I’ve written before about how much of a fan I am of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. So, when I found out that there was going to be an exhibition dedicated to the film in honour of its twentieth anniversary held at none other than Versailles itself, I was sold, we had to go. The only problem was, when to go. Most of our Autumn (and 2026 annual leave allowance) is taken up by the three weeks we will be in Japan and ideally I wanted to go while the gardens were still summery as we’ve been in Winter before and while the Chateau itself was quieter with snow on the ground, I envisaged us strolling the gardens and enjoying being outside. As a result, we had a very small window of time in which we could go. Avoiding family birthdays, we managed to find the first weekend in October and booked our Eurostar to Paris.
Ordinarily we would day trip in from Paris itself but as the main purpose of this long weekend (Friday – Sunday) was Versailles, we decided to base ourselves there. We booked a small room in hotel picked more because of cost than anything else (most of my travel budget being diverted to our Japan fund) – Hotel du Jeu de Paume – but it turned out to be the best location possible. Just minutes from Versailles Rive Gauche train station and even less time to the gates of Versailles itself, the best thing was that we were just off a gorgeous little street full of restaurants, bars and shops, meaning we never had to walk more than about 200m to find a delicious meal. Honestly, it was the perfect location and didn’t feel touristy at all even though it is so close to a major tourist destination. We would 100% stay in the same area if we returned.
On our first day we arrived around midday, having taken an early morning Eurostar from London before hopping onto RERs to Versailles. We were too early for check-in but left our bags at the hotel and went out to explore the local area and find lunch. It was a beautiful blue sky day, the sun was shining and it felt like the summer I wished we’d had, rather than the unrelenting and oppressive heat wave we did have.
We found ourselves at Maison Satory where we decided on an outside table and ordered cocktails – Aperol Spritz for me, negroni for my husband – and lunch while we watched the world and their fluffy dogs go by.
We spent the afternoon strolling the town and eating ice cream, which we found at Courtisane. It felt like the whole of France was out enjoying a late Friday lunch or drinks. Holiday vibe well and truly embraced, we headed back to the hotel to check in and having a cheeky little disco nap (it was truly a very early 4.30am start) before dinner. Not fully up to facing a proper dinner having had a big lunch, we went in search of drinks and snacks/tapas and found exactly what we wanted at No Water, a bar playing rock music (albeit relatively quietly). In addition to drinks, they also had a good menu of bar food. We ordered tuna and mustard rilettes, chorizo rilettes and an assortment of cheese (three different kinds), all of which came with two buckets of bread to eat it with. Accompanied by red wine, cocktails and beer, we ate well as we watched the evening grow dark from the window. Despite the afternoon nap, we were in bed and asleep before 10pm.
Our plan for Saturday was to wake up, see the Château de Versailles and then perhaps have a mid-morning break before heading back to the Petit Trianon for the Marie Antoinette exhibition when that opened at 12pm. So, we were up early, bought almond croissants at our nearest boulangerie and queued up outside the Chateau ready for opening at 9am. As we’ve visited before we took our time in the various rooms leading up to the Hall of Mirrors, letting the influencer type tourists in tulle dresses run past us to be first in there for photos. Honestly, social media has a lot to answer for.
Versailles is perhaps the most breathtakingly grand place I’ve ever been, and I’ve been to a lot of stately homes over the years (thanks to a childhood in the Midlands surrounded by places like Chatsworth). It blows me away every time I go.
After visiting the Chateau we entered the gardens while we worked out our plan for the day. Our initial thinking had been that we would pop back to the hotel/nearby area, maybe grab a spot of brunch and head back to the Petit Trianon at opening, but it was such a gorgeous day that we decided instead to stay in the gardens and explore instead. We were going to do it the old fashioned way but, on a whim, decided to hire one of the golf carts to whizz about the grounds in. Cheesy and touristy, maybe, but with a husband with a knee that won’t withstand hours and hours of walking, we decided to go for it. And it was maybe one of the best decisions we made. I’m not going to lie, it is pretty damn fun pootling around in the little cart, listening to the audio guide that’s built in and joking with the other golf carts as you overtake them.
