Private Marie Antoinette Tour: Trianon, Hamlet & Gardens from Paris

5.00

(1 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

The drive out from Paris was quiet—just the low hum of the city fading behind us as our driver took us west. I remember catching a whiff of fresh grass when we stepped out at Versailles, the air somehow softer than in town. Our guide, Camille, met us right by the gates and wasted no time pointing out how the Petit Trianon sits tucked away from the main palace crowds. It’s easy to see why Marie Antoinette loved it here—her own world, away from court drama.

Inside the Petit Trianon, you can almost picture her slipping through those narrow corridors with her closest friends. The rooms are smaller than you’d expect for royalty—delicate wallpapers, sunlight sneaking in through tall windows. Camille explained that Marie wanted privacy here; she even had secret staircases built so servants wouldn’t disturb her. We wandered into the gardens next. The French side is all neat lines and clipped hedges, but then you step into the English garden and everything softens—wildflowers, winding paths, a little pond where ducks paddle around if you’re lucky.

The real surprise was the Hamlet. It feels like a storybook village—tiny cottages with thatched roofs, chickens scratching in the dirt, goats munching on grass. A couple of kids were feeding sheep near one of the barns when we passed by. Our guide told us Marie Antoinette would dress up as a farmer here just for fun—sometimes even put on plays with her friends in a tiny theatre nearby. It’s strange and charming at once; you get this sense of someone trying to escape their own life for a day or two.