Versailles Advanced Tours
When people tour Versailles, they almost always say the same thing:
I wish we could spend more time here!
And why not?
The gardens and the palace, along with all the fascinating houses and grottos and hidden treasures that populate the grounds, are a one-of-a-kind treasure.
It’s a cradle of immaculate artistry and vaulting ambition — perhaps the grandest palace in all the world.
That’s why Flora and her specialized team put together the two full days tour of Versailles.
This experience promises to bring you inside the world of French royalty like you never thought possible.
In contrast with my highlights tour of Versailles, my Versailles complete tour can be an expansive one to two day event. This way, you can actually see and do everything you wish.
This is an exciting and fun tour, with plenty of entertaining moments for couples or families with children. We can make it comfortable with a private driver or golf carts rental on site— this is a tour of a luxury palace after all, we will be here to learn and have fun.
Of course, everything we offer can be customized to fit your exact timeline, including one-and-a-half day and one day versions, but the two day extravaganza is the perfect way to take in all the wonders of Versailles.
Two Days of Versailles
Tour, sights & Itinerary
So what will you do on this royal retreat? Below, we’ve assembled the biggest highlights from your two days at Versailles.
Day One Highlights
The first day acquaints us with the grounds surrounding the palace. These are filled with sculptures and meticulously designed features — everything preserved to be historically accurate by a world-renowned team of researchers.
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Gardens: The Gardens of Versailles are one of the most historically influential in all of Europe. They helped to make the French formal garden style the most sought after feature of royal palaces throughout the continent. When you visit, you’ll see why. They are expansive and elaborately designed, with every inch of its thousands of acres carefully tended.
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Fountains: The fountains at Versailles use the same hydraulic system installed in the 17th century! From the Spring to the Autumn, they give off delightful shows that awe spectators through the warmer months of the year. They also host feature incredible sculptures that take visitors into a mythical world.
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Petit Trianon: This charming residence was created for King Louis XV and his Queen the Madame du Barry. But when Louis XVI came to power, he allowed Marie Antoinette to fashion it however she liked. Having an eye for style, she created a marvelous miniature palace surrounded by gorgeous gardens influenced by the latest innovations coming out of England and Asia.
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Queen’s Hamlet: Built for Marie Antoinette, this rustic complex arises out of a fairy tale. This quaint playground of medieval times entertained the Queen and also provided housing for the head gardener, Marie’s guards, and other people who worked on the grounds of Versailles. Children especially fall in love with this fantasy setting.
Day Two Highlights
Moving into the second day, we go deeper into the lives of the kings and queens who called Versailles their home. Providing you unprecedented access into realms of the palace few have ever been allowed into, Flora gives you an intimate look into the places only monarchs were meant to go.
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Bike / Golf Cart: Biking along the canals, we can see so much of the waterway that once played host to royal boat parties. This is a fun and lively way to start our day.
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Eat at a Special Restaurant: You can sit at the king’s table, eating in the private garden of former French royalty. Not only that, but the food comes from the same garden that the King’s chef once picked his ingredients from.
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Go Behind Locked Doors: The VIP experience means you get to go into the hidden rooms where the public isn’t allowed. This is an extremely unique opportunity — something that you will be talking about for years to come! *More in details about the Petit Appartement du Roi below.
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Grand Trianon: Larger than the Petit Trianon, this is one of the true architectural marvels of Versailles.
Features of the Versailles VIP tours
Below are a few of the incredible features of the Versailles VIP tour. And remember, your expert tour guide can provide added information on any subject that strikes your curiosity!
The History of Fashion
Versailles was not only a place to carry out official business of state and attend lavish parties. It was also where the height of French fashion took center stage. Much of that is preserved and presented by the museum at Versailles.
When you take the Versailles VIP tour, you’ll learn all about the elaborate costumes that royalty and aristocrats wore — both day-to-day and for special occasions. You’ll learn about the wigs, robes, and all of the detailed elements of their garb. Plus, Flora can go into the meaning behind all of these pieces.
You will also learn about the strict dress code for workers on the property, as well as the way that the social elite expected one another to dress.
Clocks
One of the collections at Versailles that best illustrates the grandeur and sophistication of French royalty are the clocks. These are extremely fine-tuned instruments, made with true engineering genius. They not only showcase the mechanical prowess of the clockmakers, but also the mastery of elaborate decorative arts.
The most impressive is by far the Passemant astronomical clock. It was designed by Claude-Simeon Passemant and Louis Dauthier around 1740, and it continues to tick on in the 21st century. This technological marvel not only tells you the hour and minute, it tells you the day, month, and year — and it will do so until the year 9999. The Passemant also gives you the moon phases and the position of seven planets, measuring these astronomical changes with extreme accuracy.
The visual design shows you what was so popular in Louis XV’s time. The clock’s organic forms, lush with curves and leafy shapes, soften the look of this technological feat. It is a feast for the eyes as well as the intellect.
The clock took around 35 years to complete. In that time, imagine the high level of observation, design, crafting, and testing that must have gone into this masterpiece.
Meet a Versailles Artisan: Hats, Wigs, Gold leaves
With three to six months head start, Flora can arrange a meeting with an artist or artisan who works in one of the traditional trades that would have been crucial to the operation of Versailles :
Hat makers, wig makers, and goldsmiths were employed year round to produce the fashion and fineries that made up the king’s life.