There is a clearly defined golf cart route you can take but you can park up where you like (aside from a few areas in front of the Grand and Petit Trianons and in obviously not sensible places like in front of gates and walkways), so we used our golf cart to get us to points and then parked up and went to explore some of the many groves of Versailles’ gardens.
It was surprisingly fun and a great way to kill an hour or so (we were actually back an hour and 10 minutes or so later, incurring a 15 minute supplement on the base fare but that was mitigated by my subscriber discount of 30%). Doing the golf carts early was a great idea, when we picked ours up at about 10.15am there was barely a queue and golf carts were plentiful, when we passed by maybe around 2pm the queue was huge and returning carts were scarce.
After dropping off our golf cart we headed up to the Petit Trianon for the 20th Anniversary of Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola exhibition, which is on until 24 January 2027. We arrived just before opening at midday and as a result a little queue had built up, which moved quickly after opening.
Given that this exhibition was the purpose for making the trip, I was excited to get to this point in our trip.
And honestly? I was a little underwhelmed.
I think partly my expectations had been set very high by the Marie Antoinette Style exhibition at the V&A, which was a really well curated and put together exhibition that included a number of photos, pieces of jewellery, shoes and dresses from the film itself. So in part I had already seen some of it, but that exhibition had also combined it with a whole load of other Marie Antoinette related paraphernalia.
The other reason I was slightly underwhelmed, I think, was that I had expected to see much more of a connection between Versailles, the Petit Trianon and the things being shown. The press release issued about the exhibition had really played upon how you would be able to see things in the context of where they were actually shot, and yet there were a lot of rooms and featured pieces where it felt like there was a real disconnect between the objects and the setting. There wasn’t much in the way of signage, for example. The super fans would know which pieces they were looking at and what role they played in the film, but there was nothing to explain that for a more casual viewer of the film, or for someone who hadn’t seen it at all. The main signage related to Sofia Coppola’s processes and how the film had been approached, but it didn’t explain individual exhibits or rooms. There was a portrait of Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette, for example, with no explanation as to what it was, where it featured in the film, why it was being presented here or why it had been placed in the setting that it was.
Likewise, there was nothing else to bring the spirit of the film to the rooms. The rooms upstairs in particular played host to a lot of the costumes on display, but none of them explained who had worn those costumes, in which scenes, or why they were being shown here.
One of the things that’s so impactful about the firm is that Marie Antoinette was a young girl, and Sofia Coppola injected modern pop music into it, which a lot of people found incongruous at the time. Here, though, the mannequins were presented as just mannequins, in rooms that you would see in, let’s be honest, any stately home. They had lost the life and joie de vivre that they needed. There were points in the exhibition where music playing from one of the downstairs projections did start to filter through, and I felt that was needed to bring some of the party settings slightly more alive. I do recognise that some people will have gone simply as visitors to Versailles and won’t necessarily have wanted to hear pop music drifting through the Petit Trianon, but the exhibition was so present there that I think it would have enhanced what was otherwise a fairly static display.
A lot of it felt lacking in any real depth. There was a room with Andrew Durham’s photos, for example, and the handful presented were really interesting (he does have a photo book out – Making Marie Antoinette (affiliate link) – so you can buy it and see more), but it felt as though there wasn’t a lot there compared with what I would have expected from a dedicated exhibition. There was a good deal of filler, such as photos taken on set presented in cabinets, whereas I would have liked to see more props, more detail and more information about the behind-the-scenes process.
