monet garden giverny/vernon questions

That's quite a lot of time there, IMHO.

My wife and I love gardens and we love Monet's paintings. We walked all around the pond and took dozens of photos, covered the whole garden, and visited the house in a fair amount of detail.

The garden is smaller than you might imagine, and the house has around 7 or 8 interesting rooms but none of his originals, if I remember correctly.

We had no queue when we arrived at around 3 in the afternoon, and were happy to leave just after 5. We didn't rush.

I'm with Nigel (to quote an old British rocker). After Monet's death the house was neglected until American money revived it as a small gallery. It's pleasant but does not own any Monet originals. The grounds are luscious, but a half-day should satisfy any need for contemplation.

Besides Monet's house and gardens, stroll down the road to see the rest of the village. Peek at other gardens along the road. Have a leisurely lunch at the Hotel Baudy. Visit the graveyard and Monet's grave.

Glenn, we split our day between Giverny and Auvers-sur-Oise for a pilgrimage to a Van Gogh site. BTW dinner at the maisondevangogh.fr was terrific. And, our drive to CDG the next morning was a snap.

We visited in late August, arrived mid morning and waited for tickets for about 15 minutes. We intended to spend the better part of the day, and we tried, but a couple of hours was really quite nice enough. We visited by train as a day trip from Paris. A few days later we had a car...Jumieges Abbey was fascinating, took an hour or two, and there were about a dozen of us total, if crowds are of interest. Nearby too is Les Andelys and Richard the Lionheart's Chateau Gaillard. We could not squeeze it in, but I wish we could have. Good luck and safe travels.

In contrast to what others have said, we spent 2 nights in Giverny. We arrived late in the day from Verdun, but had plenty of time to park (right across the street from our B&B), walk around a bit and have dinner.

After breakfast, we spent the next day visiting the gardens, walking around town, having lunch and dinner and generally easing out. It was mid-June and so crowded that we didn't go inside the house, but we easily spent 2+ hours in the gardens alone, just standing or sitting and gawking. It was great walking around the ponds. If you've seen the huge water lily paintings in the Orangerie, you are in the middle of their subject matter.

We also visited Monet's grave and the little chapel next to it. I regret that we did not go to the Museum of Impressionists. I'm not sure why we didn't go, but missing it was a mistake.

Since I know you're going to ask, we stayed at Le Coin des Artistes in the Impressionist room. Go here for a "tour" of the place. I see that they have a new owner and don't take credit cards. We paid cash when we were there in 2012.

We topped up our cash in Vernon, but there may be ATMs in Giverny by now. The shop at the gardens definitely took credit cards. You may find this Giverny link useful.

thanks everyone for the detailed info, we will investigate further. the responses will be great for allocating the right amount of time.

The varied responses so far highlight the fact that your particular interests should be paramount in planning. For what it's worth, we found 2 hours to be adequate for enjoying the gardens and house (en route to Bayeux from Paris). We managed to arrive, park and line up shortly before the scheduled opening time (a Sunday, early May 2016), and were happy we did so because the gardens were jammed by the time we departed. We headed straight to the Water Gardens (thru the tunnel under the road behind the house and its garden). For the first 30 minutes or so, we were able to stroll at a leisurely pace and get several uncluttered photos before the pathways became crowded. Your strategy to arrive the night before your garden visit should work great for these purposes. (Don't be deceived by a relatively short line at the street entrance. Bus tours unload in back and flood the gardens from a separate entrance.)

PS - Unless you are already familiar with rental car return at CDG, you might inquire about the location and how to find it when picking up your car, especially if you are flying out the same morning. We failed to do so, and spent a frustrating 15-20 minutes making wrong turns in and around the parking garages.

thanks rca, more good info to consider.

I'd recommend leaving an hour or more to return your car. There's always someone who has a problem...

High on a wall in Monet's house is Hokusai's famous wood block print "The Great Wave at Kanagawa", and many other wonderful Japanese wood block prints. Our first visit (off season) was on a Monday, and the garden, pond, and house were closed on Mondays...oops.

Definitely get your ticket in advance of your visit. With ticket in hand, you can just walk to the front of the line and walk right in! Tickets are available for purchase on their website.