It’s time I update this older post as over the years even away from it many things have change in my dear City where I spent the first almost 10 years of my life in my belle France! Yes Versailles the city of the palace/museum has an excellent transportation system and great roads/streets. Therefore, let me tell you a bit just a bit about the public transport in and out of Versailles !! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
To brag ,we are the Capital of the state,province or as we call it , Department 78 name Yvelines. We are the de facto capital of France for any constitutional changes to the French Constitution when the government moves over to the city. And of course, we are in the region of Île de France !, and in my belle France!
You want to come to Versailles, well here is my take on the subject, From CDG Roissy en France ( department 95, or Val d’Oise northeast of Paris) ; 40 km, You go out of airport on the N104 or Francilienne road, the signs along the route tells you that you are on the Francilienne or A104, direction Cergy-Pontoise , the entire western section got new additions and number changes (like A115) but the road remains the same, it later changes to the N104 before coming to the N184 by the intersection with the A15 (that can take you into Paris or towards Rouen in Normandy),you stay straight on the road and it brings you to the N13 road to Le Port Marly and continue on the N186 Route de Versailles onwards to Versailles going under the A13 autoroute de Normandie by Les Chesnay-Roquencourt it becomes the D186 or Route de Saint Germain , then , boulevard Saint Antoine , at the traffic circle with the twins towers or monument to the fallen at place de la Loi turn right into boulevard du Roi , becoming Rue des Réservoirs, and you will see passing the Montansier theater (right hand side) and then the palace of Versailles! Yes the numbers change, the streets change but it is really a straight line direction Versailles! You can ,also come from Roissy CDG airport ,autoroute A1 direction Paris, get on the boulevard périphérique Ouest (west), follow direction Rouen A13, and take the A13 direction Rouen/ Versailles, until exit or sortie n°5 Versailles Centre/Château. Follow this road avenue des Etats-Unis, which continues into avenue de Saint-Cloud, all the way to the palace/museum. A piece of cake as we say !
From Orly airport in city of Orly, department 94 or Val de Marne south of Paris, 25 km, you take from either terminal Ouest /West or Sud/South the road A106 direction Paris, signs N7 and take the exit to the A86 exchange direction Sceaux/Antony/Versailles that is get on the right lane and turn around towards the left or west into the A86. Follow this road to the N12 and at exit 2 /N186 Rue du Pont Colbert same into the Rue des Etats Généraux , then left on Rue de Limoges , then right on ave de Sceaux, then right on ave Général de Gaulle and left on Avenue de Paris to palace of Versailles. Again easy, the key here is to take the exit 2 above! From Orly airport, take the Train RER B until Massy Palaiseau, change there to take the train RER C direction Château-Rive Gauche station. A bit over an hour here, taking OrlyBus to Montsouris station, there take bus 88 to Montparnasse and again train line N to Chantiers train station in Versailles, local bus to palace. You can go to Paris, and get on a RER C station like Saint Michel to the Château Rive Gauche station closest to palace. By car or rental car, go out Orly and take the A106 direction Paris than shortly get on the outside beltway on the A86 exit or sortie Versailles Château. Follow this road avenue des Etats-Unis, which continues into avenue de Saint-Cloud, all the way to the palace/museum.
The city has plenty of parkings all over, my most useful are these: parking ave de Sceaux ,this is just after the rive gauche-château RER C train station on ave Général Charles de Gaulle, intersection with rue Royale turn left and first ramp up to the parking. Metered machines are spread out for your ticket. . Parking avenue de Saint Cloud, very easy at the avenue and corner with ave de l’Europe away from the chateau will be your right hand side, you see the flower market on your right too. Parking place du Marché Notre Dame, at the market right off rue du marechal Foch, a bit tight but very nice and elevators bring up right in the middle of the market ! Parking place Saint Louis, this one is by the Cathedral Saint Louis, the big P and Cathedrale will guide you to it. Its right off place Saint Louis. You have a smaller parking right on Parking ave de l’Europe open air but very convenient to castle and market too. Once on avenue de l’Europe to to avenue de Paris turn sharp right into the entrance. The closest to the palace/museum are right in front of the palace/museum in place d’Armes but usually the most crowded as well, the train stations at Chantiers and rive Droite and Parking Reine-Richaud (by the hospital apts complex behind the train station rive droite) on Blvd de la Reine. You need to enter your license plate into the ticket machine or horodateur or on the application smartphone and can ask for a receipt. The city agents will be able to verify the payment via a portable gadget. If infraction on parking like time expire you will have FPS= Forfait Post Stationnement that is establish by the control agent. Lost ticket will cost you 36€ (43€ St Louis). The fine is 35 € in Versailles but it can be reduce to 25€ if the payment is done in the next 5 days of the fine or FPS. If not the fine can go to 85€ You can park on the street , but they have meters unless park far off the main tourist spots. I used them if moving around town because we walk here but normally for long periods and visiting I will recommend the parking garages.
