giverney

We loved Giverny and spent about 3 hrs in Monet's house and gardens. It's a place where you could easily spend more than 3 hrs though, but we were in a slight hurry. I've heard the town is also charming, with more beautiful gardens, and next time we are in Giverny we'll spend time in the village as well. You can rent bikes at the train station in Giverny and ride around if that's something that appeals to you.

The people I've taken there (their idea not mine) never stayed more than two hours, most a lot less.

We got there when it opened, spent about an hour at the lily pond, another hour between the house and the gift shop. The garden is lovely but is about as crowded as visiting a major art exhibition at a museum. Afterwards we drove to Rouen and had lunch at a cafe next to the cathedral that Monet painted so often. The next day, we stopped at the Etretat cliffs on our way to Calais. (I assume you are fond of Monet.)

Three hours is a nice amount of time to spend at Giverny. Go early to avoid crowds. We encountered lots of school groups of small children-maybe day care aged. The house is wonderful-looks exactly as it was in Monet's day. The entire area is very pretty and we had lunch at the very charming Botanic Cafe. There is also the Museum Cafe but the menu for lunch looked pricey. We took the bus from Vernon-the bus for the return trip was a bit of a wait. Enjoy!

Keri - I think the answer is "it depends". I rushed through Giverny in 2 hours but could have spent twice that much time. If you're a Monet fan and the weather is good and you feel like wandering, this could easily be a half day trip. For me, anyway - I enjoyed it very much!