Monet’s Giverny: Tips for Visiting His House, Gardens, and Village

If you only have time for one day trip from Paris, this is the one I recommend you take. Now I’ll hold my hand up and say I’m not a major fan of art, I’m more of a musician, having studied classical music for many years. However, a trip to Giverny and the house of Monet is really rather special.

Aside from the fact that it’s less than ninety minutes away from Paris, it takes you out of the hustle and bustle of the city and transports you into the more rural part of Normandy. I can completely understand why Monet fell in love with Giverny and chose to spend his final days there. Even when it’s busy and filled with tourists, there is a wonderful peace to the place.

There are plenty of planned tours you can take, like the one above, or if you prefer to DIY your day trip, you can go solo, taking the train out of Paris to the town of Vernon. So if you’re planning a trip to Giverny and want to know all the options, when the gardens are open, and the best time to go, I’m here to help.

A Little History of Giverny

Claude Monet first spotted Giverny in 1883 while passing through on a train. Something about the village caught his eye, and soon after, he rented a house there with his family. The place gave him the space he craved, both to paint and to garden, and it quickly became the center of his world.

Over time, Monet bought the house outright and began shaping the gardens that would inspire some of his most famous works. He experimented with colors, layouts, and even rerouted a stream to create his water garden. The result was an ever-changing canvas that fed directly into his art.

Monet lived in Giverny until his death in 1926, and by then the village had already become something of an artists’ colony. Painters from America and beyond traveled to see him and often stayed, drawn to the same light and landscapes that fascinated Monet.

A Day Trip to the Village of Giverny

Giverny itself is tiny and everything centers around one main street. There isn’t a huge amount to do, and some of the houses do look a little run down, but many of them have lovely gardens with plaques outside that tell you which artist was living there during Monet’s time. It gives you that feeling of walking through a piece of history. It’s almost like an expansion of Monet’s own gardens as you walk from one end to the other,

At one end of the street, you’ll find the old church of Sainte Radegonde, where Monet is buried. Sainte Radegonde was a very important figure in the history of Poitiers, a city in southwestern France, not far from where I live. It’s quite small and was built in the 11th century, with subsequent expansions in the 15th and 16th centuries. You’ll find Monet’s grave outside, along with some of his other family members.

At the other end sits the Hôtel Baudy. It resembles a traditional French inn, but it was once the meeting place for Monet’s circle of friends. Painters came here from all over, and the walls still carry a sense of that history.

Everything in Giverny orbits around Rue Claude Monet, which leads you straight to the house and gardens. You’ll also pass the Musée des Impressionnismes, which is well worth a visit as it covers other artists, not just Monet, making it a perfect day trip from Paris.

Exploring Monet’s House

When you step inside Monet’s house, it’s easy to picture it as it once was, alive with children running through the rooms, Monet moving back and forth between his studio and the garden, and the kitchen humming from early morning as vegetables came in from the garden, market baskets were unpacked, and friends from Paris dropped by.

On the ground floor, you begin in the little blue lounge. It’s a cozy reading room that connects directly to the gorgeous dining room. The walls are painted a bold yellow, lined with Monet’s collection of Japanese prints, while the matching furniture feels surprisingly modern for its day. The cabinets display the family’s tableware, including the blue ceramic set and the yellow-and-blue dishes used for special occasions. 

Just beyond is the kitchen, tiled in blue Rouen ceramics. The massive stove, with its numerous burners, dominates the room, flanked by gleaming copper pans that appear ready to be put back to work. From there, you move into Monet’s first studio, the one he used until 1899. The space was restored in 2011 thanks to a major donation from the Versailles Foundation, guided by Sylvie Patin, an expert in Impressionism. 

The restoration carefully recreated the room as it would have been in Monet’s time, with sixty reproductions of his paintings hung close together along the walls. Approximately eighty percent of the original furniture was reused, which helps keep the studio feeling authentic, not staged.

Climb the staircase and you enter the private rooms. Monet’s own bedroom, fully recreated in 2013, displays personal items and reproductions of artworks by friends like Cézanne, Renoir, Signac, and Caillebotte. It feels like a space where he really lived, not just a room on show. From there, you pass through his washroom and into Alice’s bedroom, complete with a tiny adjoining sewing room. The walls of both are lined with damask tablecloths stitched together, an unusual but striking touch.

