hotels in Versailles is a question of setting.

Le Grand Contrôle lies within the estate, overlooking the Orangery parterre and the Pièce d'eau des Suisses. Les Lumières faces the Place d'Armes, in front of the palace's royal courtyard. The Trianon Palace stands on Boulevard de la Reine, the street of the Queen's Gate into the park, and opens directly onto the park on the edge of the Trianon estate.

Waldorf Astoria Versailles - Trianon Palace

Waldorf Astoria Versailles - Trianon Palace stands at 1 Boulevard de la Reine, in a 3-hectare wooded park on the edge of the palace grounds. The Atout France register gives it 100 rooms and a five-star classification dated 30 June 2021; the hotel counts 85 rooms and 15 suites in its historic building.

The neoclassical hotel by the architect René Sergent opened on 1 May 1910. In its great hall, now the Salon Clemenceau, Georges Clemenceau handed the German delegates the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles on 7 May 1919, as a plaque records. In 1944 the American army moved in, and the hotel names Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, de Gaulle and Montgomery among those who took major decisions there. In 2009 it became the first Waldorf Astoria in France.

Gordon Ramsay au Trianon, which holds one MICHELIN star (as of 2026), serves five- or seven-course menus under chef Gabriele Ravasio; La Véranda is the brasserie, open from breakfast to dinner; and Peacock Alley, the bar, serves the afternoon tea of chef Eddie Benghanem. The Spa Guerlain covers more than 2,800 m², with a pool under a glass roof and a hammam.

Check what you book: the Pavillon du Trianon, in the same grounds, is a separate four-star building with 99 rooms. The hotel also states that the historic five-star building has no access for guests with reduced mobility, and directs them to adapted rooms in the Pavillon.

Le Grand Contrôle and Les Lumières

Le Grand Contrôle, at 12-14 Rue de l'Indépendance Américaine, is a mansion within the estate of the Château de Versailles. Jules Hardouin-Mansart built it in 1681 for the Duke of Saint-Aignan; Louis XV bought it in 1723 and installed the controller general of finances there until the Revolution, Jacques Necker being the last. After army use from 1857 to 2006, it opened as a hotel on 1 June 2021 under a 50-year concession run by Airelles, while the building remains state property. The register lists 15 rooms, classified five-star on 21 August 2026. Airelles promises a personal butler, rooms restored in the style of the period, lunch on the terrace of La Table des Jardiniers facing the Orangery in fine weather, and the Bar de la Chapelle at the end of the day.

Les Lumières, at 5 Rue Colbert, joins two buildings from the reign of Louis XIV, the former Hôtels de Villacerf and de Gramont, listed as historic monuments in 1930 and restored by the architect Didier Benderli. The register lists 31 rooms, classified five-star on 9 December 2024. On the first floor, La Galerie des Lumières looks over the Place d'Armes from under a six-metre ceiling and serves the chef's menu from breakfast to dinner, afternoon tea included. The spa has a hammam, a sauna and a fitness room. The hotel belongs to the 2L Collection, alongside the Château d'Audrieu in the Calvados.

Hotels near Versailles Palace: planning the visit

A night in town lets you be at the gates when the palace opens at 9 am. The palace and the Trianon estate open every day except Monday, the Trianon only from noon, and both close on 25 December, 1 January and 1 May. Buy tickets online in advance: the Passport covers the palace with timed entry, the gardens, the Trianon estate and the park.

The palace's suggested route for the Trianon estate (the Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon and the Queen's Hamlet) takes about four hours, in the afternoon. The gardens are free from November to March and on Mondays, but ticketed on fountain-show and Musical Gardens days. Beyond them, the park covers about 800 hectares of avenues, woods and fields around the Grand Canal; it is open every day, free for pedestrians and cyclists, and the place for a bike ride or a boat trip on the canal.

Fountain shows and the Versailles season

From spring to autumn the gardens become a stage, so the dates are worth checking before you book. The Musical Fountains Show sets the fountains and groves to Baroque music at weekends, the Musical Gardens open the groves with music but without water displays, and the Night Fountains take over on summer Saturday evenings, when the gardens close early at 5.30 pm. Indoors, the Royal Opera and the Royal Chapel host a season of operas, concerts, plays and ballets, and the palace sells a combined ticket for the fountain show and the Royal Serenade in the Hall of Mirrors.

Notre-Dame, Saint-Louis and the town beyond the gates

Versailles is a City of Art and History, and its royal districts reward an evening walk. The Notre-Dame district, laid out by the Sun King's architects, centres on the market square, where the covered Halles Notre-Dame open from Tuesday to Saturday, 7 am to 7.30 pm, and on Sunday mornings; Rue de la Paroisse, the antiques quarter and the Lambinet Museum, which retraces the town's history in a private mansion, are close by.

The Saint-Louis district, once the kings' hunting reserve, is quieter, with cobbled streets, Saint-Louis Cathedral and the Carrés Saint-Louis, courtyards lined with small historic houses. Here stands the Royal Tennis Court, free to visit from Tuesday to Sunday. Beside the Pièce d'eau des Suisses, the Potager du Roi, the king's kitchen garden created between 1678 and 1683 by Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, originally covered nine hectares. Facing the palace, the Great Stable houses the free Gallery of Coaches, open at weekends.

Getting to Versailles from Paris and the airports

Versailles has three stations, each linked to a different part of Paris, and the tourist office calls the RER C to Versailles Château Rive Gauche the most direct access; line U from La Défense also serves Versailles Chantiers. RATP bus 171 runs from Pont de Sèvres, at the end of metro line 9, to the palace in about 30 minutes without traffic. By road, allow 25 to 35 minutes from Paris, 35 to 50 from Orly and 1 hour to 1 hour 30 from Charles de Gaulle; the Place d'Armes car park is close to the palace, and taxis wait at all three stations.

Versailles, Paris and further afield

With the RER C reaching the Left Bank in about half an hour, Versailles works as a quieter base for Paris or as a day out from it. Disneyland Paris lies on the other side of the capital, in the eastern outer suburbs at Chessy, about 31 km from central Paris. Closer by, Transilien line V serves the Bièvre valley, including Jouy-en-Josas, and for a country extension, Les Lumières' sister hotel, the Château d'Audrieu, is listed under Audrieu.