Monet's garden on a sunday

Where did you read that? Did you search the train schedule?

it’s taken me quite a bit of searching to confirm, but JayneandAlex is right for this spring — and not just for Sundays — for Saturdays, too.

*Trains between Paris Saint-Lazare to Val-de-Reuil (along which is the Vernon stop, which is the closest station to Giverny) will NOT RUN on: *

Saturdays in April: April 6, 13, 20, 26

Saturdays in May: May 4

Sundays in April: April 7, 14, 21, 27

Sundays in May: May 5

The SNCF is doing work on a 181-year-old tunnel along the route, the Tunnel de Rolleboise, which is near Bonnieres, in the Yvelines.

Right now, they just have the info up through early May. I don’t know if the construction work may be going on longer than that, into May/June/July . . . . Will keep an eye open.

But it’s definitely a problem getting from Paris to Vernon on weekends in April and at least into early May.

https://www.sncf.com/en/booking-itinerary/traffic-info/idf

Look at “Ligne J” which is the line that runs between Paris St Lazare and Val-de-Reuil.

Some additional info (in French): https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/normandie/calvados/caen/travaux-sncf-11-week-ends-de-perturbations-a-prevoir-sur-les-lignes-entre-paris-et-la-normandie-2906597.html

https://actu.fr/normandie/vernon_27681/vingt-week-ends-sans-train-a-vernon-le-ras-le-bol-des-usagers_60442697.html

Thank you so much for taking the time to research this!! And definitely not good news for us since my friend has already bought tickets to Giverny. She's inclined to rent a car for the day. I'm hesitant.

I'd rent a car on the outskirts of Paris and then plan a day that included maybe another visit or two hard to do by train. Make lemonade.

Alternatively look for bus options. SNCF which runs the trains to Vernon shows bus routes on those days which take about 2.5 hours compared to the usual little over an hour.

Another option would be to train up in the evening before and spend the night and then take a late train back -- the trains seem to be running in the evening (double check of course).

I'm in the rent a car - make lemonade - brigade

On some weekends, the trains are running on Sundays after 16h (4 pm). (Seven weekends of the closure)

On some weekends, the trains don’t start running again until Monday morning, 5 o’clock (Thirteen weekends of the closure)

But you would have to look up the specific Sunday you want to travel to know for sure if you could do what Janet is suggesting. You’d have to get lucky with your Sunday (because two-thirds of the time, the trains don’t start running again until Monday morning). (But you couldn’t get there Saturday on the train anyway.)

I'm with the rent a car group. Would you want to drive on to Rouen in the afternoon, spend the night and next morning, and return to Paris the next day? Very doable, and Rouen is a great place to visit.