My daughter and I just returned from a wonderful trip to Paris. While I hope to write up a trip report soon, I did want to send out a caution about a very slick "scam" that we experienced when we went to Versailles. We took the RER train there, accompanied by quite a few fellow tourists. As the crowd came out of the train station, a very official looking woman (with a name badge and everything), was directing folks to the place to get tickets to the palace -- across the street, under the arch. When we crossed the street, we saw prominent signage for Versailles Tickets and a long line out the door. I immediately assumed that this must be the place. I knew you could purchase tickets at the palace and thought this must be an outer entrance. There were 30-40 people in line.

After about 15 minutes as we edged closer to the entrance, I could see the signage in the window with the various entrance tickets and fees. They were higher than I was expecting so I took out my handy notebook and confirmed that the price for the "Passport" was listed here for 35 euros, when my research indicated should only be 25 euros. I started looking closely at the signs and the agents inside and realized we were all stupidly standing in line at a tour agency -- GuidaTours -- to be exact. I could have kicked myself for being so stupid!

By this time I was nearly at the front of the line and we had already invested a good chunk of time waiting. A few other people had also noticed that they had been snookered, but one of the agents was smooth-talking them, saying that there would be many more people standing in line at the palace. I decided not to risk it and went ahead and purchased tickets for the palace and the water fountain show (at an inflated price). Of course, there was no one in line up at the palace.

So just a word of caution, beware the slick operation by GuidaTours. You'll know you've been diverted if you end up in line for tickets next to a McDonald's!

@ wayfinder45 - Thanks for sharing, this is great information.

I am also planning a trip to Paris and will love to read your trip report.

wayfinder - we saw these people too, but we had already bought our tickets on line which worked well for us.

however, you do need to decide what day you are going to go, if you want to do that. Here's the website:

http://www.chateauversailles.fr/homepage

we did this and just walked through. There wasn't much of a queue for the ticket office; perhaps like you they were all paying over the odds down the road.

Thanks for the tip, and I would love to read your trip report. WE will be in Paris this summer.

hi kwoo - keep thinking about the TR, then get sidetracked.

this weekend, maybe.

Oh wayfinder45,
Don't beat yourself up over this. There are those out there just looking to take advantage of tourists. I know how you feel. We had our 'turn' recently in Beijing while taking one of the pedi-cabs. Long story but we were taken for $50. We felt angry and stupid but ultimately it was a lesson learned and we didn't let it cloud our trip (well maybe we did for a couple hours!). Thanks for posting. Your mistake will most likely save others from making the same error.
Michele

anyone else wondering if vaninou81 [who appears to be a new poster] has any connection to Guidatours?

s/he may be right, but why buy through the guidatours website when you can buy online through the official one?

You can buy tickets at the Versailles tourist office just up the street from the château entrance:

http://www.versailles-tourisme.com/en/accueil.html

Or you can buy them from the official Versailles website. All the info is on the Versailles website about the various types of combo passes.

http://en.chateauversailles.fr/homepage

You can also buy them from FNAC stores or you can get a day pass and round trip train tickets from SNCF boutiques/ticket counters (SNCF is the French rail network).

I don't think you were actually scammed or duped,, you just made some assumptions. . I do not see how you could possibly think you were buying tickets at an "outer entrance " of the Palace,, that seems a bit odd. Its a huge palace, with huge grounds.

justinparis - having see the sales pitch of the people from whom the OP purchased her tickets, i can well understand how she was "persuaded" into thinking that they were official vendors. people in uniforms with badges indicated that it was the right place, and it is just because Versailles is so huge that one might think that the ticket office could be some distance from the actual entrance.

not odd at all - if we hadn't bought them on the web, i can quite see how we might have fallen for the same trick. and the fact that someone who makes no mention of their obvious connection to the same firm comes on here and posts a justification makes me more suspicious than I originally was.

One thing strikes me as rather unbelievable.. I have been to Versailles 7 times,, I have NEVER NOT seen a line there,, as OP states,, doesn't anyone here find THAT odd? Seven times,, always lines,, and on this one occaison.. NO lines at Versailles, come up ,, that is simply unbelievable. She probaly was looking at wrong place,, just like this whole mess,,

I repeat, 7 times in last 10 years,, and there have always been lines. Simply not believable.

yeah, must have been one day in a zillion if there was no line at the actual palace.

anyway, I find it hard to believe anyone could think some agency far away from the palace was the actual palace selling tickets (the train station is probably at least 400 meters from the palace and you couldn't see the palace from there), but some people aren't used to doing things like this or traveling very much so can get fooled. It's good to warn people, anyway, just in case.

Thanks for the info, wayfinder. I can see that it would be very easy as a confused (and trusting) tourist to fall for something like that...I've done it before. Not sure why some people have to be rude on here when you are just trying to help others from making the same mistake.

Thank you so much for trying to warn others. How would one know, if they had never been to Versailles before, that this was not the official ticket office until you got closer, (as you did) and were able to see the Guidatour signs?

Thanks for the heads up. I hope your post saves someone from a similar situation.

I've been to Versailles when there was no line at the palace. It was a weekday in June and it was after 2:30PM.

Hmm. Been to Versailles 7 times in 10 years and can't figure out how someone on their first trip to Versailles could fall for this? Really?

As for the lines at the Palace - I've been twice, no lines the first time, small lines the second time.

Wayfinder, thanks for the valuable information. It could be very helpful to a first time visitor. Obviously not so helpful for those who travel to Versailles nearly annually, but for the rest of the planet, good info!

Thank you for the heads up Wayfinder. I wouldn't know on my upcoming visit in a few weeks!

I've discovered you have to have a thick skin to post on Fodors.

"....I've discovered you have to have a thick skin to post on Fodors.".

Yes, sometimes we forget this forum is to HELP people.

wayfinder,

We will be in Paris in July and Versailles is on our list of things to do. Thanks a lot for the info. It is very valuable to me, since I trust people too easily and almost fell into a similar trap on our last trip. Luckily, my husband is more suspicious in such situations.

Since we are talking about Versailles tickets, I would like to ask a couple of questions. We plan to go to Versailles on a weekend day to see the fireworks at night. Do we need to get the tickets to the night show ahead of time or we can get them at the palace? Is it something that may be sold out?

Also, we plan to get the museum pass. What exactly is covered by the pass? The palace and the gardens or parts of it? I know that the night show is not included.

GuidaTours was simply taking supreme advantage of "herd mentality," no question. A brilliant business practice on their part. The turn of phrase that hooked me was "under the archway" which is what made me think that it was the right place (thinking one would then walk through the archway to the Palace) and seeing so many other people stop and get in line -- I just followed suit. I didn't pay any further attention until getting up close to the window and seeing the pricing signs -- in hindsight my biggest mistake was making the ticket purchase there. That really annoys me now.

I did a lot of research before this trip and I had printed out a map of the palace, written down the various ticket prices, knew the route and price of the little bus that goes around the grounds, and even had a printed menu of the Angelina cafe there .... and still fell for a ridiculously simply scheme such as this. C'est la vie!