VIP Versailles Bike Tour from Paris with King's Apartments Access

Wonderful opportunity to see the property of Versailles and everyone was looking forward to biking. The morning portion (market + bike tour) was fun, our guide (Nick) gave good, interesting history info, but it became very rushed after our picnic lunch. For some reason, we were running behind schedule and the tour guide became irritated at the group. As we were finishing up on the grounds, he was biking very fast to get back to the shop in time to return the bikes and walk back to the palace in time for the guided tour. His biking pace was unreasonable (we're fairly fit and competent) and a group of us got separated at a stop light, which only irritated him more. Then, we were biking through town and traffic at an unsafe speed, where my daughter almost got hit by a car as she was trying to keep up. It was very unsafe. We had to rush to return the bikes (they literally were throwing the bikes in the shop), getting us all out of breath (and out of water), without the opportunity to buy more water (it was during the Paris heatwave). Before we could think, Nick has us walking very fast to go back to the palace (about a 10 minute walk) for the handoff to the palace staff. We all were so out of breath and so thirsty, we couldn't enjoy the 1-hr guided tour in the King's apartments. All the guests were either sitting down on the floor with eyes closed, or staring off because of the discomfort (we felt bad for the new guide, who was good)--this was so not user-friendly. We were not able to enjoy the palace as we wanted, and it was a sour ending to what should have been a wonderful day. While the weather was unusually hot, there was no reason to rush and make us both unsafe and uncomfortable - better pace and opportunity to buy water would have made a world of difference. We could have skipped one of the biking sites on the property to give us enough time to finish up on time. It felt like it was more about 'checking the box' than planning ahead and making sure guests were being considered. This tour is pricey, so we expect not to be treated like cattle. Disappointing.

Seeing the Versailles gardens by bike was a unique way to experience the grounds. Our guide was informative and shared unique details. She happened to be Austrian, so it was a different perspective hearing her perspective of Marie Antoinette. We were then handed off to another guide for the palace tour. I happened to take this tour on the hottest weekend all summer. By the time we visited the palace, the group collectively was too tired to fully focus on the information being given to us. The tour concludes and you are left to continue a visit of the palace and find your way to the train and back home. My biggest compliant was the timeliness of the tour. We were told to arrive 15 minutes prior to departure time. We then waited 45 minutes for late people to show up, which had a cascading effect on the whole tour. Our time in the market and on the bikes was cut short because we collectively had to wait for a late party that could have been told how to meet us at Versailles. I suggest the tour company adheres to the departure time policies.