Uncover Marie-Antoinette’s legacy through private tours in Paris and Versailles

Explore with the award-winning author Susan Taylor-Leduc

Queen Marie-Antoinette was an exceptional garden patron and influencer. Her fascinating life and legacy has been the focus of Picturesque Voyages founder Susan Taylor-Leduc’s scholarly career. As an art historian, award-winning author, and nationally-certified guide, Susan has designed tours to share her extensive knowledge of the queen’s reign. Each tour is a unique and memorable experience for those interested in French history, gardens, and interior design.

For those curious travelers who wish to delve deeply into the 18th century art de vivre, we can also arrange exclusive, private tours dedicated to Marie-Antoinette.

  • Marie Antoinette: The Domaine de la Reine at the Petit Trianon

    5 Hours:  Jardin Français, Petit Trianon & Hameau at Versailles

    This tour is entirely dedicated to the Marie-Antoinette’s gardens at Versailles. We begin at the Petit Trianon where we see how the queen redecorated her villa, we then tour her English garden and private hamlet where she entertained friends and family. At the end of the tour, we come to understand how the queen’s gardens are one of the most enchanting and misunderstood sites in French history.

    Please note, private tours to visit the interiors at the Queen’s pavilion or the Hameau must be booked at least three months in advance at an additional fee.

  • Bagatelle: A Wager with the Queen

    3 Hours

    The gardens at Bagatelle were born from a gambling wager. The Comte d’Artois bet his sister-in-law, Queen Marie-Antoinette, that he could build a pleasure pavilion and gardens in less than three months. Hiring over 800 masons, builders and gardeners, he won the bet, offering a surprise party to the queen. She discovered the sumptuous pavilion and gardens ironically inscribed with the motto “small, but suitable.” The gardens include formal parterres and an extensive English-style garden. They were expanded in the 20th century by Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier, who planted an extensive rose garden.

    Bagatelle, one of the four botanic gardens of the city of Paris, has an exceptional collection of trees and flowers. Rare irises and roses bloom in late May and June.

  • Let's Eat Cake

    2 Hours

    Did the Queen actually say the famous line? While historians concur that she probably did not utter this phrase, we do know that she appreciated sweets, especially chocolate. 

    This tour visits some of Paris’s oldest pastry and confectionery shops as we learn about the queen’s passion for baba au rhum and chocolate. Creative chocolatier Sulpice de Debauve created chocolates for the queen in the shape of her favorite gambling pieces. We then learn about the advent of the celebrity chef Antoine Carême who began his career at the end of the 18th century making what he called his “Pâtisserie Pittoresque” - sculptures and meringues for extravagant dinners.

  • Marie-Antoinette in Paris

    3 Hours

    This tour allows us to learn about Marie-Antoinette without having to travel to Versailles. We begin at the Hotel de la Marine, a ‘palace within the city’  located in Place de la Concorde. Here we imagine how the queen redesigned her furniture and interior designs. The queen’s opulent shopping was was brought to an end suring the French Revolution. The was Queen was gullotined on the very square in front of the museum. We then shift to the Revolutionary era as we walk to the nearby Chapelle Expiatoire built to honor the king and queen by King Louis XVIII in the 19th century. Upon request this tour can be extended to include a visit to the Conciergerie where the queen was imprisoned in 1793.

  • The Queen’s Dairy at Rambouillet

    6 Hours

    Less well known than Marie-Antoinette’s gardens at Petit Trianon, a stunningly restored garden folly, a pleasure dairy, is located at the Rambouillet château. When Marie-Antoinette saw the the château for the first time in 1783, she is said to have exclaimed: “How could I live in such a gothic toad house?” The King was undeterred by the queen’s skepticism and commissioned a pleasure dairy (Laiterie de la Reine)  that he dedicated to his wife. Designed by the painter Hubert Robert, who created a stunning fake grotto within a neoclassical temple, the queen was invited to taste cream and cheeses served on a new set of  porcelains specially manufactured for the dairy. Our tour includes a visit to the chateau, gardens and the dairy. The Bergerie National, a sheep farm that dates to the 18th century is also located on the grounds.  

  • Marie-Antoinette's Private Apartments at Versailles

    6 Hours

    Specially conceived for visitors who are passionate about Marie-Antoinette, this tour visits the exclusive recently-restored private apartments of the Queen. This behind the scenes experience must be reserved three months in advance and incurs an additional fee.

    A tour of the Queen’s apartments can be included in a half-day tour or full day tour of the chateau and gardens at Versailles. It can also be paired with our Marie-Antoinette themed tour of the Petit Trianon.