Versailles tour with evening light show
 

Has anyone ever done this? Is Viator reliable? Other tours of Versailles better??

Viator is a third arty re-seller. I find them generally over priced, as you can book the same tours directly yourself. And for Versailles, it is an easy do it yourself trip from Paris via RER.

>>Is Viator reliable?<<

I honestly don't know why so many people think Viator is a tour operator. Must be their terrific advertising. Viator is as reliable . . . as the company you would actually be touring with. Viator doesn't have a bus -- doesn't have tour guides -- doesn't run tours. They sell other company's tours/products.

You can easily do Versailles yourself, no need for a tour. The palace is a short train ride from Paris, on RER C. After that, 5 mins walking from the train station. Do buy the ticket in advance if you can.

Viator is a middle-man. I never buy from middle-men. They don't even run tours. They just take your markup and carry on.

If you go on your own, can you get a train back AFTER the light show? Realistically.

The last train that leave Versailles to go back to Paris is at 23:25, more than enough to leave after the light show.

I like Viator as it is an easy way to view lots of options, one-stop shopping, rather than randomly coming across a tour operator on your own. Before Viator, it wasn't so easy.

I personally have never seen Viator have a higher price than the tour operator itself (if you happen to know who it is and check). Often I don't know until after taking it, but I've checked back a couple times on that and the price was the same or cheaper, in fact.

It is impossible to know sometimes who the vendor is. If you know, you'd probably be booking directly anyway and not using Viator, I imagine. I've used viators in countries and cities where I had no other way of knowing about local tours and I didn't know who the vendor was until I got the documentation after purchase.

Middle men serve a big purpose and bring business to a lot of these vendors, or they wouldn't be using them. I presume they aren't losing money on Viator or they wouldn't sign up with them, and it provides a good market and advertising for them. Some vendors have been around a long time, though, such as Parisvision for Versailles, and Viator isn't as necessary. But the random person who doesn't know Paris real well wouldn't know about Parisvision, either.

Make sure you are going on a day WITH a light show - only certain nights in certain seasons. (A work colleague of mine trekked out there in snow in Feb and was disappointed there was no show - also no brain)