Giverny - Rouen in the same day

Gare du Nord is not the Station to travel to Giverny and Rouen,it is Gare St Laziere and Giverny requires a bus ride from the train Station to get to Giverny,sounds very hectic.
Mike

I don't know that I'd call it recommended, but its doable. I guess it would depend on how into those venues you are. We spent almost a whole day at Giverny. We arrived Monet's garden at opening. It would also depend on time of year and how busy the garden is at that time.

thanks. I might get more responses but this was the type of advice I was looking for.

Hey Eugene,

You can do both in one day. This could be the only time you will have to be in Paris and may not have the opportunity to return anytime soon so take full advantage of it.

Catch an early train from Gare St. Lazare to Rouen, spend a few hours there then from Rouen take train to Giverny and from Giverny back to Paris.

I did both in one day, so yes, you can do it. (But you will need to get to St. Lazare train station by metro or bus from Nord.) Both Vernon (Giverny) and Rouen are on the same train line, yes. I would recommend getting to Giverny as early as possible, so take the early train - also so you can beat some of the big crowds. The garden gets very crowded with tourists! You can buy tickets online ahead of time and skip the line - wish I had.

Also, keep in mind that Giverny is not directly next to the Vernon train station. It's maybe a 30-45 min walk(?). There are also shuttle buses to/from the train station that most people take. Anyway, the schedule for the buses might not be predictable (sometimes they just sit there and wait until they fill up, so you might hop on and have to wait 10-15 minutes). I suppose you could save this time by taking a taxi to/from. (Some people rent bikes I guess, which might be fun.) And the trains on to Rouen don't leave every 10 minutes - so both some careful planning based on the train schedules and some flexibility may be required. That is, if you plan to take a train from Vernon to Rouen at say 13:00, you'll have to plan on getting a bus back in plenty of time - don't assume you can hop on a bus from Giverny at 12:45 and make it no problem. I gave myself plenty of time in between - and I had time to go grab a sandwich near the train station at Vernon so I could eat lunch on the train.

It all depends on what you want to see at both places. I took an early train to Giverny to get there when they opened, then spent a couple of hours exploring the gardens (which was my main interest) and a quick walk through of the house. I didn't explore the village or go to the museum so it was a half-day trip for me and I was back in Paris for a late lunch. I had already been to Rouen, but if I hadn't, I would probably have combined it with Giverny for a long day trip. So, if the gardens at Giverny are your main interest, then get there at opening time, spend a couple of hours, maybe have a quick lunch (or bring a picnic) and then take the train from Vernon to Rouen (about 45 min). You should be able to have 4-5 hours for Rouen including dinner and be back in Paris by 9 pm. Sure it's a long day but if that's your style and you get to see what you mainly want to see, then yes I would recommend it.

Do you want to spend time at both or just have a flying visit? I was at Giverny before opening last May and we also saw the Impressionist Museum (where there is a real Monet, unlike at the Monet gardens, where they are copies). We took the view that it would be a pity to visit and not see a real Monet, although we have seen many of his works in London.

We didn’t stop for coffee or lunch and we finished around 2pm, although we did take lots (and lots) of photos. After spending hours on my feet, I wouldn’t have wanted to spend hours longer looking at Rouen. We were staying near Giverny, so we didn’t need to take the train, as we drove there. The rail station isn’t that close to the gardens.

I believe the bus to Giverny is always waiting when a train arrives. It's then a very short bus ride to Giverny. When I get off the bus I take a picture of the sign with the schedule for the return trips to Vernon. If you arrive at Giverny before they open you can certainly pace yourself to do both Giverny and Rouen on the same day. I've not been to Rouen yet, and wish I had combined it with Giverny last June. That was my second trip to Monet's gardens.

Hoping to do this in April. But to see some more "real Monets" don't miss the Orangerie (waterlily murals), Orsay and Marmottan museums in Paris itself.

Hey RJean:
Nice in-joke.

"Hey Eugene" = My favorite tune by Pink Martini.

Definitely doable in one day. Last year, we did Giverny early in the morning and Rouen in the afternoon. I'll qualify that by saying that we did have a car, which probably made our day more efficient than trying to go by train but I think it's still workable by public transport. I felt more than satisfied with our half day in Rouen. I'm sure others would say we should have given it more time but we did the clock tower climb, walked along the main shopping streets, toured the cathedral, ect. The cathedral itself is interesting though very dirty. It could do with a good restoration project on the inside. Unfortunately many of it's stained glass windows were lost in WWII.

If you're going to attempt it, I would get up dang early to make sure you're at the gardens when they open. We were there in May and it was fairly crowded. I personally do not feel the gardens are worth a full day but that'll vary from person to person and how much you love plants. I hope you enjoy your trip!

Rouen's historic district is rather large, and there are some interesting museums as well. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the wrought iron museum.

We did both in one day by train/shuttle bus. Started by heading to Giverny first thing in the morning, toured the museum then the gardens then walked through Monet's house. Followed it with a sit down lunch and then hopped back on the shuttle to get to the train station and head to Rouen. We saw a few things of note in Rouen. It was fine for an overview of both, but I did wish we had been able to afford the time to do them on separate days as there were more things in Rouen I would have liked to linger over or go see that we couldn't get to in the limited time we had there.

I don't think it's particularly hard. It will be a long day.

Just know the times of trains from Vernon to Rouen, for the second part of your trip, and start early enough to get to Giverny before the crowds. Leave St. Lazare to arrive at the Monet Home and Gardens 30 minutes before opening. Remember it's a little ways (I'd guess as much as two miles) between the train station and Giverny. Depending on the day, bus service may or may not be running.

By about 10 AM the first bus tours start arriving and keep arriving until mid afternoon. Right now, the gardens open at 9:30 but it may be different when you are there.

When you return to the train station, knowing when the trains are leaving, give yourself 15 minutes to find and board the train, maybe an additional five minutes to buy a ticket from a machine. You can save time by buying a ticket before you leave the train station. I would buy a regular second class ticket, that needs to be validated before you board, rather than reserving a specific train. If you're not comfortable using the machines, you can use a ticket window and get everything you need at any train station. I'd do it as soon as I spotted a ticket window with no line, even if it's a completely different station and day.

Think four hours round trip (more if they aren't direct trains) of trains plus however long you spend at each place. For me it would be a day where I'd plan to stay in Rouen before touring Normandie rather than a day trip from Paris and back.

Does anyone have a link to pre-pay for entry to the Monet house and gardens?