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RER train Fastest way: the RER line C5 (€2.80) from Paris’ Left Bank RER stations to Versailles-Rive Gauche station is 700m southeast of the chateau; trains run every 15 minutes until shortly before midnight. Less convenient: RER line C8 (€2.80) stops at Versailles-Chantiers station, a 1.3km walk from the chateau.

SNCF train From Paris’ Gare St-Lazare (€2.80) SNCF operates 70-odd trains a day to Versailles-Rive Droite, 1.2km from the chateau. Versailles-Chantiers is likewise served by half-hourly SNCF trains daily from Gare Montparnasse (€2.80); trains on this line continue to Chartres (€10.90, 45 to 60 minutes). An SNCF package (forfait loisir) covering Paris metro, return train journey to/from Versailles and chateau admission costs €19.20.

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The Grand Canal, 1.6km long and 62m wide, is oriented to reflect the setting sun and is traversed by the 1km-long Petit Canal, thus forming a cross-shaped body of water with a perimeter of over 5.5km. Louis XIV used to hold boating parties here. In summer you can paddle around the Grand Canal in four-person rowing boats; the dock is at the canal’s eastern end. The Orangerie, built below the Parterre du Midi (a flowerbed) on the southwestern side of the palace, houses exotic plants in winter.

In the middle of the vast 90-hectare park, about 1.5km northwest of the main palace, is the Domaine de Marie-Antoinette (Marie-Antoinette’s Estate; Château de Versailles; adult/adult after 5pm/under 18yr €9/5/free Apr-Oct, adult/under 18yr €5/free Nov-Mar; noon-6.30pm Apr-Oct, noon-5.30pm Nov-Mar). High-season tickets cover admission to the Grand Trianon, the Hameau de la Reine, Marie-Antoinette’s dairy, theatre, English garden and so on; low-season tickets only cover the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon gardens, which, notably, are both free on the first Sunday of the month from November to March. The pink-colonnaded Grand Trianon was built here in 1687 for Louis XIV and his family as a place of escape from the rigid etiquette of the court. Napoleon I had it renovated in the Empire style. The ochre-coloured Petit Trianon (closed until summer 2008), dating to the 1760s, was redecorated in 1867 by consort of Napoleon III, Empress Eugénie, who added Louis XVI–style furnishings. A little further north on the estate is the Hameau de la Reine, a mock village of thatched cottages constructed from 1775 to 1784 for the amusement of Marie-Antoinette, who played milkmaid here.

Given the park is so vast, the only way of seeing it all to hire a four-person electric car (per hr €28); drivers must be over 23 and show their driver’s licence); hop aboard the train shuttle ( 01 39 54 22 00; www.train-versailles.com; adult/11-18yr €6/4.50), which stops at the Petit Trianon, Grand Trianon and Grand Canal; or rent a bike (per hr €6, half-/full day €13.50/15) from the kiosk at the eastern end of the Grand Canal or next to the Grille de la Reine garden entrance.

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TO MAKE VERSAILLES VISITS LESS HELLISH

To avoid disappointment, resign yourself to queuing for everything, be it tickets for the chateau and getting into it (two vastly different things), renting an electric car or taking a pee in the public toilets.

It can’t be stressed enough: buy your chateau ticket in advance of stepping foot in Versailles – online (www.chateauversailles.fr), from a branch of FNAC Click here or any SNCF train station/office (Click here).

Should you arrive in Versailles ticket-less, bulldoze straight to the tourist office to buy a Passeport, which allows you to enter the palace through Entrée C (rather than Entrée A, where queues are always longer).

By noon both queues spiral out of control: visit the palace first thing in the morning or after 4pm; avoid Tuesday and Sunday, its busiest days.

Save money by downloading Château de Versailles podcasts and other digital content before departure from www.podcast.chateauversailles.fr.

Don’t miss the show! Tickets for the Grandes Eaux Musicales and Grandes Eaux Nocturnes can be like gold dust in high season. Gem