The last stop upstairs is the bedroom of Blanche Hoschedé-Monet, which only opened to the public in 2014. Blanche was Alice’s daughter and later Monet’s daughter-in-law after marrying his eldest son, Jean. She was also an accomplished painter who worked alongside Monet and shared his Impressionist vision. After Jean’s death, she returned to Giverny and lived here until 1947, keeping the house and gardens much as they had been during Monet’s lifetime. 

Clos Normand 

When Monet first arrived in Giverny, the house stood in front of a simple hectare of land. It was mostly an orchard with apple trees and a kitchen garden, with a straight path of cypress and spruce trees leading from the gate to the door. The flower beds were neatly lined with boxwood hedges. Monet wasn’t content to leave it as it was. He threw himself into reshaping the place, determined to create a garden as vivid and layered as his paintings.

The boxwood hedges were the first to go, and despite Alice’s protests, the spruce trees followed. In their place, he installed metal arches that still frame the central path today. Roses climb them in summer, while nasturtiums spill across the ground, softening the path that draws you directly toward the house. 

The orchard changed, too. Apple trees gave way to cherry and apricot trees from Japan, and the lawns were carpeted with thousands of flowers. Daffodils, tulips, irises, poppies, peonies, and narcissi burst into bloom in their seasons, making the space shift constantly, like a living palette.

Monet used the garden the same way he used paint. He played with perspective, staged bursts of color, and created shaded corners for contrast. On the left-hand side, he laid out long rectangular beds planted in single colors, like swatches on an artist’s board. 

The Water Garden

At the far end lies the part of Giverny that has traveled furthest in the world: the water garden. In 1893, Monet bought land across the road and diverted a small stream, the Ru, to fill a pond. He added a Japanese bridge, painted green so it stood apart from the traditional red. Around it, he planted bamboo, ginkgo, maples, peonies, lilies, and sweeping willows that trail into the water. 

At the center of it all, he placed his water lilies. Monet admitted he chose them from a catalog almost at random, but they became his most famous subject. The pond was where Monet spent countless hours. He welcomed guests there, happy to show off the reflections of sky and clouds that fascinated him. 

A gardener tended it full-time, removing single dead leaves to keep the water clear. In 1897, Monet began to paint the water lilies, transforming their floating shapes into canvases that approached abstraction. Those works now hang in museums around the world, but standing at the edge of the pond, you see what he saw: a surface that shifts constantly with color, light, and reflection.

Half-Day Tour of Giverny from Paris

If you want to eliminate the guesswork and stress of negotiating trains and buses, then guided tours are definitely the best option. I always love doing these types of tours, especially if they’re private, because then you have the guide all to yourself.

This is the tour I did with our fabulous guide Anne Laure, who was so accommodating with me firing questions non-stop. It was also great to be picked up from my hotel without the hassle of worrying about the Metro or getting the right train.

Getting to Giverny from Paris

The easiest way to reach Giverny is by train. Head to Saint-Lazare station in Paris and catch a regional TER train to Vernon-Giverny. It’s a direct route, no changes, and there are several departures each day. The station is served by Metro lines 3, 12, 13, and 14, making it easy to reach from most parts of the city.

Tickets cost between €10 and €20 one-way, with discounted fares available for early bookings. You can buy them at the station from the machines or online through apps like Trainline. It’s worth checking the train schedule before booking your entry to Monet’s House, since trains don’t run at exact intervals. The trip itself takes about 50 to 60 minutes.

Once you arrive in Vernon, you’ll need to continue on to Giverny, which is a couple of miles away. From the station, follow the signs to the shuttle buses that run in sync with the trains from Paris after 9 a.m. You can’t miss them because they’re painted with Monet’s artwork. Tickets are €10 round-trip or €5 one-way, and you pay onboard with cash or card. The ride takes less than 15 minutes and drops you at the main parking lot in Giverny. From there, it’s a short walk into the village. 

When you reach Monet’s House, pay attention to the entry signs. If you’ve booked your ticket online, you don’t need to wait in the long line at the main entrance. Look instead for “Porte 1” or “Porte 1bis.” Porte 1 is for groups, while Porte 1bis is for “Entry With Pass.” Follow the arrows down a small lane and you’ll find the gate where your ticket is scanned. This entrance takes you straight into the corner of Clos Normand, Monet’s flower garden.