Day tour of Versailles and Giverny

I'm sorry this is not a reply... I have the very same question! So, if anyone could help us all that would be great!!!

Do you mean both locations on the same day? That would be very overwhelming and exhausting. I'd pick one or the other. Versailles is only about 30 minutes from Paris but we were there for most of the day (on our own), first visiting the palace and then walking through only about 1/4 of the gardens at a steady but leisurely pace. Surely you want to take your time and enjoy seeing one of these places instead of doing a mad rush through both of them.

Thanks Sarah! I thought it might be.

Does anyone have a suggestion on how to get to Giverny and back to Paris easily. We are renting a car when we get to Strasbourg; however, not when were're in Paris.

I assume it will be pretty simple to get to and back from Versailles.

Thanks!

Giverny is easy to get to.

Go to Gare St Lazare . walk up to ticket window and ask for am " aller retour" ( return) ticket to Vernon.

Once in Vernon you can take the local bus right to gardens , or rent bikes.

It is pretty simple to get to Versailles. I don't want to give you the wrong information, because it's been 2 years since I did it, but you can look in the Rick Steves Paris book - get a copy from your library. He explains it well.

These two things are in the opposite directions from Paris so you would have to pick only one per day. One is a half hour train ride southwest (Versailles) and the other north (Giverny). Following Rick Steves guidebook directions to get to Versailles was super helpful for me. Have fun! :)

Thanks for the information on getting to Giverny! I have Rick's books, I'll check them out again for Versailles. We leave on the 15th - I am really getting excited now! Sue

The best days to visit Versailles are Saturdays and Sundays when the fountains operate http://en.chateauversailles.fr/prepare-my-visit-/single/tickets-and-rates/billets-et-tarifs/les-grandes-eaux-1-en

They are also the most crowded days, for the same reason :-)

I took a trip that Paris-Trip offers that goes to both places in one day. It's a minivan tour and usually Paris-Trip tours are top notch. I've never had a bad time. This trip also goes to a beautiful restaurant called Le Moulin de Fourges. The drive is also spectacular.
http://www.paris-trip.com/16/giverny-and-versailles-small-group-day-trip-from-paris.asp

Visited both this past May - but on separate days. When you go to Giverny, after seeing the gardens, the pond area (with Japanese bridge), and Monet's home, consider having lunch at Hotel Baudy - it is great! And take a walk around Vernon if you have time before your train departs. There is an amazing bakery (referred to in the RS guide), many old timbered houses, and the gothic Collegiate Church of Notre Dame (across from the Town Hall), which has some interesting gargoyles on the outside and nice stained glass windows inside. At Versailles, if you walk from the palace to Marie Antoinette's village and go inside the Trianons, etc., stop to eat, and walk back, it will be a full day. You can do both Giverny and Versailles on your own quite easily from Paris. However, allow some extra time to buy your train ticket to Giverny at Gare St. Lazare - the line for the ticket windows was huge on the day we traveled but, fortunately, a SCNF person helped us buy our tickets at an automated kiosk. We made the train by about 3 minutes! Would have missed it if we had to wait in line for the ticket windows.