Day trip from Paris to Giverny or Versailles or ??

There's a lot of information about both destinations, from the usual sources (internet, guide books, including Rick's Paris and France books).
When you get as much info as you want about each destination, then choose one that best matches your family's interests. With 6 days in Paris, many travelers would say doing both day trips is probably not advisable, because there's plenty to see in Paris.

Since you're going to be in Paris for 6 days, I will go ahead and recommend getting Rick's Paris book, in which he concisely describes day trips to both locations (in the Day Trips section of the book).

He provides more information there, than could be given by any of us in the space available here.

Some would say, if you could only see one palace in Europe, Versailles wouldn't be a bad choice. Giverny, of course, is a very different experience. What both have in common is the crowds, but that's the case with many of the great destinations.

IMO you couldn't go wrong with either choice.

Versailles will be absolutely mobbed at all times in high season. Consider Fontainebleau or Vieux-le-Vicomte instead - the former is easier to reach by public transportation.

Versailles is a place everyone should do once but IMHO not in August. The crowds in the palace are torture. If you do go, go on a garden fountain day and plan to spend a goodly amount of time on the wider estate.
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2016/02/15/fountains-of-versailles-a-little-chaos/
If you decide to go I would book the Kings apartment tour as it has a separate entrance you skip the worst line; the palace will still be a crush of people. The kids are free to the palace but will have to pay for the tour and for garden entry on a fountain day.
Giverny is also lovely; if you go get train tickets the day ahead so you don't have to fiddle it the morning of and go as early as possible. Get tickets ahead and print them out to skip a long ticket line. I assume the kids have to pay as it is not a public museum but I don't know if they get a discount. https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/not-so-secret-garden-giverny/

With a kid and a teen, I say Versailles is a better option to keep their interest. You can do it on your own, or just pay a little extra for one of the skip the line/behind the scenes tours of just the main Palace and then rent bikes on your own and spend the majority of the day riding in the gardens. If you do decide you want to go with a tour, Fat Tire has an all day tour of Versailles where they meet you in Paris, take the train as a group, have skip the line admission and it includes biking to the palace, through the gardens a picnic lunch and guided tour of the palace.

I've been to both and while Giverny is pretty, I just don't think it holds a lot of appeal for a 10 and 17 yo. Even though we purchased tickets on-site to the museum and saw that first and got to skip the massive line formed over near the gardens and Monet's house, it was very hard to enjoy walking through the house and many parts of the garden (particularly the water lily pond/bridges and those gardens closest to the house) were exceedingly crowded. At least at Versailles once you get out of the main palace the grounds are so massive that there are lots of places you can get away where it is quiet, especially if you have a bike.

For a slightly contrarian opinion :)

We were in France last June and, like everyone else in the world, had been advised that Versailles was an absolute must. As our hotel was right at the proper rail line getting there was a breeze, and there was a delightful cafe directly across from the Versailles train station.

As we were quite early, by the time we made the rather pleasant walk to the palace entry point there were perhaps a dozen people in front of us. By the time they actually began allowing people into the palace there were probably a couple hundred people behind us. Be early.

On entering the palace we did not find it unusually crowded because of our early entry. We were able to walk freely without any elbow rubbing and saw the entire palace largely in comfort.

It was hot by the time we got around to visiting the exterior, the crowds had built up a bit, and we were a bit disappointed by the palace visit. It simply didn't live up to my expectation of what such a famous palace should have been. If you are interested in seeing grand opulence, I suggest that the Paris Opera would be a much more fulfilling experience. We did, however, enjoy walking around the city proper on the way back to the train.

The grounds were a general disappointment, largely to the crushed limestone used on the walkways. Everyone comes away with a fine white dirt covering on their feet. I suppose it wouldn't have been so annoying just on my shoes, but all the plants which should have been a nice green were white for about the first 12 inches or so from the dust. It's very common in France to use this sort of walkway, but I found it very much of a disappointment when compared to the cobblestone or wonderful green grass more common with similar attractions in the UK. Given a choice between walking in the grass and walking in the dirt, I think I'll chose the grass :) In any case, the gardens, while extensive, were nothing particularly out of the ordinary other than for their size.

