• What to know if you go    • Photos: In the gardens of Versailles

Phil Kloer/Staff (ENLARGE)

At the main entrance to Versailles, those without tickets are routed to the left, where there is a long line to buy them, and those with advance tickets go to the right, where there is a short wait. You definitely want to go to the right.

Christian Milet (ENLARGE)

An area of the garden was called the Ballroom, and dancers would perform in the gravel area while members of the royal court watched from the tiered seats of the amphitheater.

Phil Kloer/Staff (ENLARGE)

At the main entrance to Versailles, those without tickets are routed to the left, where there is a long line to buy them, and those with advance tickets go to the right, where there is a short wait. You definitely want to go to the right.

Versailles, France — The front yard is a mess. The grandest palace in Europe, by many reckonings, is undergoing some serious renovation, so if you're looking for piles of rubble, check out the main courtyard of Louis XIV's little château.

But walk around to the backyard, and you can bask in the garden that surpasses all gardens, except maybe the one in Eden. Fifty fountains spurt water high into the air. Classical music pours out of hidden speakers. The obsessively trimmed hedges and trees and perfectly straight sightlines stretch to the horizon, just as Louis, the king who built all this, decreed it almost 350 years ago.

Magnificent gardens best seen in spring, summer

On weekends through the end of September, Versailles is staging Les Grandes Eaux Musicales de Versailles — big water-and-music shows, as we might say on this side of the ocean. You can tour the interiors of the palace — the Hall of Mirrors, the Royal Apartments, etc., anytime, but spring and summer weekends are the best time to take in the magnificent gardens out back.

Versailles is a small town about a half-hour southwest of Paris, a favorite destination today because King Louis XIV, the Sun King, wanted to build a grand palace and gardens here and got a little carried away.

Starting in 1661 and working on and off for about 30 years, Louis, his architects, planners and tens of thousands of workers spent incalculable amounts of money transforming a hunting lodge on some swampy ground.

"History's greatest makeover," Ian Thompson calls it in his book "The Sun King's Garden: Louis XIV, Andre Le Notre and the Creation of the Gardens of Versailles" (Bloomsbury USA, $45).

It was to this spot that the mob marched from Paris in 1789 at the beginning of the French Revolution to corral Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette (but they weren't executed until 1793). It's also been a pit stop for non-French royalty, from Peter the Great to Princess Di, as well as home to musical performances from Mozart to Pink Floyd. Now that's range.

'Louis never did anything by halves'

"The truth is that Louis was a perfectionist, and when this was allied to absolute power, it could easily run to excess," Thompson said in an interview. "Louis never did anything by halves."

Back in the day, guards were stationed throughout the gardens, and they would signal for the fountains to be turned on when Louis approached, then turned back off as he walked away. These days you just have to go on a weekend, and the fountains run nonstop for two-hour blocks.

On a sunny, cloudless April Saturday when Les Grandes Eaux Musicales de Versailles opened for the 2007 season, hundreds of tourists and Parisians gathered on the back steps of Versailles to watch the show. Looking due west (everything in Versailles is laid out with fanatical geometry on east-west and north-south axes), they took in what's called the Grand Perspective.

In the foreground are the enormous fountains, white sand paths and stretches of lawn. Huge groves of trees, perfectly trimmed, flank the main path, known as the Royal Avenue, which leads to the Grand Canal, a body of water over a mile long and formed like a cross.

Mythological themes abound

Walking west, away from the palace, you stroll past elaborate fountains, frequently based on mythological themes like Apollo and Neptune. Louis and his gardener, Le Notre, had to pump water all the way from the Seine River, underground, to Versailles to get the fountains to work. Given the technology of the day (lots of windmill and horse power), Thompson said the fountains are the most impressive achievement of Versailles.

A few people rented rowboats and drifted on the canal. Lovers curled up and spooned on the thick green grass surrounding it. The scene was like life waiting to become art — you expected it all to turn suddenly pointillist, and be frozen in an impressionist painting.

Although Louis is notorious for taking the Divine Right of Kings to levels that even few of his fellow monarchs had ever considered, author Thompson doubts that he would mind thousands of peasants traipsing through his beloved gardens.

"Louis was always a very public monarch," he said. "He liked to lead vast parties of courtiers and guests around the gardens, and opened the gates to the general public for some of his fetes and extravaganzas. He was always very keen that people should see the best and newest features."

As pleasant as the gardens can be, not many tourists will want to go to Versailles and skip the palaces themselves. There are several, built at various times and interconnected. A tour of these buildings is an invitation to overdose on gilt and damask, bas-relief and garlands, chandeliers and painted cherubs. Minimalism was not what Louis was all about, outdoors or in.

There are guided tours in English of the State Apartments, as well as audio guides in English. Consider using Rick Steves' informative, self-guided walking tours, found in the book "Rick Steves' Paris 2007" (Avalon Travel Publishing, $17.95 paperback).

The Hall of Mirrors is the most famous room in the palace, a room nearly 250 feet long, with windows along one side looking out into the gardens, and huge floor-to-ceiling mirrors on the facing wall. Although we take mirrors for granted today, in the 17th century they were still a luxury, and this amount of mirrored surface was the ultimate indulgence. The hall has been open during a refurbishing, and it is set to be finished in June; it's still worth a look even with a little scaffolding.

Even though none of the trees planted by Le Notre survive today, the tourists who click their cameras are walking the paths and experiencing the fountains exactly as he intended his king to, Thompson points out. If it's good to be the king, as Mel Brooks pointed out, it's good enough to walk in his gardens.

IF YOU GO

Delta has nonstop flights from Atlanta to Paris' Charles de Gaulle International Airport for $1,300-$1,400; check the Web for bargains.

Once in Paris, go to the St. Michel Notre Dame Metro station and catch the Versailles Rive Gauche train, which leaves many times a day. Get off at Versailles, and follow the crowds.

About Versailles

The palace is open 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays, through October, when hours are cut back. The gardens are open 7 a.m.-7:30 p.m. in the summer.

Fees: 13.50 euros ($18.41) for the palace tour. Additional 4.50 euros ($6.14) for the audio guide, or 5 euros to 9 euros ($6.82 to $12.28) for guided tours, depending on length. The gardens are free on weekdays, 7 euros ($9.55) on weekends when the water music spectacles are running.

Versailles tips

• Buy the Paris Museum Pass in advance. This is a pass good at many Paris locations that you buy for a specified number of days. It's available at many tourist spots and the Tourist Information centers, but buy it in Paris, before you get on the train to Versailles. You may not save any money, but you don't have to wait in the line to buy tickets. And the line to buy tickets at Versailles is insanely long.

• Travel guru Rick Steves recommends allowing for two hours round trip from Paris, two hours for indoors and two hours for outdoors. That's about right. Allow another hour if you don't have a Paris Museum Pass.

• If you want to check your bag, toss in some trail mix. The baggage check room said it would check a backpack only if it contained food.