There cannot be many people around today who haven’t heard of the Palace of Versailles. But your visit to the palace should not be restricted to the building itself. The Gardens of Versailles are just as fascinating – and unlike the palace they can be explored completely free of charge. This is ideal if you are on a budget and you’d like to stick to it.

But you should be aware of one thing. The word ‘gardens’ really does not even begin to cover what you will find here. You can spend hours wandering around and seeing everything, such is the scale on show. But then they do belong to the Palace of Versailles, so perhaps the gardens should be expected to be equally as grand. They cover a total of some 800 hectares, so make sure you’ve got some comfortable walking shoes on!

Over recent years and despite a destructive storm that took place back in 1999, the gardeners here have been busy replanting vast sections of the gardens. This work is ongoing and as you will see when you pay a visit, the gardens always look stunning and extremely well kept.

If you are still trying to get to grips with how big these gardens really are, consider this – there are some two hundred thousand trees here and a total of fifty different fountains. You could wander round all day and still not see everything, such is the grand scope and scale of the place.

You can see that the Gardens of Versailles are just as grand as the palace itself. Indeed if you are intending to see both you might be better served spending one day in the palace and coming back on a nice sunny day to see the gardens. At least this way you won’t feel rushed and end up missing lots of things.

You should also make the time to indulge in a couple of the walks that are available in the gardens. The Water Walk and the Bacchus and Saturn Walk are just two of the many options you have available to choose from.