We are wanting to take a day trip to Monet's garden in Giverny and also see the English channel. 1. How much time would you allow in Giverny at the gardens (including the stop in Rouen and either catching a bus or renting a bike)? 2. What is the best coastal town to stop at from a train departing from Rouen (it looks like the US war memorial in the Bayeux region and Mont Saint-Michel area are out of the question because those are 3-4 trips alone that go back to Paris from what I can tell)? 3. Is it viable to do both (Giverny and the coast then back to Paris) in the same day? (We are looking at maybe spending a couple hours at the coast and hoping to be back in Paris before 22:00) 4. Can we just buy a round-trip train ticket to the coast and back and get off at Rouen and hop back on when we want on the same day? Or would we need to buy Paris-Rouen, Rouen-Le Havre, Le Havre-Paris point-to-point tickets? Thanks!
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
1. The closest train station to Giverny is at Vernon, not Rouen. If you leave Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris at 08:20, you'll arrive in Vernon at 09:05. The gardens open at 09:30. 2. If you leave Vernon at 11:06, you can connect in Rouen and arrive in Le Havre at 12:57; but that doesn't give you very much time at Giverny. The next train you can take leaves Vernon at 13:06; you'll connect in Rouen and arrive in Le Havre at 14:57. Leaving at 13:06 would give you ample time to visit the gardens and have lunch before boarding the train. Or you could buy the fixings for a picnic lunch to take on the train. 3. You can take a train directly from Le Havre to Paris, departing at 19:12 and arriving at 21:40. Or leave at 18:00 and arrive at 20:10.
Posted by
OP
Bolivar
15 posts
Thanks. After doing some more research, we're looking at going to Dieppe. We'll arrive in Paris a couple days before we take this trip from Paris-Vernon-Dieppe-Paris. 1. Is there any special roundtrip or one day travel deals? 2. Is it best to buy these tickets early in the States (if so, with whom)? A couple days before in Paris? Or just buy them right before?
Posted by
OP
Bolivar
15 posts
And, is there any flexibility in the tickets time-wise (ie if we wanted to explore Rouen on the transfer time)? I saw an option with raileurope for partial and full flexibility. What does that mean?
Posted by
Boston
380 posts
Hi, Aaron Click on the train that you are interested in. Scroll down and there is an explanation of partial/full flexibility. Usually, it's about refundable or exchangeable. Of course, the more flexible, the more the ticket will cost. If you are pretty sure about your schedule, I would suggest you buy the tickets ASAP. The cheaper tickets goes fast. You can compare the prices on RailEurope and TGV-europe to see which sites offer the better prices. Although most people feel TGV is cheaper, my personal experience was that RailEurope was pretty much the same price or cheaper. They gave me a $25 discount on my second set of tickets. Just as a side note, this is just my personal preference. Don't you think you are trying to do too much in one day?
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
If you want to go to Dieppe after visiting the gardens at Giverny, your departure times are quite limited: (1) Leave Vernon at 11:06, connect in Rouen, and arrive in Dieppe at 12:59 or (2) Leave Vernon at 15:06, connect in Rouen, and arrive in Dieppe at 16:59. Returning to Paris: (1) Leave Dieppe at 19:00, connect in Rouen, and arrive in Paris at 21:40 or (2) Leave Dieppe at 20:02, connect in Rouen, and arrive in Paris at 22:10. There are no special roundtrip or all-day travel deals. You will be on regional trains between Rouen and Dieppe. No discounts for advance purchase and no reservations possible, but your tickets will be good on any train.
Posted by
OP
Bolivar
15 posts
Thanks Chun and Tim. Chun, it is a bit rushed but the gardens at giverny in the morning and the coast for a couple hours is our priority for that day since our flight leaves the next morning. This is our first trip over. What was your experience at Monet's gardens like? What areas would you recommend seeing and areas worth skipping? Also, is there a bike rental from Vernon to Giverny? Do you know the price on that? Tim, thanks for the insight. Thought I'd at least ask if there was discounted fares. You're a wealth of knowledge. Thanks for you time!
Posted by
Sacramento, California U.S.A.
10207 posts
I'm sure you can rent bikes somewhere in Vernon. I don't have any specific information though. There is a bus you can catch just outside of the train station that will take you to Giverny and back. The buses seem to be timed to the train schedule. If you take the bus, be fast getting out there. There wasn't enough room for everyone, so some people had to wait for the next bus. We took a picnic lunch to Monet's garden and ate it there.
Posted by
OP
Bolivar
15 posts
Tim, Let me know if I understood you right on the regional from Dieppe-Rouen. Say we get the 8:02pm train from Dieppe to Rouen and the 8:56pm train from Rouen to Paris. If we decide to leave early from Dieppe, we can use the 8:02 ticket to get on the 7:00pm train to Rouen, stay in Rouen until the 8:56 train if we want to explore Rouen. Is that correct? -Aaron