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The bus honked, a car swerved and three motorcycles whizzed by, as the sweet smell of "café au lait" and baguettes filled the air. It was 10am, rush hour, when we began our biking adventure from the Paris city center to Versailles. In case you aren’t familiar with The Palace of Versailles, it is a royal château built 14 miles southeast of Paris. It was built in the late 1600's and served as the center of political power for the likes of Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette. Now one of the top attractions for all who come to visit Paris.

The idea of biking from Paris to Versailles all started back in LA as nothing more than an abstract thought, but after a bit of web surfing we were able to find directions for riding from Paris to Versailles on this incredibly informative site. At first (and second) glance the directions make no sense at all, but as we had hoped, once we got riding and reached the actual landmarks described, everything came together beautifully.

Prior to beginning our trip, we where told that most people take a tour bus or taxi to get to Versailles, but, as usual, we were feeling a bit more daring. Unfortunately, we could not pack our bikes from Los Angeles with us, so we found a cool bike shop near the Luxembourg Gardens where we were staying. Brittany, with her helpful knowledge of French, negotiated with the shop owner and he agreed to giving us the 24-hour bike rental for 20 Euros each. We especially knew that we were in for a treat when he raised an extra eyebrow once we told him where we planned to go. He smiled and kindly gave us a patch and pump in case one of got a flat, he also told us that the official course for the Tour de France, which was currently underway, would be part of our actual biking route to Versailles!

Note: Those "handy" rental bikes that line the streets of Paris do not work with American credit or debit cards. You need a special chip in your card that is only present in French credit/debit cards. We desperately tried using them on numerous occasions when we found ourselves out past the Metro's bedtime.

With high hopes, we started on our way. Navigating the city streets took some luck, but with a general direction in mind, we reached the lawn of the Eiffel Tower and road directly under it looking up in awe. We pedaled along the Seine River southeast until we realized we had merged onto the highway…whoops. After a brief wait for a pause in traffic, we hustled across the road to get out of dodge and to a less busy street.

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We made many lefts and many rights until we reached a large park known as Hippodrome de Longchamps. It had numerous small lakes, a horse track, rugby stadium and tons of people being active. We did a loop around and ended up on a footpath to cross another branch of the Seine River. We then found ourselves riding across an amazing pedestrian only bridge, "passarelle," (above) that raised us above the city, towards higher ground. Under us was the Paris ski club, large riverboats and some lavish restaurants lining the banks. One thing worth mentioning that really caught our interest was all the vegetable gardens and flowers that filled the spaces between the neighborhood homes and the train tracks (below).

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We climbed the steepest slope of the day before cruising through a quiet neighborhood which brought us to the beautiful "Parc de Saint-Cloud". Here we made sure to take a break and admire the city's incredible skyline. It felt as though we were hundreds of miles from Paris, even though we were just 5 miles away. The park is filled with heavy foliage and lush green trees. Our lungs were finally able to relax as the fresh sent of wilderness flowed in. Many of the paths here are gravel and look as they might have over 100 years ago. We pedaled through the park for another 40 minutes, before reaching a small farm on our right. We took a pit stop to enjoy the simplicity of the Parisian countryside, fed the goats, admired the horses and said "bonjour" to the lone cow with his giant bell.

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After hopping back on our bikes we rode along for 1.5 miles, passed the entrance gates to the park and found ourselves in the quaint town of Marne-la-Coquette.

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We veered left at the fork in the road, pedaled uphill for 5 minutes and then entered the Forêt (forest) de Fausses-Reposes. This dense forest wound us through an incredible number of large mighty trees and made us wonder if this was comparable to Germany’s great Black Forest.

We finally reached a few signs pointing in the direction of Versailles. We saw a grocery store and figured this would be a perfect solution for lunch, as we had powered through all our snacks by this time, though it didn’t meet our expectations, we did, however, ask the cashier how much further it was to the Palace. She looked at us with wide eyes and recommended that we put our bikes on the bus and take a ride… she must not have known who she was dealing with 😉

The ride took another 30 minutes and was pretty enjoyable, as it was downhill the majority of the way, though we knew that meant there would be a significant uphill start for our ride back. The road finally widened as we approached Versailles and a sign denoted the official route of the Tour de France. Beautiful old apartment buildings lined the streets and trees were planted in perfect rows along the sidewalks, numerous families sat outdoors playing cards, enjoying a late lunch.

Before visiting the Palace, we quickly locked up the bikes and headed for the closest café to fill our hungry bellies. Lucky us, it was a buffet style eatery with food already prepared. For the record, this is not common in France, as typical meals take at least an hour and local Parisians are in no hurry to finish quickly.

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By this time, it was 2pm and we were supposed to be back to Paris by 6pm to return the bikes… yikes! So, with a smile on her face, Brittany asked to use the cafe's phone to call the bike shop where we had rented our bikes. Luckily the cafe owner agreed and the bike place answered. He laughed when she explained the situation and he said to just keep the bikes in exchange for 2 Euros per bike and we could return them the next morning…feeewwwwhh. We no longer had to rush and with stomachs full and hearts happy, we walked a short distance up to the Palace.

As we bounced over the cobblestone streets, passing, what seemed like, 100 stagecoach tour buses, the golden gates of the Palace of Versailles appeared, and WOW! It was an absolutely stunning site to see.

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As beautiful as it was, what we didn’t realize is that not only is July the hottest month in Paris, but it also the worst time to visit Versailles, I mean if you don’t want to be pressed up against extremely sweaty and overly excited tourists. (Tip: Visit Versailles during the shoulder or off season.) We waited about 40 minutes in a winding, shadeless line outside the gates before being let in.

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Once we finally entered (free audio guide), we were quickly able to forget the heat and take in the magnificent and massive castle, with hundreds of elaborate rooms, thousands of murals, paintings and sculptures, an opera house, grand halls and an incredible garden where one could rowboat with their special someone... we understood why this Palace represented toutes les glories de la France, "all the glories of France." Those gold plated gates really made this realization sink in.

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By 6pm we headed back to our little studio in Paris, taking the same route on which we had arrived. We both recognized that the best part of the day was not the Palace, though it was extremely beautiful, but instead, the biking journey and adventure that had led us there.

So many people miss out on all that surrounds a Unesco World Heritage Site by taking the easy route and signing up for a guided tour or planned excursion from the city. While there is nothing wrong with this, our hope is that we can challenge you to think differently when planning your next trip, encouraging you to blaze your own path! Yes, we felt beat and exhausted upon our return to Paris, but it was nothing some French cuisine and “vin rouge” couldn’t fix! Plus it stays light until 10pm during the summer months. “Chin, chin” to a rewarding journey that many locals thought had a pinch of crazy added in… which it most certainly did 😉

For more tips on things to do, be sure to check out our post on our favorite things about Paris!