Castles · Tour

Private Versailles and the 2,000 Orange Trees of the Orangerie

The Orangerie holds around 2,000 orange trees, brought from Spain, Portugal and Italy, and it is the part of the estate most visitors walk past without going in. This private half day includes it. Before booking, note the terms: all sales are final and cancellations are not refunded. Pickup is from whatever address in Paris suits you, and the guide adjusts the visit to what you actually want to see. Inside the palace the route names its rooms rather than gesturing at them: the War Room and the Peace Room, Louis XV's Council Chamber, Louis XIV's Bedchamber, the Bull's Eye Antechamber, and the seven rooms of the State Apartments, each with its own function in the machinery of entertainment. The Apollo Salon held the concerts and receptions, and the throne room measures the whole enterprise. The Queen's Bedchamber was last occupied by Marie Antoinette. Throughout it, the guide explains court etiquette, which governed every hour of the day and night and is stranger than most people expect. The Royal Chapel was finished in 1710, at the end of Louis XIV's reign, and comes with the music and ceremony that filled it, and with the doctrine behind the whole building: that the king was chosen by God. The Hall of Mirrors carries 357 mirrors, put there to reflect the power of the Sun King back at anyone standing in it. The gardens close the day: 173 acres, or 70 hectares, laid out grove by grove on Roman mythology, with the Orangerie among them. Then back to Paris and your hotel.