Versailles May Not Open on the 5 November Strike Day: Tickets Stay Valid, Refund Only if It Fully Closes

A strike day with no guarantee

The Palace of Versailles cannot promise to open on Thursday 5 November, the day of a nationwide strike in France. Its alert, on the English and French home pages, says it "cannot guarantee that the Palace and Estate of Versailles will be fully or partially open". The alert carries no posting time; we read it at 08:25 Central European Time on Wednesday 4 November, the same clock in Paris and Madrid.

For anyone already booked, the palace makes two promises. If the Palace opens, a ticket for 5 November "remains valid for all time slots throughout the day", so the usual half-hour entry slot does not bind you. If the whole Estate closes, the refund is automatic. Neither needs any action from you, and the alert does not ask you to rebook.

What the palace says

• Its promises for booked tickets are addressed to individual visitors. The alert sits on the English home page and the French home page, and on the practical information and tickets pages. The official ticket shop did not show it when we read it.
• It is an exception to the normal rule. The tickets and prices page says "Tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable", and the alert offers no exchange.
• Winter hours apply if it opens. From 2 November to 31 March, the practical information page gives the Palace 9:00 to 17:30 with last admission at 16:45, the Estate of Trianon 12:00 to 17:30, and the gardens and park 8:00 to 18:00. The Palace and Trianon close every Monday.
• The strike itself. The CGT union published its call on 22 October, and its 5 November page says the day is called by the CFDT, CGT, FO, Unsa and FSU unions over wages, pensions and public services in the 2027 budgets.

Key details

What it means for your trip

• Keep the ticket. The palace asks nothing of you either way, and the only refund on offer arrives on its own if the whole Estate shuts.
• Check the home page on the morning of 5 November, before you set off. The alert sits at the top of it, and the same page lists the day's hours for the Palace, the Trianon, the gardens and the park.
• If the Palace opens, arrive when you like. Your slot does not apply that day, though last admission is normally 16:45.
• Moving the visit means a new ticket. Tickets cannot be exchanged, and the 5 November one is refunded only on a full closure. If you move, skip Monday 9 November, when the Palace is shut; we did not read availability for the days around it.
• Know what the alert leaves out: a partial opening with the Palace closed, group bookings, and tickets bought through a tour operator or reseller. For those, ask whoever sold you the ticket; the alert does not say how its refund reaches them or you.
• Getting there is outside this piece. We read no train operator's page, so we make no forecast for the trains to Versailles.
• Elsewhere in Paris, the Louvre's home page and visit page showed no strike notice when we read them at 08:25; the visit page lists Thursday hours of 9:00 to 18:00.

Our take

This is opinion. If Versailles is the reason for the trip and Thursday is your only day, keep the booking: if the Palace opens, the alert turns a fixed half-hour slot into a whole-day ticket, which is the kindest version of a disrupted day. If your dates are flexible, a second ticket for Friday or the weekend removes the guesswork, but at €25 for a winter Passport you pay twice unless the whole Estate closes on Thursday. The case we would watch is the partial one: gardens open, Palace shut, and no promise in the alert either way.

Read more on must30

Versailles tickets sold out? What still works explains the Passport, its half-hour slots and the late-entry ticket. For the rest of the trip, see Versailles, France and our Louvre ticket guide.

Sources

All read on 4 November 2026; times are Central European Time.

1. Palace of Versailles, English home page: the strike alert word for word, and the day's hours for the Palace, the Trianon, the gardens and the park. en.chateauversailles.fr (read 08:25)
2. Château de Versailles, French home page: the same alert in French. www.chateauversailles.fr (read 08:25)
3. Palace of Versailles, Practical information: the alert, low season hours from 2 November to 31 March, last admission and the Monday closure. en.chateauversailles.fr/plan-your-visit/practical-information (read 08:25)
4. Palace of Versailles, Tickets and prices: the alert, "Tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable" and the €25 low season Passport. en.chateauversailles.fr/plan-your-visit/tickets-and-prices (read 08:26)
5. Palace of Versailles, official ticket shop in English: no strike notice on its front page. ticket.chateauversailles.fr/en (read 08:25)
6. CGT, "La CGT appelle à généraliser la grève le 5 novembre", published 22 October 2026, in French. cgt.fr (read 08:25)
7. CGT, "Le 5 novembre, grandes grèves intersyndicales dans tout le pays !", published 26 October 2026, in French: the five unions behind the call and their demands. cgt.fr/5nov (read 08:25)
8. Musée du Louvre, home page in French and Visit page in English: no strike notice; open every day except Tuesday, 9:00 to 18:00 on Thursdays. louvre.fr and louvre.fr/en/visit (read 08:25)

The alert has no publication time of its own, so we date it by our reading. Paris and Madrid share Central European Time.