Every design for Versailles

Versailles takes its name from a medieval word for land that had been ploughed and turned over and over, and it was little more than a marshy hollow until Louis XIV chose it for a new town. From then until the Revolution, with only a brief interruption, it served as the capital of France.

The town sits in a broad basin west of Paris, ringed by wooded heights: the plateau de Satory to the south, the forest of Meudon to the east and the forest of Fausses-Reposes to the north, with the plain of Versailles opening to the west. No real river crosses it; the ru de Gally once drained the basin and now flows out of the Grand Canal. Around the butte Montbauron lie the Château de Versailles, Le Grand Trianon and the gardens listed by UNESCO.

If Versailles is your town, you know the palace is only half of it. Take the quiet streets, the Salle du Jeu de Paume and the Grand Canal with you.