Even if you ignore Versailles, the town names are a giveaway that the departement of Yvelines was the former home of the French royals. Marly-le-Roi, Noisy-le-Roi. Just west of Paris, the numerous forests and parks are homage to when the royal family would hunt deer and wild boar in Rambouillet, and when Versailles was little more than a hunting lodge.
Versailles is by far the largest town in the area, home to more than 80,000 people. The chateau attracts millions of visitors each year, but the majority come on a day trip from central Paris. As Paris hotels overflow and Airbnb prices during the Olympic Games have skyrocketed, it’s a great time to explore Yvelines, and the palace is just the gold-gilded cherry on the wealth of places to explore.
RER services run to various towns in Yvelines, including Versailles Chantiers, Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Poissy, and tickets cost just €5 one-way from the centre of the capital – here’s how to a enjoy a trip.
Go beyond the chateau
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The town of Versailles was built around the chateau, spilling out in a grid-like formation to accommodate courtiers and tradespeople. While I’d never recommend skipping the chateau, there’s a joy in discovering the smaller sites that show the more ‘ordinary’ side of palace life. Perhaps the most fascinating is the king’s vegetable garden, Le Potager du Roi, dating from 1678. It’s open from Tuesday to Friday year-round, or Tuesday to Sunday between April and October (guided visits available). The stables (ecuries), with their collection of wooden carriages and regular horse shows, feel particularly appropriate to visit this year as Versailles hosts equestrian disciplines during the Olympics and Paralympics (open on weekend afternoons only).
Channel your inner Olympian
Stand-up paddleboarding and kayaking is forbidden on the Seine… in Paris. Not so in Yvelines, where club Les Ragondins hires paddle boards and kayaks to cruise down the river past mansions and forests. There’s plenty of birds to spot en route, including wild geese, herons and swans. Landlubbers, the cycle trails are quiet, well-marked, and largely flat. Fat Tyre Bike Tours runs guided tours, or…
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