Versailles Photoshoots

Locations

Where to shoot in Versailles

The Place d'Armes gives you the palace frontage and the gilded gates, which is the shot most people picture. It is also the busiest point on the estate, so we usually start there and move away quickly.

The gardens are the better half. The Latona parterre steps down towards the Grand Canal in a straight line nearly two kilometres long, with the Apollo fountain at its end. The bosquets either side are hedged rooms, enclosed and quiet, and they stay empty while the central axis fills up.

The Trianon estate at the far end is a different register altogether — the Petit Trianon, the Queen's Hamlet with its thatched cottages and millpond, and rows of trees rather than statuary.

The town itself has the Notre-Dame quarter and its covered market halls if you want something less ceremonial.

Timing

The gardens open before the palace

The gardens open at eight in the morning, well before the palace itself, and that first hour is the single best window on the estate: long light down the main axis and almost nobody in it.

The palace is closed on Mondays, which makes Monday a good choice if you only want the exterior and the grounds — the gardens still open.

The Trianon estate opens later in the day than the main gardens, so it suits an afternoon or evening session.

On fountain-show days the garden has an admission charge and considerably more people; your photographer will tell you which days those fall on.

Planning

How much you can cover

Thirty minutes covers one area — the frontage and the Latona parterre, or the Hamlet.

Sixty minutes is the sensible choice here, because the estate is large and walking between points takes real time.

Ninety minutes gets you from the palace down the central axis to the canal and out to the Trianon.

We shoot handheld in the public gardens and grounds. Nothing is set up or blocked off.

What to wear

Formal reads well against formal

Versailles is gravel, clipped hedge, pale stone and gold. Long dresses and tailoring sit naturally in it in a way they do not in most places, and this is one of the few locations where going properly dressed is not overdressing.

Strong single colours — deep red, emerald, navy — separate cleanly from the grey-green of the gardens. Busy prints fight the statuary.

The gravel is coarse and the estate is big. Bring shoes you can walk a few kilometres in and change for the photographs.

When to come

Best months for a Versailles photoshoot

May, June and September are the best months: the parterres are planted, the fountains run, and the light lasts into the evening.

July and August are hot and crowded, though an eight o'clock start still works.

October and November give you the avenues in colour, which suits the Trianon end of the estate particularly well.

In winter many of the statues are boxed for protection and the fountains are off, but the frontage and the bare avenues photograph starkly and the estate is nearly empty.