Giverny and Rouen

I would stick with Giverny OR Rouen. There isn't enough time to see both in one day and still travel to and from Paris.

Giverny is, to me, about 3/4 of a day counting travel time. The town has a nice church and is nice enough to walk around, but the highlights are Monet's house and gardens. I would head back to Paris after that, and take a one hour ride on the Seine that evening. For Rouen I would take an early train (just under 2 hours) and stay through dinner. The cathedral is beautiful and has concerts and a luminescence show , the medieval old town deserves lots of strolling (the clock!) and you can seek out the Joan of Arc connections. There are many, many good restaurants and cafes also, plus a couple of good museums. Rouen deserves a whole day.
Best of luck in your planning!

Thank you, Judy! This is so helpful.

I’ve wanted to see Monet’s gardens for awhile. So I think we will skip Rouen. It’s helpful to know that doing both will be difficult. I like your suggestion to do the Seine ride :)

What month will you be in Paris?

mentors,
Good choice on Giverny. I like both places and am sure you will love Giverny and will be less tired after your trip there than after a day trip to Rouen.
Another hint....you should reserve a time, and I suggest getting there early if only to avoid the crowds that will be there when the tour buses arrive. What month are you going? We were there in late April and the flowers were wonderful, but the gardens always put on a terrific "show". It is perhaps best to explore the gardens first, as they are the main experience, then the house. I would rather be crowded in the house than the gardens.
Have fun!

I agree with skipping Rouen and just concentrating on Giverny and Vernon.

While I have not rented bikes, when I last went in October 2024, I did observe people who had rented bikes from the place right near the Vernon train station having mechanical difficulties with the bikes. I'm not entirely sure if it was the user or the bike but I saw one woman return hers while I was waiting for the shuttle, then on the 2nd one saw her stopped a little way down the trail and appeared to be having difficulty with the tires.

When you are in Giverny, I suggest you also walk down the main street to the church where Monet and his family are buried. In the churchyard is also a memorial to a Lancaster Bomber crew that was shot down on the night of June 7-8, 1944 just near town. While we now see Giverny as a center for art, it was in the midst of the DDay invasion and that thought always jerks me up short. I think I tend to compartmentalize when I visit locations on vacation but that makes me stop and realize this area was occupied by German forces and liberated by the Allies. I saw on your other thread that you are going to try and do an afternoon visit to the DDay beaches so this is just another piece of that story. The memorial also includes a twisted propellor from the bomber.

Be sure to look at the train schedule on SNCF-connect and take the train that does not require a change. There are direct ones outbound. I think my train left at 10:11.

I can't imagine Rouen as a day trip. I spent 3 days there a couple weeks back and left a lot undone. I really enjoy Rouen, so far it's been one of my favorite bigger cities in France.

Was in Rouen, April 4 and Giverny April 5, 2025.

Giverny: have gone about 3 times in various seasons. My latest experience:
*I bought train tics RT. Ticket going out there was essential as the train was packed. The bus from the station was a nightmare, not enough busses, one was parked at an angle and a car was parked across the street. No bus or the tourist train could get through. Why the bus could not pull up and straighten out I do not know but it was 1 hour before the car was towed and the busses ran.

• have euros for the bus. Every CC transaction took at least 6-9 minutes. *I toured Vernon after my Garden tour and church is under renovation and I did not find anything special about the town. I had wanted to tour it the other times I was there so maybe expecting too much.
• posted bus schedule and actual bus schedule the bus runs on are not the same. Posted one is incorrect at least when I was there. *be sure to know where to get the bus back to the station. *be sure to know which line at the Garden to get on to enter. At the road to the Garden the road splits. You need to wander to the left if you have a ticket which I strongly recommend you get as the line was very long to buy the ticket there. *entry to the house was boob to butt and you are sort of moved along through the rooms. *Gardens even on the first few opening days were lovely.

Seine cruise is a good idea and maybe Notre Dame as later in the afternoon, there was no need for a ticket. I went 3x in my 5 days in Paris and 1 ticket and 2 without and same amount of time for all 3.

*Lourve Couture has been extended. Wonderful, unique and beautiful items. I went on the First Friday of the month (April) and it was free entry after 6. I took advantage of it as it was the only thing I wanted to see and not interested in paying 22E for the whole museum. That might be an option as well.

Thank you everyone!! Looking forward to the trip…

Not sure when your trip is (or was), so I might be too late to this party, but here are my two cents.

I agree with others who say that combining Giverny with Rouen is too much in one day. If you want to make a full day of it in Giverny, you might be interested in including a visit to Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny. It's a lovely museum just down the street from Monet's house. It's small (3 galleries), so not too overwhelming. You'll find a description of museum in the RS Paris guidebook (Paris day trips chapter for Giverny). More info here: https://www.mdig.fr/en/

I see that the current exhibit (through June 29) is titled "from Monet to Picasso." A different exhibit opens July 11.

In June 2023, we were able to visit this museum late morning and had lunch at their nice cafe. We saved our visit to Monet's house until later in the afternoon as others had advised (4-6 pm), when the light is lovely and the crowds start to thin. The other advantage to visiting the museum first is that we could buy a combo ticket to the Museum + Monet's house. Check the fine print to see if a combo ticket is still offered. If you are even remotely interested in Impressionism, I would go to this museum in a heartbeat.

If you do not want to go to the museum, you'll want to reserve tickets in advance for Monet's house, as others have noted.

And, I see from your original comment that you were not interested in museums when contemplating things to do in Vernon. So, I make this suggestion with caution.

Agree with Pam's suggestion to visit the church and burial sites of Monet and the Lancaster D-Day bomber crew. (Shout out to Pam for recommending this to me 2+ years ago!)

Thank you Lynne with an e.

We booked a morning ticket to be able to get back to Paris a little early. Hoping to spend about 3 hours at Monet’s house and gardens, get lunch and walk in Vernon for about an hour before we head back. I see that the weather will be pretty hot!

Are you able to comment if it’s hard to find restrooms there? Thanks in advance!

There are restrooms at the house/gardens. If I remember correctly they are near the entrance. Don't place any bets on their location though, as it's been a while since I've been there.

We were there in April. The only restrooms at Monet’s gardens are near the exit from the gardens to the gift shop. They aren’t very well marked but just before the gift shop they are off to the left hand side. So if you are in the part of the gardens with the water lilies and bridge you have to go all the way back to the house section for the restrooms.
There are also restrooms in the Impression Museum in Giverny. We didn’t go to Vernon so don’t have suggestions for there.