Uncover Marie-Antoinette’s Legacy through Private Tours in Paris and Versailles

A smiling woman with curly hair and red glasses holding a book in a library, standing in front of wooden bookshelves filled with various books.

Where Scholarship Meets Splendor

Explore with the award-winning author Susan Taylor-Leduc 

True luxury lies in the depth of the narrative. Beyond the myths and the masquerades, the years preceding the French Revolution were a time of unparalleled creative evolution and complex social shifts. Susan Taylor-Leduc—art historian, award-winning author, and nationally certified guide—has dedicated her scholarly career to deconstructing the life of France’s most celebrated yet misunderstood Queen: Marie-Antoinette.

At Picturesque Voyages, we invite the discerning traveler to look past the velvet ropes. Through Susan’s expert lens, you will explore the Queen’s radical influence on garden design, her bold aesthetic choices in interior decor, and the private sanctuaries she built as the world changed around her.

Our tours are not merely walks through history; they are bespoke immersions into a pivotal era. Join us for an intimate, intellectual journey into the heart of the 18th century, guided by the very scholar who has spent a lifetime uncovering its secrets.

  • Marie-Antoinette’s Paris: From the Île de la Cité to the Right Bank

    3 Hours

    Marie-Antoinette remains one of the most captivating figures in French history; her dramatic life and unpredictable destiny continue to enchant visitors to both Paris and Versailles. Your journey commences in the historic heart of the city, the Île de la Cité, with a visit to the Conciergerie—the austere monument where the Queen was incarcerated before her final journey to the guillotine in October 1793. We will retrace her final steps to the Place de la Révolution (now the Place de la Concorde), uncovering the tumultuous layers of French Revolutionary history. Your pilgrimage concludes at the Chapelle Expiatoire, a poignant site dedicated to the memory of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette.

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  • A classical portrait painting of a woman with curly hair, wearing a pearl necklace, holding a rose, with dark greenery in the background.

    Classic: The Domaine de la Reine at the Petit Trianon

    4 Hours

    Louis XVI, recognizing Marie-Antoinette’s love of flowers, offered her exclusive access to the Petit Trianon. The queen redecorated the Petit Trianon at the same time that she redesigned the gardens creating a unique ensemble. In the morning you will have exclusive access to the site including a visit to the Queen’s Opera house. It is untouched since the eighteenth century, the majority executed in papier maché! Picturesque Voyages’s expert guides will then tour the gardens called the Domaine de la Reine including the Hameau de la Reine. The prestige tickets offer free access to the gardens.

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  • Behind-the-Scenes Marie-Antoinette at the Hameau de la Reine

    Premium: Marie-Antoinette at the Hameau de la Reine

    4 Hours

    When Marie-Antoinette finished designing her Jardin Anglais surrounding the Petit Trianon, she expanded her garden patronage to include the Hameau de la Reine. This set of twelve buildings set around an artifical lake is perhaps the most misunderstand monument of French garden history. Our expert guide have unique access to enter four of these buildings: the kitchen, the diary, the queen’s house and billard room, and the fishing house. This tour also includes a stroll to the English gardens and can be combined with a standard tour of the Petit Trianon. The prestige tickets offer free access to the gardens.

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  • A historic library with floor-to-ceiling wooden bookshelves, some with glass doors, filled with red and brown books. A marble-topped window sill runs along the right wall, and a large crystal chandelier hangs from the ceiling, illuminating the room. The room has a parquet wooden floor with a geometric pattern and green drapery behind the bookshelves.

    Exclusive: Marie-Antoinette's Private Apartments at Versailles

    4 Hours

    This tour offers an insiders view to court life. The Queen Marie Antoinette’s private apartments can be visited upon request with an expert guide. After visiting one of the pre-selected private suites, you can visit the State Apartments and the former apartments of Louis XV’s aunts, Mesdames, as well as the apartments of the Dauphin, the intended heir. For history and art history lovers, this tour offers a unique opportunity to see unparalled refinery rococo craftsmanship in furniture design and porcelains. After visiting the chateau, you may continue the tour in the gardens.

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