Visiting Giverny: Monet’s House and Gardens

Monet’s house and gardens open every day from 1 April to 1 November, and you need a ticket to go in. The village around them is free to walk. If you are weighing up Giverny tickets, start with the season, the €13 fare and the bag rule. Those three decide most of your day.

The season and the hours

The Fondation Claude Monet opens the house and gardens every day of the season, from 10 am to 6 pm. Last admission is at 5.30 pm, so arrive by five if you want an unhurried hour. In 2026 the season runs from 1 April to 1 November. The Fondation publishes each new season’s dates in the new year.

The Fondation suggests an hour and a half to two hours for the visit itself, unguided. Most half-day tours give you two to three hours in the village, which leaves time for the church or a coffee. One rule catches people out: any exit from the site is final. See the house and both gardens before you walk back out to the street.

Tickets and prices

An adult ticket costs €13 in 2026. Children aged 7 to 17 and students pay €7, and children under 7 go in free. A visitor with a disability pays €6, while a companion pays the full rate. Groups of 20 or more book ahead and pay €12 an adult.

Most tour fares carry this ticket, and each card says so where the listing names it. Some private days name the visit only in their itinerary, so ask the operator before you pay at the gate. The private driver day leaves the ticket out, so you buy your own.

Booking, the two entrances and the wait

You do not have to book, but the Fondation recommends it, above all at weekends and on public holidays. Online sales for 2026 opened on 2 February. The desk at the house also sells tickets every day of the season, from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm. An online ticket cannot be refunded, but you can change its date.

The house has two gates. Visitors on their own use the individual entrance at 84 rue Claude Monet, next to the car park. Groups go in by the group entrance on the Sente Leroy, which is also where a disability card gives priority access. If a tour holds your ticket, your guide will tell you which gate to use.

A booked ticket saves the ticket queue, not the crowd inside. The queue for the house builds through the morning, so many visitors walk to the house first and the pond after. Travellers who arrived for the 10 am opening found the gardens quietest.

What you can bring, and what you cannot

Bags are checked on the way in. Only a cabin-size bag is allowed, at most 55 x 35 x 20 cm, carried in your hand or on your back. There is no luggage storage, so leave a suitcase at your hotel or on the coach.

• No picnics in the house or the gardens. Eat before or after, in the village.
• No painting or drawing, and no wedding photo shoots.
• No pets, except a recognised assistance dog.

Wear comfortable shoes: the garden paths are gravel, and a half day means a lot of time on your feet.

Access for reduced mobility

The Fondation says the gardens are accessible to visitors with reduced mobility, and that the house is not wheelchair accessible. So a wheelchair user can see the flower garden and the pond, but not the inside of the house. Show a disability card at the group entrance on the Sente Leroy for priority access and the €6 fare.

A few tour listings call their day wheelchair accessible. That describes the vehicle and the operator’s help, not the house, so ask before you book. The Musée des impressionnismes is accessible throughout, toilets included, and lends wheelchairs on request.

Combined tickets

The desk at the house sells three combined tickets, to individual visitors only. The one for the Musée des impressionnismes, a few minutes’ walk up the same street, suits a day with time to spare. The two Paris ones pair the gardens with the paintings they grew.

The Orangerie in Paris holds the great Water Lilies panels, which Monet gave to the French State in 1922. Buy a combined ticket at the house on the day; you cannot add it to a tour fare.

Getting there, in brief

Trains run from Paris Saint-Lazare to Vernon-Giverny station, on the line to Rouen and Le Havre. From the station a shuttle bus costs €5 one way or €10 return, or you can walk or cycle the path of about 5 km. Check the SNCF timetable and the shuttle’s own times before you set out.

Drivers find free car parks in the village, close to the house, with space for bicycles too. The full picture, from bike hire at the station to the cruise port at Le Havre, is on getting to Giverny from Paris.

Cancellations and refunds

Refund windows differ, and every card states its own. Most tours refund in full if you cancel at least 24 hours ahead. A private half day from Paris is non-refundable, and the Le Havre shore day needs six days’ notice. A ticket you buy yourself from the Fondation is never refunded, though you can change its date.

Asked before you go