Probably the most interesting insight into the film itself came from a silent projection in one of the downstairs rooms, showing behind-the-scenes footage of some of the preparation that went into making it. Part of the problem was that it was in a very small room with a lot of people trying to see it, which created a bit of a bottleneck. It was perhaps the most interesting thing there, and I suspect the reason there wasn’t more behind-the-scenes material is that Sofia Coppola has a film coming out – Making Marie Antoinette – that takes her mother’s behind-the-scenes footage and edits it into a film, which will be really interesting and which I can’t wait to see. Even so, I feel that some of the promise of the exhibition description wasn’t really lived up to here.
The most inventive displays were the cabinets that would ordinarily have housed china being used to house the Manolo Blahnik shoes, which was an interesting and fun presentation, along with another cabinet holding paperwork and props, including call sheets, scripts and similar written notes. There was also the juxtaposition of wigs against paintings of women in wigs of the period, which already hang in the Petit Trianon, and setting the modern props against the painted genuine article was nice and appreciated.
Ultimately, I just feel that the promise of the press release wasn’t followed through.
The description of the exhibition said ‘screenings allow visitors to view sequences in the very rooms where they were filmed‘ – other than the aforementioned screening of behind the scenes shots (which featured scenes from all over), there was one screening of the masquerade ball scene, which was clearly not shot at the Petit Trianon. It also stated it offers ‘a unique experience where the historic setting and the cinematic reinterpretation dialogue with one another‘, which is possibly an overstatement of the placement of items in rooms. None of the rooms explained whether anything had been shot there, and part of the promise of the exhibition had been to see props in the very rooms in which the film was shot, which wasn’t made clear at any point. It just felt a little lacking in the spirit of the film.
Overall, what I would say to anyone wondering whether it’s worth the trip to Versailles is that if it’s a film you love and you can make the trip relatively cheaply, go. For anyone who saw the Marie Antoinette Style exhibition at the V&A, though, I’m not sure this adds much that you wouldn’t get from reading Andrew Durham’s book or watching the forthcoming documentary, particularly if going would be costly. It was great to see, and I’m glad we made the trip, but ultimately it did leave me a little disappointed against my expectations.
We spent the evening at our only pre-booked meal of the trip – dinner at Vous, again just around the corner from where we were staying, albeit a little more off the Main Street of restaurants. A tiny modern bistro serving I suppose what you’d call French fusion, every aspect was stunning. We started with cocktails (my only photo of the evening because I was just enjoying the vibes and food far too much, which is a good sign), Cold Palmer for me and Apple Cinnamon for my husband, before starters of Crispy Tuna (a sort of nigiri with tuna tataki) for my husband and a fig, goats cheese and honey starter for me, both delicious, before mains of fish in a butter sauce for my husband and fillet of pork for me. Both stunning mains, served with sides and bread. All enjoyed with wine, fresh warm air coming in from the open doors and against a sunset sky of pinks and deep purples. We finished the evening with pavlova and a pillowy brioche dessert. Could not fault it, would return in a heartbeat.
We retired to our hotel, fat and happy, where we ended up spending the rest of the evening watching what turned out to be the Grand Final of a TV gameshow in French – The Floor. We got sucked in by a round where they named chocolate/snack brands, most of which were brands we have in England, and then kept watching. I love naming things. We dropped on Alan Carr’s Picture Slam at one point and I realised just how much I love naming things. The Floor is not dissimilar but there are more to certain rounds (naming songs, naming a thing based on clues) and there are other elements in terms of how topics and competitors are chosen. Much of the nuance of the show was lost on us, not being Francophones (French singers and celebrities mostly) but we thoroughly enjoyed the rounds we could do – trees, Ballon d’Or winners, football stadiums etc. Surprised it hadn’t been syndicated to the UK we looked it up and it has. Rob Brydon led it and it’s been commissioned for another which is due to air next year!
During the rounds we were less able to participate in, we planned our Sunday. The initial plan had been to spend more time in the grounds of Versailles, but, having done our little golf cart tour, we decided instead on a last minute itinerary change – a morning in Paris itself. We had no real plan but my husband had expressed an interest in seeing Napoleon’s tomb at Invalides and so a plan formed around that. We needed to be back at Gare du Nord for our Eurostar home at 2.30pm so we would only have a few hours, perfect for one big sight and a bit of a mooch around.
