04 November 2025
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Versailles may be forever linked to the splendor of its château but linger a little longer and you’ll find a living, breathing city — elegant yet unpretentious, and deeply French in rhythm. Here, grandeur coexists with the hum of daily life: shoppers linger over heirloom tomatoes at the market; cyclists glide through cobbled lanes, and chefs reinterpret royal recipes with modern flair.
“It’s a genuine city, with monuments worthy of a capital,” our guide Marouane Ouled Amor reminds us, quoting Stendhal. He’s right. The city of Louis XIV — the self-proclaimed Sun King — offers more than marble halls and manicured gardens. Beyond the golden gates lies a Versailles of artisans and bakers, antique dealers and perfumers, where the French art de vivre unfolds quietly but vividly.
From the bustling Notre-Dame market to the tree-lined avenues leading to the Potager du Roi, Versailles invites visitors to slow down and savor. It’s not just a royal detour — it’s an immersion in French culture at its most refined and authentic.
Day 1: Shopping and Leisure Strolls in Versailles’ Saint-Louis District
Named after its cathedral, the Saint-Louis district — accessible via the Versailles-Château train station — is perfect for leisurely strolls and shopping, thanks to its numerous artisans and the King’s Garden.
Morning: Pick Up Produce at the King’s Garden with Chef Rémi Chambard
Here we meet Chef Rémi Chambard, who arrives in pouring rain wearing rubber boots. The chef behind MICHELIN-Starred nearby Le Corot is a regular at the King’s Garden, visiting twice a week to pick up fruits, vegetables, and especially flowers and herbs — crucial for his sauces and broths. On a crisp autumn morning, he’s warmly greeted by David Provost, one of the 16 gardeners of this historic garden.
Created 350 years ago by Louis XIV’s gardener, Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, it’s home to 3,500 fruit trees and 300 to 400 vegetable varieties that grow annually. “Just 5 kilometers [3 miles] from my stoves — who could ask for fresher produce?” Chambard says. “This week, we’re changing our welcome broth, which we’ve been making with fennel; our broth showcases the ethos of our cuisine, conceived like a tour with local producers.”
Viewed from the central basin, surrounded by vegetable plots and elevated terraces, the King’s Garden is a living showcase of agriculture; a theater of vegetation. Beside the basin, Provost’s exhibit on plant migration reveals carrots from Afghanistan, apple and pear trees from Central Asia via the Silk Road and rhubarb from Nepal.
Lunch: Feast On Updated Classics at Ducasse’s Ore
After a five-minute walk toward the Château, we step into a unique venue, welcomed by a liveried footman in a long-tailed coat and knee-length breeches with white stockings. This is the former Grand Contrôle of Finance, home of France’s finance minister under Louis XV — now a beautifully restored luxury hotel, Airelles Château de Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle (Three MICHELIN Keys).
The 18th-century palace also houses Ore, Alain Ducasse’s signature restaurant brought to life by Executive Chef Stéphane Duchiron and Pastry Chef Aymeric Pinard. Beneath our feet lies the original pre-Revolution parquet floor, and the dining room windows overlook rose gardens and the Orangerie. Lunch offers beautifully presented dishes featuring exceptional ingredients like Trianon honey and Nantais shrimp. At dinner, tasting menu courses are announced aloud in the candlelit ambiance, evoking 18th-century glamour — or scenes from Sofia Coppola’s 2006 Marie Antoinette, where the Grand Contrôle served as the queen’s favorite retreat.
Afternoon: Meet the Artisans Shaping Local Versailles Life
In the heart of Saint-Louis you’ll find squares of quaint houses built between 1736 and 1737 by Louis XV to host a market that unsuccessfully tried to rival Notre-Dame’s. Today they house artisans, from leatherworkers to framers and cabinetmakers to gilders and restorers of vintage paintings. In one, Sandrine de Fornel is among France’s few remaining lampshade makers.
Across the street, Marlène Santos and Stéphanie Boudet-Rol share a tiny workshop. Santos restores gold leaf to wooden items — frames, mirrors, chandeliers — while Boudet-Rol restores old paintings.
Nearby, the rich scent of wood and leather leads to Damien Béal’s studio, which merges carpentry and leatherwork. Béal found widespread acclaim with a cult handbag design that blended wood and leather, and his philosophy is to use cowhide from animals that have been slaughtered for meat. The skins are naturally tanned and sturdy like saddle leather, and Béal even describes himself as a “modern saddler.”
Dinner: Tucking Into Jean-Baptiste Lavergne-Morazzini’s MICHELIN Starred Cuisine at La Table du 11
Steps from the tourist-thronged Place d’Armes, tucked into a restored courtyard corner, you’ll find MICHELIN-Starred La Table du 11. There, Chef Jean-Baptiste Lavergne-Morazzini excels in precise, visual cuisine — plates adorned with succulent sauces, like a heady langoustine emulsion accompanying marinated langoustine with vinegared rice and agastache.
Evening: Travel Back in Time at Airelles Château de Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle Hotel
Staying at Airelles Château de Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle, nestled not adjacent to but within Versailles, offers an experience that is both historical and timeless. The hotel’s renovation spared no expense, including antique 18th-century furnishings as well as stunning reproductions by master craftsmen.
Guests enjoy exceptional access to the palace with exclusive before- and after-hours tours of the Grand Trianon, a baroque château built by Louis XIV. Each guest is also pampered with complimentary Ladurée macarons, spirits in the game room, and the attention of a personal butler.
Day 2: Sift Through Antiques in Versailles’ Notre-Dame District
On the city’s northern side (accessible via Versailles-Rive-Droite station, which connects to Paris Saint-Lazare), Notre-Dame pulses to a market rhythm that precedes the castle itself by centuries.
