Versailles has been on my to visit list for a couple of years. There was a good window of a couple of days at the end of July where the weather was looking kind. Apologies for the lack of aerial photos I wasn’t planning on writing it up…but in response to Peters call for more VFR trips I thought I’d give it a go!
Toussus is around 10k from Versailles, its a great GA Airport to the south west of Paris. Two parallel Tarmac runways both 1000 meters plus and a selection of RNav, VOR and ILS approaches. I only have the IMC rating at the moment so this was a VFR trip.
There is a slight snag if travelling from the UK or Ireland in that there is no customs / immigration available. I planned a quick stop into Le Harve enroute. Le Harve seemed to make sense as it didn’t add to much distance, I’m pretty familiar with the airport and the landing fee is around 10Euro! I faxed the airport the day before for customs / immigration. Pretty strightforward flight to Le Harve departed Shoreham on RW 02 then direct to Le Harve at 4500ft joined Downwind left for RW04. The leg to Le Harve was 87nm and took 35mins at 145kts average speed.
As it happened the french police didn’t show up at the airport, they were happy for use to leave after around 20mins just to make sure as they couldn’t get hold of them on the phone.
Life jackets off for the next leg, back Into the plane and after a couple of attempts at a hot start we’re off to Paris! We departed RW04 and routed overhead Evreux at 2000ft. Deauville Info handed us over as soon as we left their area I asked for, and immediately got a zone transit of Evreux. You could see some pretty large military transport planes on the apron. Toussus is located inside the Paris TMA and has specific VFR routes for arrival and departure. Details of the routes including plates are all in the AIP. I descended early to 1400ft it was a little bumpy at this level and routed direct to the HOL NDB – RBT VOR and point Sierra ‘S’ which is a VFR reporting point this basically put us in a left base position for RW 25R. Apparently you could see the Eiffel Tower when on base leg… I was busy making sure I was at the right speed, and lining up on the right runway! 45mins 145kts 105nm.
French ATC were faultless, really helpful and friendly. Parking on the Tarmac In front of the main terminal. It was a busy airport lots of GA traffic mixture of twins and singles. To get through the terminal you have to press a button which issues a door key card, it lets your through a deserted arrivals room, out another door and a short walk to what I thought was the terminal. Absolutely nobody to been seen anywhere! There is a pilot shop on the ground floor, he called us a taxi and said that they will post you a bill for the landing and parking. Remember to hold onto the door card or you won’t be able to get back to the plane! A month on an I haven’t had a bill yet… Not sure how much it will be!
The taxi ride was around 15mins and 20Euro. We stayed in hotel Versailles its less than 5mins walk to the Palace. A nice hotel, good price, quiet and comfortable beds… Perfect as we weren’t staying for the ambience of the hotel. The palace was much larger than I imagined! (considerably larger than Hampton Court) I can’t do it justice In this write up, it’s amazing! You have to see it with your own eyes. A few pics to give you an idea.
The queues were around 30mins to get in once we had tickets. We got the two day pass. You need a day for the palace and a day for the gardens at least. I would definitely recommend getting a rowing boat if the sun is shinning! For the evening there were Plenty of restaurants all within a short walk of the hotel.
The return trip was pretty straightforward after clearing the TMA I climbed to 5000ft as there was some turbulence. As soon as we reached the coast the turbulence improved.
Overhead Rouen 5000ft
Nuclear power station at Dieppe passing outside the restricted area
The South Coast of the Uk
We had a great couple of days I’d certainly recommend Versailles especially if you can fly there direct.
Curious that you didn’t fly to St Cyr – which is right by Versailles?
Yep, even though, from the entrance of Versailles, the distance is only slightly less. I’ll feature St. Cyr in the upcoming third part of my trip report. The views on right base for 29 are very nice.
20€ for 15 minutes? You’ve been lucky. I have paid 40€ in many occasions for 15 minutes.
Just a minor note: the Dieppe area is not a restricted area, but a prohibited area. All nuclear sites have prohibited areas.
The slightly bigger point is this: which immigration-approved airport did you use for leaving France? This is not the UK where you can fly out using any airfield, without notifications…
@peter_G i went for Toussus for the hard runway I was 4pob up with fuel so we didn’t have to refuel.
@Boscomantico Rouen on the way back, keen to stay next time having seen peters write up, I thought it was more industrial than his photos show.
Such a "*)ç^@µ# shame we lost Customs/Immigration facilities @ Toussus …
I used to fly to the UK and the Channel Isles often, but it just makes no sense whatsoever that one has to stop is some small Provincial aerodrome to clear !
(Sorry for the rant 
)
Thanks Alex for doing the write up! I enjoyed reading it.
I second your recommendation to get a rowing boat
@michael it’s a real shame, I think it would definitely increase traffic. Why were customs withdrawn?
I forgot to mention in the original post we arrived and departed during the week, so no problems with the silence periods, which would require some additional planning if you were visiting on a Sunday between April and September.
Super writeup and photos, Alex.
Such a pity one cannot fly to Toussus direct anymore.
Why were customs withdrawn?
Probably because somebody wanted to show they can “just do it”. Businesswise it’s a stupid decision. About 1/3 of the traffic at these airports, popular with Brits, has been lost.
Alex_ wrote:
There is a slight snag if travelling from the UK or Ireland in that there is no customs / immigration available.
Just for the sake of having the correct information here: You can get customs at Toussus, but not immigration.
You can get customs at Toussus, but not immigration.
To be clear: that means you can fly between Toussus LFPN and airports in
Not the UK, or anywhere else in the world.