The following morning we were up early and on a train back to Paris before 9am. En route I booked luggage storage via Bounce at a hotel and after dropping off our bags there for the day, we headed to the Hôtel National des Invalides, which is where Napoleon’s tomb is.
This had been my husband’s suggestion. For some reason he has always wanted to see Napoleon’s tomb, and it isn’t something we had ever managed to do, or to fit into one of our previous trips to Paris, usually because they had been a lot busier with other things. Our last trip to Paris, for example, was during the summer of 2024, when we were there for the Summer Olympics. We had a jam-packed itinerary: athletics events in the evening, and Olympics-related things around the city during the day, such as the cauldron and the marathon. So given that we had a spare morning on this trip, we decided we would finally go to Invalides.
I must admit I know very little about military history in general, or about Napoleon specifically. I know the headlines, but not very much in any detail, and Invalides is very much a treasure trove for anyone who is into military history.
We turned up and were immediately confronted by a number of very French-looking military people, which I assume is not normal. They looked as though they were there for some sort of event: all fully decked out in jackets and hats, hanging around outside, very stylish, very French, with lots of cape-like things and pillbox-style military hats going on. At various times they were doing some drumming inside, in the courtyard, though we never found out what it was all about. Perhaps some sort of event, but it certainly added to the military history vibe.
We skipped through a lot of the heavier material on war, tactics and history, and found that some of the most interesting things were simply the items on display in the cabinets, such as the military coats and uniforms, all of which were very stylish and often covered in unbelievably intricate embroidery. We also saw lots of shiny swords, and Napoleon’s hat and horse (which has been preserved in taxidermy form).
We then made our way through to the area where Napoleon’s tomb is, which is held in a beautiful domed building. The tomb itself is set down below ground-floor level, so you have to bend over to see it, a sort of bow, if you will. It really is very large for a very, very small man, or for any man really; it is very imposing. You can also go down to below ground level, into the crypt area, to get a sense of it from below. It is a gorgeous building, and we spent some time looking around before heading out and back to the Montparnasse area, where we had left our bags.
Back in Montparnasse there was an art market on – the Marché de la Création – which I had wandered through the year before when I visited Paris with my mum and my sister and we had stayed nearby. It was a little art market with lots of original works, and the artists themselves in attendance.
There had been one artist whose work I really liked but hadn’t had a good enough chance to look at, because my mum and sister had wandered on, and I had regretted that a little. So I was really pleased to see that she was there again. Her name is Joëlle Rhode, and this time I actually managed to buy an oil painting of hers – a sort of fantasy forest in shades of blues, greens, teals and gold. It is done in oils. Now I just need to get it hung up in the flat. I actually have a few things to get framed and put up as well, so at some point I will need to get around to all of that.
We then finished with a couple of ice creams, and bought a baguette from a nearby boulangerie – Paris Baguette – that has apparently won an award for the best baguette in Paris, along with some sandwiches. By that point it was basically time to head back to the Eurostar, where we arrived a little earlier than we technically needed to, though not by much, perhaps 45 minutes. Annoyingly, our train home was delayed by about an hour, but because we had arrived slightly early we at least managed to get a seat. Some people weren’t so lucky, turning up later and ending up on the floor. We were also delayed long enough to claim some compensation, so for a train that wasn’t massively delayed it actually worked out not too badly. We were home in enough time to sort ourselves out in the evening and get ready for the next day at work.
Despite ending on a bit of a downer with Eurostar nonsense, we had the best weekend. It was casual, chilled, we were super lucky with the weather and we ate some amazing food. 100% would recommend having a little early October French getaway. We might have to start making it an annual thing, where we eat, drink, stroll and generally have a lovely little time.