Largely because of the limestone dust we did not walk to the bottom of the hill to visit the other buildings on the site. In general, we ended up feeling that the day had been poorly spent. YMMV :)

Lots of girls have read the book about the little girl and Monet's gardens, I know that my daughter had that at the top of her list as a child visiting Paris.

I am pretty sure you cannot ride bicycles in the gardens of Versailles. You can ride them on the wider estate but not the gardens.

Thank you for all of the wonderful advice! We have the RS Paris book on our iPad so I'll have to start reading more of it. (I prefer hardbacks..) We are going in late August so we've accepted it will be hot and there will be crowds but we will do our best to rise above that -- and to get up early or go places later.. I'm looking for options as I know we could fill up our days in Paris but want to have ideas incase we've seen one too many museums for my daughters. Again, thank you for helping me with some ideas.

I did Versailles and Chartres in a day with overnight stay in Chartres. I wouldn't recommend doing both as a day trip though. Chartres is a small town with a humongous cathedral with some awesome stained glass, a steep tower climb, many other smaller interesting churches and a walkable old town with half timbered houses. It also has an annual light show on the cathedral which is spectacular.
Versailles was crowded in October which is supposedly shoulder season so I can't imagine what it must be like in August.

Just as another opinion I was there in August also and I did not find Versailles unbearably crowded. However, I did not tour the inside of the palace (I had done that on a previous visit). The gardens and the Trianons and Marie's Hamlet were all wonderful in August and not overly crowded at all. If you don't want to walk all the way to the outer areas there is a little train you can take to those areas. The area around the canal/pond was busy but not horrible. I think if you go very early and tour the palace first before it gets overcrowded and overheated and then relax in the gardens and outer areas it's a wonderful day. Yes, you can rent bikes for riding around the estate but not in the gardens. I found it worth going to even without the palace tour (even if I hadn't done it already I don't think I would have done it this time).

I also loved Giverny and found it definitely worth a day trip if you have the time. I had lots of time in Paris so it was easy to do both on different days. There are tours that do both in one day but I would NOT recommend that as you don't get enough time to wander around at your own pace.

You really don't need a tour for either of them unless you want one to enable you to get in the palace at Versailles without the lines. If you have enough time in Paris, and the interest in Giverny is high, you can certainly do that one in 1/2 day. I left on an early train that got me there just as it opened in the morning and I was back in Paris around 1:30-2:00 in time for lunch. Now, if you want to see more of the village and have lunch in Giverny and tour the museum there, then it will take much longer. I was only interested in the gardens and his home.

I don't think anyone has suggested the grounds are unbearably crowded; it is the inside of the palace that is torture. I will admit to being stunned that someone would find white dust on their shoes from crushed limestone such a downer that they didn't notice some of the most stunning gardens in Europe. To each his own.

This is a great option .. and unless your kids are real couch potatos they will love it.. out of the city.. and seeing some countryside.. plus a site..

FAT TIRE BIKE tours.. now.. don't go hemming and hawing because you have not been on a bike for years.. I hadn't been either.. and I am pretty sure I am older than you.

I was roped into my first bike tour about 6 or 7 years ago.. friend begged me to take the Fat Tire Night bike tour.. I reluctantly agreed.. only because she said she would even pay for it.
WELL I had a ball.. I had not been on a bike in 20 years and I had so much fun..
We actually signed up that night for the bike tour to Versailles for the very next morning. I have been to Versailles many times.. friend had never been.. but I figured why not. Now.. the tour part was fun. but yup the Chateau is SO crowded its verging on misery now. I had been about 6 or 7 times before.. and about 3 times since, and I will likely never go again ( at least not june-sept) as the crowds they allow in the palace make it like a mosh pit. I took my 11 yr old one year and all she saw was peoples butts backs and shoulders..

So.. in that vien I offer this other tour.. the one to Monet Gardens.. (Fat Tire) .. this is a tour I actually took a few years later .. as I am really not a Monet fan.. but had done a bunch of other bike tours and wanted out of the city ..
This is my favorite bike tour.
You meet at train station in Paris, then guide escorts you on train to Vernon, where you will be then taken to pick up bikes, and are taken to a market to buy picnic goodies.. then to a scenic outlook to eat lunch.. then the guide leads you along a mostly flat bike /pedestrian lane that runs along the river. .so peaceful in the country side.. You arriv at Gardens and are given your ticket and let in without waiting. .but tour gardens on your own . They arrange a meet up time after garden.. I left gardens after a short while and found a cute place down the street for an ice cream and drink..You are given a fair amount of time .. you can do as I did and rush through gardens and skip gift shop.. or meander through them.. easily.

