Versailles, France

Immerse yourself in the splendour of the Palace of Versailles coupled with Le Golf National, a golf experience fit for kings.

The world had never seen grandeur quite on the scale of the Palace of Versailles before, and such was the stark contrast between this most sparkling of architectural jewels and the lot of the everyday people, it became a symbol of the French Revolution.

It was once a hunting lodge for French royalty, but in the 17th century, Louis XIV turned it into something spectacular, 800 acres of the most pristine, manicured parks and gardens, a palace adorned with the country’s finest art and extravagance at every turn. It’s with good reason that Louis XIV moved his court from Paris 22km south west to Versailles in 1682.

With its own opera house, chapel, a Hall of Mirrors [with grandiose chandeliers and some 357 mirrors over 17 arches], the palace and its grounds had space for some 10,000 people made up from the royal family, court, government, servants and staff. Proving there was space for everyone, there was a even a smaller palace where the king kept his mistresses.

While Louis XVI, the last king of France, was forced to exit his exquisite palace due to the revolution in 1789, thanks to it being reinvented as a museum in the 19th century, it’s kept much of its decadent splendour across its 2,300 rooms.

Listed as a World Heritage Site for forty years, and now with the swish French suburb of the same name delicately built around it, the Palace of Versailles still brings in some eight million visitors a year, all leaving in thrall of its splendour. And not to mention the stories that come from an era of debauchery, and where 19 royal children were born and Marie Antoinette escaped through a secret door during the revolution. What was once the envy of Europe, as the continent’s greatest chateau, still has endless stories to tell.

Little more than a fifteen-minute drive south-west, is another haunt that King Louis of every vintage would have appreciated, Le Golf National, the carefully crafted home of the 2018 Ryder Cup, where Europe regained the trophy with a 17 1/2 points to 10 1/5 victory over America. Combine this with Versailles – the palace and the suburb, home to some suitably exquisite dining – and it’s a 50 Best Experience fit for kings.