We are planning a trip to France in August with 2/3 days in Paris and then heading to Provence. I would like to visit Giverny before we head south. We will either take the train/bus or a car service to Giverny. If we arrive at 9:30 when it opens how much time would you allow to visit ? Do we need a full day? Would you suggest lunch in the town of Vernon. Any additional advise is most appreciated
Lisa
I doubt most people would need a full day - maybe a few hours at most. You can take a train to Vernon and a shuttle bus from there to Monet's garden and the house. Buy your ticket online ahead of time to skip the line - and yes, good to arrive at opening time to avoid the crowds.
There are a few little places to eat close to the garden entrance (outside). I headed on to Rouen the same day by train so just grabbed a sandwich from a shop near the train station, but I guess there are a few places to ear nearby.
It has been awhile since we were at Giverny but my notes say it can be easily done in about 2 hours and if we had planned better we would have stopped for lunch in Vernon before heading back to Paris. We were there at the end of June and the water lilies were in full bloom so we really lingered in the gardens.
The biggest stress was getting the train tickets to Vernon, we had to stand in line and almost missed the early train. It was great to get to the gardens early so I agree with the other poster, take the early train.
We did miss the train and so went the next day to to very long lines at St. Lazare. It may be possible these days to use American chip/sig cards in the machines but they have Euro limits so not sure. Then it was not possible with the old mag strip cards. Locals use machines so that long line to buy tickets is all people with complicated issues. You can buy the tickets ahead of time at any train station so you are ready to go; don't leave it to the morning of.
Funny two of you have mentioned the long lines at St. Lazare station - I ran into that too (this was back in 2013). I arrived much too late to wait in a line and still make the next train (the one after that was an hour or two later). Although there were ticket machines at St. Lazare, they were not working - I had a true chip and PIN credit card that worked at other machines.
My solution? Just get on the train without a ticket. No, I wouldn't do that in every country (not Italy!). Yes, I asked the conductor standing at the door if I could do this, and she said I could buy a ticket on the train - I'd just have to pay a premium, an extra fee 20 euros extra or something. So that's what I did. No one ever inspected my ticket by the time I got to Vernon, so I didn't even have to buy one.
But, I think it's still good advice to show up at St. Lazare station early so you don't have to worry about buying a ticket. Or, maybe buy it (if you can) online on your phone, with the SNCF app, which I didn't have in 2013.
Thank you all for your replies. Knowing that we can tour Giverny in the morning this will give us the option to get get an afternoon train down to Provence instead of staying another night in Paris. I will definitely pre-purchase my ticket and arrive for the early train. I am using Rick guide book for hotel in Paris any that you prefer over others for location etc.
