Versailles
 

We are planning an outing to versailles as part of our france trip. Should we budget a day day there or can we see most of the sites in half a day? We are travelling with a 19 and 14 year old. We are mostly interested in the castle and gardens.

You'd need the full day to see the entire palace and the gardens. The Kings and Queens rooms are quite interesting, more so than the Hall of Mirrors IMO.

Just FYI
The RER Line C train travels to the Gare de Versailles Rive Gauche station from Paris. The trip can take from 20 to 45 minutes depending upon which station in Paris you depart from.

I've been twice to Versailles - both times for half a day.
4-5 hrs was plenty to tour the Chateau and gardens.
You know better than anyone here your travel preferences - have a wonderful trip.

I spent half a day in the chateau and gardens. If I had gone to the Grand Trianon or Marie-Antoinette's home, I'd have needed a whole day. Your preferences may vary depending on how interested you all are in the history or other aspects - I didn't linger all that much in the house.

We spent about 3/4 of a day at Versailles this past August. We took the RER from Paris; the trip took about 45 minutes. And then, even though we had the Paris Museum Pass, we had to wait in a huge line for 1 hour to get in. We visited the palace and the gardens, & felt we had enough time there. We didn't visit the Grand Trianon or Marie-Antoinette's home. However, after visiting the palance and gardens, we also had lunch outdoors in the town, maybe a 5 - 10 minute walk from the palace. I think we arrived back in Paris by 4PM, just in time to spend about an hour at the Rodin Museum before it closed at 5PM. Hope this helps.

A couple of years ago we visited Versailled. First, we bought the ticket in advance (somewhere in a passage between a metro stop and the Louvre). Then, we drove to Versailles from nearby St. Germain-en-Laye. We had some time to wait, we visited the palace without rushing, we just had a short look to gardens but skipped the Trianon as too distant (it was quite cold in spite of being sunny). Then back to St. Germain. It took the better part of a day, I do not know if it could be rushed to half a day.

I've been to Versailles twice. The first time we did the usual thing and joined a queue and then saw the inside of the palace. It was the most crowded place I've ever been to and I didn't enjoy it much for that reason. We then spent several hours visiting the gardens and the petit and grand trianons which we enjoyed.

The second time we didn't bother with the castle and spent the best part of a day exploring the grounds, including the little farm. Again we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. On leaving the castle grounds at about 3pm we noticed that then the queue to the castle was nonexistent. If we go back we will plan to visit the interior at about that time. I expect the reason is that the tour groups have all moved on to their next destination.

Half a day is probably a bit optimistic.

I can't imagine visiting Versailles, which I've been to a dozen times and still "enjoy" (if you can use that word looking at OTT opulence and indulgence)seeing Le Hameau and the Trianons. That, plus the château itself, the gardens, a bit of a stop for a bite to eat, and it always takes 3/4 of a day for me. And I haven't even been into the fairly newly opened rooms.

Just went with my 16 yr old niece last June and we spent 3/4 of a day. They do have golf carts you can rent to tour the gardens. I know it sounds crazy...but we did it and it was really fun. Obviously you can cover alot more ground this way. One funny thing to note is that they required a drivers license for the cart rental and I did not have mine with me. My niece did and even though she was under the age requirement they let us do it because I promised to drive.