Giverny Monet Gardens Half Day Trip

Claude Monet's House in Giverny

Claude Monet rented this long pink house with green shutters in 1883 and later bought it, living here until his death in 1926. Restored in the 1970s and opened by the Fondation Claude Monet, it looks much as it did in his day: the bright yellow dining room, the blue-tiled kitchen, his first studio lined with copies of his paintings and the bedrooms upstairs.

The walls carry Monet's personal collection of Japanese woodblock prints by masters such as Hokusai and Hiroshige, which strongly influenced his work. Allow about 30 minutes inside. Visiting Monet's house in Giverny helps you understand how closely his daily life, his family and his painting were bound to this place.

The Clos Normand Flower Garden

In front of the house lies the Clos Normand, the flower garden Monet planned like a painter's palette. Straight paths lead between beds of tulips and irises in spring, roses and poppies in early summer, and dahlias, sunflowers and nasturtiums spilling across the central alley in late summer and autumn.

Monet employed several gardeners and chose each plant for its colour and height, so the garden changes every few weeks. The best time to visit Monet's gardens depends on what you want to see: May and June for roses and wisteria, September for the richest colour. The Giverny gardens open each year from early spring until the start of November.

The Water Garden and the Japanese Bridge

Across a small road, reached by an underground passage, is the water garden that Monet created in 1893 by diverting a branch of the Epte river. Here are the pond, the water lilies, the weeping willows and the green Japanese bridge that he painted again and again, above all in the great Water Lilies series now shown at the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris.

Take your time on the shaded paths around the pond, especially in summer when the lilies are in flower. Plan about 45 minutes for this part of the visit. For many travellers it is the moment that makes a day trip to Giverny from Paris worth it, as the view matches the paintings almost exactly.

Giverny Village and Monet's Grave

After the gardens you have free time to stroll along the Rue Claude Monet, with its ivy-covered houses, small galleries and cafés, and to see the Museum of Impressionisms, which shows temporary exhibitions (entry not included). Many American painters settled in Giverny after Monet, and the village still has the feel of an artists' colony.

Before returning to Paris the coach stops at the Church of Sainte-Radegonde, where Monet is buried with his family in a simple grave. Giverny is about 75 kilometres north-west of Paris, roughly an hour and fifteen minutes by coach, which makes this Giverny tour from Paris an easy half-day outing.