Monet's garden

I’ve visited a number of times and a variety of months, both spring and fall. I’ve had good experiences every time as there is always something blooming.

Here is a link to a calendar of what is blooming each month:

https://giverny.org/gardens/fcm/calendar.htm

While I have gone a couple of times on either a Rick Steves or Road Scholar tour, the other times I went on my own. It’s very easy, moreso now that you can buy train tickets on an app. You take the train from the Saint-Lazare station to Vernon and immediately outside the station are shuttle buses to take you to Giverny for a nominal charge. Reverse the process to come back.

We were just there in early-May and the Wisteria was in full-bloom, exactly like the image from Pam's calendar link: https://giverny.org/gardens/fcm/fleurs/pictglyc.htm

All around the ponds' walkways and above the Japanese Bridge, it added a bucolic line-of-sight 'top' to the water lilies floating below.

I have been in late October and May -- I would bet that very early May or late April would be ideal -- the wisteria on the bridge at the end of the pond is quite stunning then.

We were there on April 11th, 2007 (so, kind of ancient history!), but there were very few visitors and an enormous almost-empty parking lot. Lots of spring bulbs, lots of annuals, a few perennials blooming. I was especially happy to see several Fritillaris imperialis in full bloom because I'd never seen one in person before. The garden was fully ready for visitors, not at all looking like an early spring work-in-progress.

As is our custom when visiting popular sites, we arrived right when the garden opened, so there might have been more people three hours later. The house is tiny --- my guess is that there are timed reservations now, but we just wandered in. Well worth seeing the house for its own sake, not just because Monet lived there. Didn't use a tour group. For what's "best", a tourist site being uncrowded carries a lot of weight with us.

We were there May 20 some years ago and it was spectacular. My photos show wisteria, tulips, iris, peonies, and forget-me-nots, among others.

Edited to add that we travelled independently.

Late April, early May, spectacular tulips and wisteria, plus lots of other flowers!

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate all the helpful information.