We will visit an art studio preserved from the 19th century, allowing you to see how these works were created in the past.
How do we find these one-of-a-kid artists?
They are still in high demand for historical movies and television shows, as well as for Versailles renovations and repairs, ceremonies, and documentaries.
These artists strive to preserve the wisdom of past generations, and you can meet them and learn their secrets!
All the Sights of Versailles
Included with all of the unique things you get to see thanks to the VIP tour, you will also have time to actually take in the most popular sights. With two full days, you don’t have to rush through the famous landmarks that define the greatest palace on earth.
Even with a full day tour at Versailles, groups have to pick and choose what they will see. Think of having to skip any of these major features:
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The Hall of Mirrors: A grand hall immortalized in countless paintings. This gallery has views of the garden, but it is the fantastic ceiling fresco by Charles Le Brun, gold leaf, marble, and mirrors that will take your breath away.
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State Apartments: The Salon of Venus, Apollo, Mercury, and so on are all wonders of architecture and interior design, bedecked in gold leaf and artwork of fantastic beauty. Each one of these can take hours to fully absorb.
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Royal Chapel: This massive religious section provides a colorful domed ceiling filled with splendid paintings and Corinthian colonnades that impress a feeling of awe in the visitor.
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Royal Opera: This opera house is fully functional, with performances still held here. The interior is devastating in its scope and beauty, with the finest woodworking, frescoes, and sculpture you can imagine.
With two full days, you can spend time in each of these areas while also hearing the stories that still haunt these halls today.
Visit the Petit Appartement of the King
Many tour guides who give multi-day tours of Versailles will claim to take you behind closed doors, but this is often inaccurate. Typically, they are taking you to places already included in the general tour of Versailles.
But Flora brings you into the actual living quarters of the kings — called the Petit Appartement du Roi in French — for the centerpiece attraction of her VIP tour of the palace.
It’s important to remember exactly what this means: going to places other visitors cannot go, seeing rooms almost no one gets to see. Away from the crowds, we will be able to go in-depth into the details of the royal lives that passed through here. What’s more, we will be able to really get a close-up look at their world.
While other tour guides have to bring their groups up to the locked door of the King’s Apartment and lecture them outside, we will go in!
What is the Petit Appartement du Roi?
This is a secluded area, made up of many small, intimate rooms. The apartment was commissioned by Louis XIV to create a private escape from the pressures of court life. He came here to bathe, dress, and sleep, among other activities.
This has been almost entirely shuttered from the public until 2023, where we can now go in and walk in the same rooms that once were only open to the King of France — as long as you have the right tour guide!
The Rooms
The bedroom shows the highest comfort that the 18th century had to offer. Everything glitters with artistry and fine materials, inviting you in with its calming elegance.
The bathroom is like an entire palace unto itself. It is a temple of personal hygiene, which makes sense as the King was expected to be immaculate at all times.
The guard room is where the private security force for the king would stay and make sure the monarch was safe at all times.
There is also a hunting room — a specific area to lounge after a vigorous day spent hunting on the lands surrounding this pleasure palace.
Waiting rooms, or antechambers, fill out the space. Here, the people closest to the king would sit until he was ready to give them an audience.
But that’s not all! Flora will also take you into the secret rooms that the king wanted only a few people to know about.
Dive into the lives of Kings and Queens
In this royal retreat, you will hear the details of the larger-than-life personalities of all the men who called this palace their home.
You will also learn about the queens and mistresses who made their stamp on the history of Versailles.
As Louis XIV handed it off to his son, who handed it off to his son, these rooms changed. And you will learn how these kings each changed the rooms to fit their lifestyle.
Hear about their obsessions, like science, religion, hunting, art, and absolutism. And hear about their favorite elements of the apartment — like the famous desk complete with secret drawers.
Why You Won’t Find This Tour Anywhere Else
Being nationally licensed tour guide isn't enough for this tour to happen. Flora and few members of her team has also dedicated themselves to a special training with Versailles.
This training has given her expert knowledge in the secret rooms of the palace. Only a small percentage of the tour guides who take this course actually receive a permit from Versailles to take visitors into these hidden spaces, but Flora, and few members of her team, have obtained it.
The Ministry of Culture puts great pride in its selection of tour guides, because this ensures that spectacular myths are not given as “facts.” But of course, many of the facts are truly spectacular.
You Can’t Find This on the Versailles Website
Such an exclusive experience isn’t available on the Versailles website. You need a licensed guide to make this special reservation.
Because of her elite accreditation, Versailles allows Flora to take tours to these rooms that are kept away from the public — as long as we get the VIP reservation from Versailles to open these doors. Together, we will access these private rooms using the same keys as in the days of French royalty. This is an authentic experience of history!
Why does Versailles only let a few people into these rooms? Because the decor is so extremely precious.
Remember, everything from the furniture to the paintings on the walls were created by artists, artisans, and craftspeople working at the top of their field. In our modern world, many of these skills for hand making things have been lost forever. And yet here at Versailles, they are everywhere. That makes these rooms so special, but it is also why large crowds cannot be allowed to pass through.
This wonderland of precious materials and beautiful artwork opens up to you on our Versailles VIP tour. And because you have a tour guide, you will learn the remarkable stories that played out in each of these rooms, now quiet with mystery and the passage of time.