For my friends in camping cars, the best is at Parking de Sceaux if only for a day. However, if overnight you need to go to the camping de Versailles Huttopia at 31, Rue Berthelot. Follow from palace/museum the ave de Paris and turn right after passing the Hôtel de Ville on Rue des Etats Généraux continue same road changes name to Rue des Chantiers, then turn left on Rue Yves Le Coz, and then right on Rue Berthelot,
All train stations in Versailles, you can walk to the palace/museum or take a local bus of the new véolia network .Bus no 11 and 40 takes you for example from Château-Rive-Gauche station to the Orangerie, From my former closest station Rive Droite you can take bus no 3 and 14 etc There is the RATP bus n° 171 coming from the metro station pont de Sèvres metro line 9 in Paris until in front of the palace/museum on Avenue de Paris terminus. The city bus info center is at the Agence Navigo Europe. Open Mondays to Fridays from 9h to 12h30 and 13h30 to 18h. Saturdays from 10h to 12h30 and 13h30 to 18h. Office location at 18 Avenue de l’Europe. Right across the Europe bus terminal corner with Avenue de Saint Cloud. There is also an agency at the Versailles Chantiers train station, There are several other kiosks ,shops that can sell the tickets but the above are the official ones and both close to the palace/museum. The main city bus terminal is at Place Lyautey ,across from the RER C train station château rive gauche (left bank). My old line A (see pic) is now the no 3 passing by rive gauche (ave du Général de Gaulle) and rive droite (Ave du Maréchal Foch) very close to the palace/museum. In winter months there is line 14 easy taken in Ave de l’Europe or Place du marché Notre Dame (market).
Yet another way is to take the Roissybus bus line 4 from Roissy CDG to gare Montaparnasse by rue du Commandant Mouchotte, and there take train the Gare Chantiers of Versailles, and then walk or bus as above, You can take the Roissybus to Opéra Paris by 11 rue Scribe ,and go on by metro line 9 to Pont de Sévres to connect witht the bus line 171 as above, From the gare Saint Lazare take regular train to the rive droite train station in Versailles, about 30 min my old station, then walk about 20 min to palace or bus 6214. From Orly airport, take regular OrlyVal train at Orly 4 to Antony in Paris, then RER B to Massy and change again to RER C to Versailles Chantiers train station. Again, here while awaiting the opening of line 18 of the metro is difficult in public transports as need to go by in Paris, never taken it, I always have come by car to Orly, From low cost Beauvais-Tillé airport you can do by taking the navette bus to Porte Maillot in Paris here RER C to Champs de Mars Tour Eiffel and then RER C to Versailles rive gauche château train station. Another option is to take the bus 244 at Porte Maillot direction Pont de Suresnes , and here change to bus 471 to Versailles gare rive droite train station, Long trajects as well never taken it and not even by car here, fyi
There are many companies that cover Versailles in public transports such as RATP, SNCF (you know these from Paris), and other coming from other town such as Véolia, Savac, and Keolis. If you like to do bike in the palace grounds than see Astel The city ,also has parking for bikes or vélos such as near 105 spots for bikes on the road itself, 96 spaces are reserve at the train stations Château Rive Gauche, 200 spaces at Chantiers, and only saw a few by Rive Droite but should be better now. The better and more security side is at Chantiers.
The official Île de France mobilités transport site: https://me-deplacer.iledefrance-mobilites.fr/itineraire
The official RATP bus transport line 171 to Versailles : https://www.ratp.fr/plans-lignes/busratp/171
The city of Versailles on its public transports : https://www.versailles.fr/132/se-deplacer/transports-en-commun.htm
The official camping de Versailles Huttopia at 31, Rue Berthelot : https://europe.huttopia.com/en/site/camping-versailles/
A company to rent bikes even into the Palace of Versailles, Astel : https://astel-versailles.com/
The city of Versailles orientation map : https://versailles.plan-interactif.com/fr/
The Versailles tourist office on getting to/from Versailles: https://en.versailles-tourisme.com/useful-information-and-tips
The Transilien regional transport site on itineraries : https://www.transilien.com/en
There you go folks, hope it helps those coming or taking the bus ,train or car to/from Versailles; it is a very plausible city to drive on and only the areas around the palace/museum can be considered traffic prone. The bus well as I always said above ground you see more so take it, it goes everywhere ! Again ,hope you enjoy the royal city of Versailles, and take advantages of this post on the public transports in and out of Versailles as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 