Established in 1634 to feed the palace builders, by 1725 the market was organized into quarters: poultry and veal; fish and butter; herbs; and flour. Its modern halls, designed by architect Ernest Le Poitevin, were unveiled in 1842 to replace the aging pavilions.
Today the market hosts 35 permanent vendors in its hall (open every day but Monday), and the open-air stalls outside feature dozens more on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Pick up delicious treats from organic farmers, foragers and food vendors, and wander the stalls to browse clothing, accessories and curios. You’ll soon see why Notre-Dame was voted Ile-de-France’s finest market.
Lunch: Tuck In With Chef Xavier Pincemin, Versailles’ Culinary Maverick
Xavier Pincemin — former Top Chef winner and “bad boy” of French gastronomy — has certainly made his mark on Versailles. The young chef, trained under Simone Zanoni at Gordon Ramsay’s Trianon, has declined offers to take his talents to Paris. Instead, with his two Versailles eateries, TikTok triumphs and the success of his Carnage brand, Pincemin fills his restaurants with international guests — including Parisians.
Choose between Lafayette, a chic bistro showcasing matured meats (wagyu, black Angus, yumshaki) alongside global influences, or Le Pincemin, his gastronomic haven indulging his passion for French cuisine’s sauces, meats and exquisite fish. His favorite dish? Sole meunière. The rebel knows his classics.
Afternoon: Bring Back a French Find at the Antiques Market
Behind Notre-Dame’s halls lies the vast Quartier des Antiquaires, the largest art and antiques market in western Paris. Its winding lanes connect dozens of vendors across four distinct sections: Le Bailliage, a former prison that now houses furniture and fine art; Le Passage, the old prison yard that now offers ceramics and jewelry; Le Village, a courtyard of charming boutiques; and Le Carré des Antiquaires, a former stable turned artisan studios.
Treasure hunters can look for bargains and one-of-a-kind souvenirs at brocantes (shops or stalls run by professional antique dealers) or vide greniers (literally “empty attic”) where people sell their unwanted objects. Whether you’re looking for rare manuscripts, paintings, timepieces, weaponry or furnishings — or just browsing the historical treasures — the Antiques District is a fascinating peek into Versailles’ past.
Night: Sit Down to Dinner at La Table des Lumières and Stay Upstairs
Located at Place d’Armes with unbeatable views of the castle and the royal chapel, Les Lumières Versailles unites two distinguished historic mansions into one luxury boutique hotel. Its common areas, dripping with crystal chandeliers, include an elegant ballroom and an opulent Belle Époque staircase. The hotel’s theme is the Age of Enlightenment, and at check-in guests receive a key enclosed in a small book that tells a story of the famous philosopher, explorer or writer their room is named after, from Descartes to Voltaire.
Prioritizing rest, silence and sustainability, Les Lumières champions eco-friendly amenities, from recyclable bedding to wood-fiber linens to organic hygiene products. And at its chic restaurant, La Table des Lumières, Chef Erwan Le Thomas crafts sustainable, seasonal dishes emphasizing plant-based fare.
Soak in the Nature and MICHELIN Dining at Les Etangs de Corots
For travelers who crave peace, nature, and a touch of old-world charm without the Versailles price tag, Les Étangs de Corot in Ville-d’Avray is a quietly luxurious escape. Set between two mirror-like lakes that once inspired the painter Camille Corot, this former convent — later an inn, then a guinguette, and finally a Caudalie spa — is just a 10-minute drive from the Château de Versailles but feels blissfully remote.
The spa, newly partnered with Phytomer and Kos, embraces its natural setting with lake views from the sauna, outdoor jacuzzis hidden by flowing curtains, and massages that draw on marine and botanical ingredients. In summer, the terrace with its rustic paillottes (thatched nooks) becomes the perfect spot for sunset drinks or a long dinner over the lake.
But even if you don’t stay, make the pilgrimage for Rémi Chambard’s Michelin-starred restaurant, Le Corot. His cooking — deeply rooted in the terroir of Île-de-France—brings a delicate poetry to overlooked ingredients: smoked trout with Belleville nettles, a clever reinvention of the local Chausson d’Avray, or duck from Madame Burgaud in Challans glazed with citrusy Parisian carrots. It’s refined yet soulful cooking, much like the hotel itself: a place where art, nature, and French savoir-faire meet in quiet harmony.
Or Eat and Stay at Gordon Ramsay’s Trianon Palace
The final stop in our Versailles journey: the Waldorf Astoria Versailles - Trianon Palace, a refined hotel and venue dating back to 1910, bordering the palace park. Behind its Belle Époque facade stand historical interiors, including the elegant Clemenceau room, gilded and adorned with chandeliers, which leads onto hotel gardens. It was here that the Treaty of Versailles was orchestrated to end World War I. Esteemed guests have included luminaries like actress Sarah Bernhardt, author Marcel Proust, philanthropist tycoon John D. Rockefeller, Italian poet-politician Gabriele d’Annunzio and Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
Today you can almost taste that past grandeur in the haute cuisine of Gordon Ramsay au Trianon. Executive Chef Gabriele Ravasio presents refined dishes: duck confit ravioli with foie gras; skate wing with fennel and karashi sauce; Iberian pork with Colonnata lard and Cévennes sweet onions. And the perfectly sweet finish to a Versailles visit: roasted vanilla millefeuille with salted caramel ice cream.
Hero image: The dining room at the Hotel des Lumières in Versailles. © Joann Pai/The MICHELIN Guide
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