Just a short RER ride from Paris lies the famous suburb of Versailles; home to the beautiful Palace of Versailles and historical landmark of where the Treaty was signed on that fateful day on November 11th at 11.00 am in 1918 to mark the end of the First World War. As something of a history geek with a particular interest in old Royal Families (I absolutely LOVE all things Tudor and love to walk around Renaissance palaces) I have been itching to visit Versailles for years but have never ventured out of the city centre in any of my previous trips to Paris.
In order to really make the most of our time there we booked The Waldorf-Astoria Trianon Palace Hotel and purchased a two day pass so that we could really explore every nook and cranny of the main palace and its beautiful grounds as well as the buildings of the Petit and Grand Trianon and Marie Antoinette's Hamlet.
The hotel is a reasonably priced and good quality 4* set in beautiful grounds just outside the gate to the entrance of the gardens. The rooms are large and spacious but could do with a little TLC and I imagine it is a lack of the 'finishing touches' to both room standards and service that prevent it from being upgraded to a 5* hotel despite it having a Guerlain Spa and a Michelin Star restaurant.
Now I like to judge a hotel on the quality of the bathroom products available to use and these Salvatore Ferragamo toiletries won the hotel extra bonus points (although I was a little puzzled as to why they do not use a French brand such as Clarins or Occitane, which just so happen to be two of my favourites)!
I didn't try the Spa but it looked very inviting and advertised using Guerlain products so was not exactly cheap. Instead we took a little wander around the grounds and went for a dip in the swimming pool which was small but nice enough.
The hotel has two restaurants; The Michelin Star Gordon Ramsey and The Veranda, both of which have terraces in front of the hotel where diners can lounge in the sun and sip a pre-dinner apero or two.
We chose to eat in The Veranda restaurant on account of it being half the price of The Gordon Ramsey (and still wasn't that cheap) and we were not disappointed. I had the most amazing Tuna Tartare, which is fast becoming one of my favourite dishes on a restaurant menu, followed by Pollock, Langoustine and roasted vegetable stack whilst Mr RP tucked into a risotto followed by veal which he said he enjoyed very much. It looked to me like the food came out of the same kitchen as the Gordon Ramsey restaurant and was very well presented and of a high quality. I would recommend it without hesitation if you find yourself out in Versailles and want to avoid the equally extortionately priced touristy cafes.
Check out the website for Trianon Palace here although you can get a better deal by looking on Trivago. For a more in depth look at Versailles Palace and its grounds, take a look at my other Versailles Post in the Paris section of the site.
Hotel Rating: 4*
Price: 3/5
RP Rating: 4/5 -
A reasonably priced and nice quality 4* hotel with a good choice of dining options and a great location.
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