Monet gardens - trains? and timing for eiffel tower

I'd like to hear on this topic, as well!

Stephanie,

If you can get the tickets prior to leaving - do it. But, do it through a reputable booking site. Viator is reputable, but be careful as to the times of day to go, and read the reviews. A great way, albeit pricier, is to book a dinner (lunch more readily available) at 58 Tour Eiffel Restaurant (use the website). But, you should do your research first. I timed ours right to see day->sunset->night & it was incredible! Good luck.

There are a couple of threads with loads of info about taking the train from Paris to Giverny.
Here is one:
Giverny Monet's house & gardens

Hi Jen, you can purchase tickets for the Eiffel Tower at their official site - http://www.toureiffel.paris/en/preparing-your-visit/buying-your-tickets.html. They go on sale 90 days in advance at 8:30 a.m. (Paris time) and sell out quickly.

Sunset in July will be at approximately 9:50 p.m. The Tower will be illuminated at 10 p.m. and twinkles for 5 minutes every hour (i.e. 10:00 p.m. to 10:05 p.m.) To me, that's the "magical" part. The view from the Champs de Mars is also very nice and a great photo op.

If you miss the window for purchasing advance tickets, try a Behind the Scenes tour. We used Get Your Guide Tours several times and were pleased with them.

Thank you so much Donna for your info on the sunset times - that helps tremendously in timing the tickets. Yes, I have been stalking the official eiffel tower web site, waiting for the 90 day window to open up for our date range. I thought they opened up at midnight paris time, so it's good to know I will need to set my alarm to purchase them at 8:30 am paris time :0.
These forums are so helpful - thank you so much for all the information!
Jen

Hi Jen, here's the site I used to look up sunrise/sunset times - https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/france/paris?month=7.

When we visited Giverny last year we did a Fat Tire Bike Tour. That might be fun for your family. The tour included a roundtrip train ride (Paris to Giverny) and a ticket to Monet's house and gardens. A very nice day! https://www.fattiretours.com/paris

It would be a good idea to get a copy of the Rick Steves Paris book, either buy it or borrow one from the library. There's lots of good info on the sites, location, opening/closing times, etc. A very good investment!

Hope you have a great trip!

Hi Jen,
Are you taking young students or several kids on this trip? To make things easier at the St Lazare train station you can pre-purchase tickets on the French train site, sncf.com or trainline.eu/ Also to pre-purchase tickets for Giverny, if you register on the fondation-monet.com site first, then you'll be able to easily purchase. With pre-purchased tickets you can enter through the group door and save yourself the time, waiting in line to purchase.

When we went to Monet's garden we waited in line for 40 minutes. Pre-buy tickets for it if you can.

Hi Jen
How old are these kids? The one time I got talked into pre-buying Eiffel Tower tickets, the elevator to the top was broken. Luckily, in that 3 week trip, we had already even to the top twice. We always walk up the stairs to Level 2 and get tickets to the top either at the stairs ticket booth, the Level 2 ticket booth or he ticket machine on Level 2.

My daughter was 4 that trip. We've done it the last two trips and on our next trip. There has never been more than a 10 minute wait for the stairs no matter the time of day.

Take a direct train to Vernon. Those trains are met by the shuttle bus. It's an easy 50 minute walk to Giverny. Get there early before it's overrun by river cruise passengers.

Enjoy!

Sandra