Giverny Without a Tour: Train, Bike or Car, Step by Step

This guide is for the traveller who would rather go alone. You can: Giverny needs no tour, and Giverny tickets sell at the gate every day. What you give up is the transport and, on most days, a guide. What you gain is time. Here is each step as it is, and the point at which a tour becomes the better deal.

Can you visit Giverny without a tour?

Yes. Monet's house and gardens are open to anyone every day from 1 April to 1 November in 2026, from 10 am to 6 pm, with last admission at 5.30 pm. The Fondation plans the visit as an unguided one of 90 minutes to two hours, and most visitors come on their own.

The village is small. The Musée des impressionnismes stands at 99 rue Claude Monet, on the same street as the house at no. 84. What you have to arrange is getting there, and the ticket.

What does a day on your own cost?

The fixed costs are small. The ticket is €13 for an adult, €7 for a child of 7 to 17 or a student, and free under 7. The shuttle from Vernon costs €5 each way or €10 return. The train from Paris is the variable: SNCF sets its fare by date and train, so price your own day before you compare.

Add the extras you choose. The museum of Impressionism along the street charges €12, or €25 on a combined ticket with the house. Lunch in the village is extra wherever you eat.

Which train, and which station?

Trains leave Paris from Gare Saint-Lazare for Vernon-Giverny station, on the line to Rouen and Le Havre. Both regional TER Normandie trains and Transilien line J serve it. Check the SNCF timetable before you go and again on the day, and buy a return with the last train that suits you in mind.

The station is in Vernon, on the far bank of the Seine from Giverny. Our page on getting there by train covers the station and the lines in full.

Shuttle, bike or on foot from Vernon?

The last stretch is about 5 km. A tourist shuttle runs from the station in the season, at €5 single or €10 return; check its timetable at the station and match your return seat to your train. A cycle path runs the same way, part of La Seine à Vélo, and bikes are for hire at the station exit.

For the bike, the hire shop at the station exit is Givernon, and Vernon Cycles hires too; the Fondation also names Dolce Via for hire from Paris. You can take your own bike on trains on the Paris to Le Havre line, subject to the conditions at the station. Leave it in the bike parking of the Giverny car parks while you visit.

Walking works if you like to walk: it is the same 5 km each way. Whatever you choose, leave a margin after the gardens close for the trip back to the station.

Should you drive?

If you have a car, it is simple. Giverny is about 80 km west-north-west of Paris, and the Fondation lists free car parks in the village, near the house. The individual entrance is beside the car park at 84 rue Claude Monet.

A car also opens up the valley. La Roche-Guyon, with its château on the Seine, is a short drive upstream, and in Vernon the museum and the old mill on the Seine are worth a stop. Weekends and public holidays are the busy days, so arrive early then.

Do you need to book the ticket?

Booking is not compulsory. The Fondation recommends it, above all at weekends and on public holidays, and sells tickets on site every day too. Online tickets for 2026 went on sale on 2 February.

An online ticket cannot be refunded, but you can change its date. That makes it safe to book a weekday as soon as you know it. The combined tickets with the museum of Impressionism, the Musée Marmottan Monet and the Orangerie are sold on site only.

Which entrance do you use?

Individual visitors use the entrance at 84 rue Claude Monet, next to the car park. Groups use the group entrance on the Sente Leroy, and so do visitors with a disability card, who get priority access there.

Two rules catch people who come alone. Bags are checked on entry, and only a cabin-size bag of at most 55 x 35 x 20 cm is allowed, with nowhere to leave a suitcase. And any exit from the site is final, so see the house and both gardens before you walk out to the village.

What do you miss without a guide?

Less than you might think, and more than nothing. The house is laid out as a route: the little blue sitting room, the first studio hung with reproductions, the bedrooms upstairs, then the yellow dining room with Monet's Japanese prints and the blue-tiled kitchen. You can follow it without help.

What a guide adds is the reason for things: why the bridge is green, what Monet planted where, and which paintings each view became. A guide also knows when the house queue is short. Our page on the house and gardens, part by part gives you much of that for free.

How do you plan the day hour by hour?

Take a morning train so that you reach the gate near the 10 am opening, when travellers find the gardens quietest. See the house first, while the queue is short, then the Clos Normand and the water garden. That is the Fondation's 90 minutes to two hours.

Eat in the village at midday: picnics are not allowed in the gardens. In the afternoon, walk to the church of Sainte-Radegonde and Monet's grave, or the museum along the street. Catch the shuttle or ride back with time in hand for your train.

When is a tour the better deal?

When you are one person counting euros, when you have only half a day, or when you want a guide. The coach half-day at $80 carries the ticket and the transport in one fare, with no timetable to read. For one traveller, set it against your train fare plus €23.

A tour is also the answer if you want a guide without the transport. A private guide can meet you at the gate for two hours, from $318 a person with the tickets included. The Giverny tours from Paris set out every way to go with the transport arranged.

What else can you fit in on your own?

• The museum of Impressionism at 99 rue Claude Monet: €12, free under 18, and free for everyone on the first Sunday of April, May, June, October and November.
• The church and Monet's grave, a short walk from the house.
• The Vernon museum, with work by Blanche Hoschedé-Monet and a round Water Lilies canvas: €5.50, closed on Mondays.
• The Hôtel Baudy, where the American painters stayed, now a restaurant.

Our page on where to stay covers a night in the village, which lets you take the gardens at opening time without an early train.

Frequently asked questions

If you would rather have it arranged

Giverny: Monet's House & Gardens Private Guided Walking Tour

Two hours in the house and gardens with a private guide who meets you at the gate, entry tickets paid. Getting to Giverny is up to you.

From $318 per person

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From Paris: Monet Gardens & Giverny Bike Tour with Picnic Stop

Nine hours from the 15th: a bus to the Seine valley, a market picnic by the river, then 5 km by bike to Giverny and two hours at Monet's house and gardens.

From $138 per person

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Giverny Small-Group Minivan with Hotel Pickup or Meeting Point

Five hours in an eight-seat minivan from western Paris, with the entry paid and the gardens on your own. Ages 3 and over; infant seats available.

From $156 per person (minimum 2)

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