Really a fun tour and day out..

You and kids will get out of city and have a great time. its not strenuous.. and the guides are younger and usually America .. so no language issues and kids aren't stuck with fuddy duddy old folks tour.

Also.. if you really want something special.. look up FrenchMystic Bike tours.. he does PRIVATE tours only, just you and your family.. he is extremely well reviewed. I had a friend do one and he raved about it.. as did his kids..
I was in Paris only a month ago and had booked a tour for our group.. but the floods and weather had us mutually cancelling the tour.. drats.. did meet Bruce and hes a lovely fellow though.. will be doing one on his bike tours next time. Look at his website anyways.. its seems pricier then Fat Tire.. but remember his tours are priced PER GROUP not per person.. so they actually are good deal for 4 people.

www.frenchmystiquetours.com/

Depending on when you go in August, Versailles might be a zoo - or it might not.

Getting there a little before the gates open will help. Bringing an umbrella for shade and small bottles of water are also good ideas.

If you'd like to see parts of the chateau that other people don't get the chance to visit, you might think about booking the private tour of the King's apartments. There are tours in English, but not every day - you can book this on the official Versailles website. After the tour - recommend taking the earliest available - you can re-enter the chateau and spend as long as you like there.

Here's another vote for FrenchMystiqueTours, if you're interested in taking any kind of day trip outside of Paris. Bruce is a wonderful guy and an experienced tour guide.

Yes, you should do some research about both Versailles and Giverny but your family's interests are the determining factor IMO.
As a big Monet enthusiast, I loved visiting Giverny. It was deeply satisfying to see the actual water lily ponds, the Japanese bridge, etc. To be honest, I didn't even notice how big or small the crowd was. But really, if I hadn't already been a big fan, I don't know how impressive the trip would have been.
At Versailles, I was also moved to be standing in the actual Hall of Mirrors but I liked it much better when there were fewer people (we've been twice). The grandeur of that room, and others in the palace, is diminished when you are in a solid, slow-moving stream of people (so go early). I'm glad to have seen it, but the scale of the palace is beyond my liking. Who needs a bedroom the size of a small house?
Versailles has a lot more to see than the Palace itself. Your girls might enjoy the Petit Hameau, Marie Antoinette's faux idyllic country village (or the Queen's Estate in general).
It could be that another trip, to Fontainebleau or Vieux-le-Vicomte, might be more enjoyable for your family. It's good to know about the sites, but I think it's equally important to factor in the interests and enthusiasms (and dislikes) of your family.

Ehotchk,

My wife and I were in Paris two weeks ago and saw both Giverny and Versailles. We planned experiences that were to our liking despite the crowds at both sites. At Giverny, we did not use a guided tour. This spectacularly beautiful setting can be viewed in an unhurried manner, at your own pace. There are restaurants and cafes in the neighborhood and places to sit. I highly recommend this regardless of the crowds.

At Versailles we used Fat Tire Tours to tour the canals, Marie Atoinette's estate and gardens, on bike. We toured the palace on our own, but it was included in the price of the ticket. It was a great way to see the whole and get some help from a guide. I highly recommend it. IMO avoiding crowds is only somewhat possible at these highly popular sites.

We resolved to not let crowds have the last word on how much we enjoyed ourselves.

Thank you. It looks like I'm leaning towards Versailles. I'll look into both bike tours. I would love Giverny but if I have to choose, my family will probably find Versailles more interesting and I really think we'll only have time for one day trip (if that...) Thank you for the ideas!!

We did Versailles as a day trip from Paris (took train) in April 2014. I would highly recommend - can't imagine visiting Paris and not going to Versailles. It may be crowded in August but so will other major sights. Have fun regardless of where you go!

Versailles. Simply get there early to avoid the crowds. While some rooms are crowded, they will empty into a larger one. Giverny is beautiful, but much smaller and cramped.

Agree 100% with Kevin K

The OP's post was dated July 1, 2016, and mentioned being in Paris the last week of August. Sure,y that meant August past?