Angela D

Review of European leisure France (le pa...

So amazing and beautiful. Admittedly it was very ...

So amazing and beautiful. Admittedly it was very crowded and at times it was frustratingly so (especially adding the 97 degree heat), but overall well worth it. I highly recommend buying a couple bottles of water in one of the shops outside for 1.9 euro before going in. Water in the chateau is very hard to find, and overpriced. Same for the gardens...I stood in line for 40 minutes to get water, not realizing there are actually lots of other restaurants and drink vendors throughout the park.
Anyway, I bought the three passes including the Trianon, Petit Trianon, and Marie Antoinette's estate. I was very glad I bought the pass to the estate and Trianon because it ended up being my favorite part. The estate/farm and buildings looked like something out of Shrek or Robin Hood. There are still animals living there...sheep, donkeys, pigs, rabbits, goats, chickens and cows.
I spent 6 full hours there overall, but spent very little time in the gardens. You could easily add another hour or two there. There is a hotel right outside the garden, Trianon Palace (Waldorf Astoria) and I wished I had stayed there so I could wake up in the morning and explore more. We looked up pricing and actually found it to be very reasonable.
Closing thoughts....lots of walking and standing. The line was about 2 hours to get in. I highly recommend buying a VIP pass IF they guarantee you avoid the lines. Some folks in line with me had the Paris pass and understood that to give VIP access, but they had to stand in same line. There are lots of pebbles on grounds, which ended up bruising my feet, even wearing sneakers. They also rent bicycles and golf carts, although I have no idea the price.