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Posted by
7026 posts

If you're asking about organized tours I can't help you. In my opinion, the best day trip to Giverny is on your own. Get an early train from Paris St Lazare to Vernon, hop on the bus that meets the train and takes you to Giverny. After your visit, do the reverse. It's easy and very inexpensive. You don't really need a guide for the house and garden itself.

Posted by
61 posts

I agree with the above info. It’s very easy to go on your own. My daughter and I rented bikes, following the RS info in the Paris guidebook, and thoroughly enjoyed getting to Giverny that way. There are 4 of us traveling to Paris this April and we will add the side trip to Rouen that is described in the Paris guidebook.

Posted by
10344 posts

We've gone on our own and I see no real advantage to a tour, if one can manage a bit of train travel. See Rick's guidebook for detailed directions on how to get there.
But the crowds are enormous, all you can do is try to get there right at opening time, but the crowds will show up (from the tour buses) not too long after opening.
So just have realistic expectations about the crowds. Also, there are no original Monet paintings at Giverny. It was still worth it.

Posted by
10218 posts

I have gone on my own, as the others describe. How crowded it is will depend on when you are going. This last June it was incredibly crowded on a weekday morning. My previous trip was in mid-October and the crowds weren't as bad. What month will you be there?

Posted by
5581 posts

I agree that its best and easy to do Giverny on your own. This way you can go at your own pace. There are a few other places to see in the town, too. We went at the end of September. We got there at opening and used an entrance more at the back of the property. It looked like one the tourist groups use. We stayed at a BnB in town, and other guests shared that they visited Giverny mid/late afternoon and it wsn't busy at all.

Posted by
6113 posts

It’s easy to do on your own. Be there at opening and make a dash for the lily pond before the tour groups get there. We went early June and it was very busy. We used the front entrance, which had a shorter queue than that for the tour groups.

We had a joint ticket, which also covered the Musee des Impressionnismes, which was far less crowded and where there is a genuine Monet.

Posted by
2469 posts

Everyone is telling you to do it on your own which is easy enough. But it seems you are asking about an organized tour. So I will share my experience.

I was in Paris last April during the heat wave and the strikes on the rail system. Also Air France. Our last day was a Sunday and the only day we could go to Giverny. We took an organized day tour. Forgive me but I don't remember the name but I'm sure there are many tour groups.

We arrived to the gardens and had almost 2 hours to spend there on our own amid a mob scene of other visitors. The flowers were in glorious bloom and it was a pure joy to be there. Touring the house which I adore you just put yourself in the stream of people going through, no use fighting it. Just go with the flow.

Going back to Paris on the tour bus we were stuck in a traffic jam, apparently Parisians love going to the countryside!
My advice if you can manage it, is not to go on a weekend. As the others have commented, also try to be there when it first opens in the morning.

Posted by
32738 posts

Everybody here is making assumptions.

A 7 word question (or statement - who knows, no punctuation) gives zero information about what is actually being asked for.

About all we know is that the person is probably from Lubbock, may be called Jen, and has made one other very short but somewhat more helpful question, a long time ago.

Nothing here about how many, what time of year, or anything. Jen please come back with more information.