---
node: spot_versailles_gardens_of_versailles
type: spot
slug: gardens_of_versailles
destination: dest_versailles
title: "Gardens of Versailles"
lead: "The gardens cover 800 hectares of formal parterres, groves and canals laid out by André Le Nôtre from 1661. They are the definitive French formal garden, and the fountains still run on the seventeenth-century gravity system."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-12
image_file: spot_versailles_gardens_of_versailles.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Versailles_view_from_the_Parterre_d%27eau.jpg"
image_author: "Paolo Costa Baldi"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 3.0"
---

## Overview

Le Nôtre levelled marshland and cut a Grand Canal 1.6 kilometres long on the palace's axis, so that the view west runs to the horizon. Fifty fountains and hundreds of statues punctuate the walks, and the whole layout is designed to be read from the palace's central windows. Water was always the problem: at their peak the fountains could not all run at once, and attendants whistled ahead to switch them on as the king approached.

## Highlights

Entry is free except on Musical Fountains days, which are the days to come — the fountains only run on schedule. Rent a bike or a rowing boat for the Grand Canal; the far end is a twenty-five minute walk from the palace. The groves, hidden behind hedges, are opened in rotation and hold the best sculpture.