Giverny Day Trip from Paris
If you are a fan of Claude Monet and Impressionism, Giverny is the place to go. True, there are many great Impressionist museums in Paris where you can learn about Monet and Impressionism in general, like Musée d’Orsay or Musée Marmottan-Monet. However, Impressionism is all about “plein air” (painting outdoors), so there’s no better place to enjoy Impressionism than where the artists set their easels to paint their masterworks.
So if you have a spare day in your itinerary and the weather is good, take a day trip to Giverny from Paris to visit Monet’s Garden and House. Read this article to learn how to get to Giverny from Paris, when to go, and what to see in and around Monet’s house.
Table of contents:
- Best Time to Take a Day trip to Giverny
- How to get from Paris to Giverny
- Book a Giverny Day Tour for the Best Experience
- Visit Monet’s House and Workshop in Giverny
- Visit Monet’s Garden and Water Lily Pond
- Other Things to Do on a Day Trip to Giverny from Paris
Monet’s Gardens in Giverny is one of the most popular day trips from Paris. Click here for the list of the best day trips from Paris.
Best Time to Visit Giverny and Monet’s Garden
What is the best time to visit Giverny, and more specifically, the best time to visit Monet’s Garden?
Monet’s House and Garden in Giverny are closed during the winter. Monet’s Estate opens its doors in the spring, this year from 1st April to 1 November 2025.
For most visitors, the visit to Monet’s Estate is focused on the Garden, which will be more or less exuberant depending on the season.
» In spring, two of the most emblematic trees in Monet’s Garden – the apple tree and the cherry tree – bloom
» In June, the first water lilies start to wake up to reach their full bloom in July.
» Visit Giverny Gardens in October for its amazing fall colors.
Monet’s House and Garden is very busy all year round. If possible, avoid going on weekends and holidays.
How to Get to Giverny from Paris
Giverny is located 70 km northwest of Paris. Below are the most common ways to visit Giverny on a day trip from Paris:
1. Paris to Giverny Day Trip by Car
This is the best option for a Giverny day trip from Paris, self-guided. The ride from Paris to Giverny only takes 55 min, and you can complete your visit with other beautiful small towns near Paris, like La Roche-Guyon (a 9-minute drive from Giverny) and/or Les Andelys (a 30-minute drive from Giverny).
Another interesting option could be to extend your trip to Etretat on the Norman coast and spend one night there. Click here for the best hotels in Etretat.
If you need to rent a car, try to find an agency located north of Paris, so you avoid the hassle of crossing the city by car – Click here to rent your car in Paris
2. Day Trip from Paris to Giverny by Train + Bus
The Paris to Giverny train stops in Vernon, a small town 7 km west of Giverny. From there, you will need to take a local bus to reach Giverny. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get to Giverny by public transportation:
- At Paris Saint Lazare Station, take the train to Rouen Rive Droite (46-minute ride, hourly).
- Stop at Gare de Vernon-Giverny, exit the train station, and walk around 600m to the VTNI 27 bus stop.
- Take bus #250, direction Entrepagny (5 to 10 minutes ride). There are only three buses daily, so don’t miss your bus!
Book a Giverny Day Tour for the Best Experience
Get the most out of Monet’s House and Giverny with a guided tour led by an expert guide. A Paris to Giverny guided tour usually includes transportation, so you avoid the hassle of changing trains/buses or renting a car. Here are some top-rated Giverny day tours from Paris:
TOUR | DURATION | SMALL GROUP? | PRICE |
|---|---|---|---|
4,5 hours | 8 pax max. | ||
5 hours | Private, 8 pax max. | ||
9 hours | Yes |
To get the most out of your day outside Paris, some guided tours combine Giverny with other destinations nearby, like Versailles, the coastal town of Honfleur, and the small town of Auvers-sur-Oise, where Van-Gogh spent the last months of his life.
Visit Monet’s House and Workshop in Giverny
After spending many years in Paris, Monet and his family moved to the little village of Giverny in 1883, when the artist was 43. Monet believed he could work better on light and color in a place like Giverny.
In this small village in Normandy, Monet found a “peasant house” for rent – The Clos Normand – bordered by a vegetable garden and an orchard.
The closed set of walls covered almost one hectare. When his financial situation improved, Monet ended up buying the house and the adjoining garden in 1890.
READ MORE – Follow Monet’s steps in Paris
Visitors can enter Monet’s Workshop from the living room through a short passage painted blue. The workshop is located on the ground floor, and it was initially a barn attached to the house. Monet was so obsessed with light that he installed a glass roof for his workshop.
Years later, Monet moved his workshop to another barn not far from the house, and this place became a “fumoir” (a lounge smoker) in which he showed his paintings to his friends and potential clients. This is a very cozy place full of Monet’s paintings displayed on the walls and personal objects.
On the ground floor, there are common rooms like the light and colorful kitchen or the dining room. These rooms look like Monet paintings, where nothing is left to chance.
Monet’s room is simple and has great views of the garden. It is interesting to notice that Monet liked to sleep surrounded by his friends’ paintings: Cézanne, Renoir, Caillebotte, Berthe Morizot, Boudin, and Signac.
During 40 years and until his death, Monet arranged, rearranged, and enlarged this house, where he died in 1926.
Visit Monet’s Garden and Water Lily Pond
Monet acquired a love of plants and gardening by frequenting the gardens of his friends and later working in his own garden at Argenteuil near Paris. In Giverny, he modeled his garden to perfection to paint it better.
During Monet’s life, there were up to six gardeners working in the artist’s garden at Giverny under his direct supervision. This is proof of the importance that Monet gave to the garden.
Monet arranged squares of perennial flowers, playing with their colors for his paintings. He had a passion for tulips, and you can find them everywhere, together with agapanthus, nasturtiums, dahlias, irises, wisterias, poppies, and peonies. Today, ten gardeners take care of Monet’s Garden.
Water Lily Pond
Monet’s House is best known for its Water Lily Pond, where Monet painted his world-famous water lilies. Monet’s water lilies and the Japanese bridge are the best things to see in Giverny.
Monet’s Water Lily Pond was created by deviating one of the small arms of the Epte River. The artist spent many hours by the pond contemplating nature and the reflection of the sky on the water.
On this Water Lily Pond, he created a surreal world that he translated into his world-famous paintings of water lilies. Come to see Monet’s water lilies from June to August!
Other Things to Do on a Day Trip to Giverny from Paris
Giverny is a very small town, and most people only stop here to visit Monet’s House and Garden. However, there are other things to see in Giverny, like the Impressionist Museum and Sainte-Radegonde Church in Romanesque style. Monet and his family are buried in the cemetery that surrounds the church.
For lunch, the Au Coin du Pain’Tre (73 Rue Claude Monet) offers things like sandwiches and cakes that you can eat in their lovely and shady garden. We ate at La Mussardière (123 Rue Claude Monet), a hotel restaurant with a lovely garden.
A little bit further upstream, there’s a guinguette (6 Rue de Falaise), which looks very nice for casual bites and drinks (we didn’t try it, though).
Click here for more Side Trips from Paris
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