How to get to Giverny from Paris

Getting to Giverny: what makes it different from Versailles or Disneyland

Giverny is the one popular day trip from Paris that does not sit in Île-de-France. Monet’s house and gardens are about 75 km northwest of the city, on the edge of the town of Vernon in Normandy. That is meaningfully further than Versailles (about 20 km southwest) or Disneyland Paris (about 30-35 km east), both of which sit on regional train or RER lines that run straight into central Paris. Giverny does not have that kind of direct rail link, which is the main thing to plan around.

There is no train station in Giverny itself. The route is: train from Paris to Vernon, then a second leg — shuttle bus, taxi, or bicycle — to cover the last few kilometres into the village. A guided tour that departs from central Paris handles both legs for you in one vehicle, which is the main reason travellers choose it over the train even though it costs more.

This page covers only the transport question — how to physically get from Paris to Giverny and back. For what to see once you’re there, read Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny; for a full day plan, see the Giverny day trip from Paris guide.

Option 1: train to Vernon, then a connection to Giverny

The train leg runs from a central Paris station to Vernon-Giverny station, on the line toward Rouen and the Normandy coast. From Vernon, the final stretch to Giverny is covered by a shuttle bus timed loosely around train arrivals, by taxi, or — for travellers comfortable cycling a few kilometres on a paved path — by rental bike from the station area.

This route asks more of the traveller than a Versailles or Disneyland day trip does. There is a real connection to manage at Vernon, and the shuttle does not run as frequently as a city metro line, so arriving without a rough plan for the return leg can mean a long wait. Build in slack on both ends of the day rather than cutting the connection close, and confirm the shuttle or taxi option currently operating before you leave — the specifics of that last-mile connection change from year to year.

General information on Paris train stations and how to buy long-distance rail tickets is covered separately in the Paris train stations guide; this page focuses on the Giverny leg specifically rather than repeating city transport basics.

Getting to the departure station itself is the first leg most travellers overlook when timing the day. Île-de-France Mobilités runs the city’s 16 metro lines, 5 RER lines, trams and buses, and a single-journey Metro-Train-RER ticket or a Navigo Easy card loaded with tickets will get you across Paris to the right station well before the Vernon train leaves. Travellers staying several days may already be carrying a weekly Navigo pass or a Paris Visite pass, either of which covers that first leg without buying a separate ticket. Whichever you use, build in a little slack for the metro or RER connection on the way out — a missed city train is a more common cause of a late start than anything on the Vernon side of the trip.

Option 2: a guided tour direct from Paris

A guided day tour picks travellers up in central Paris and drives (or takes travellers by coach) directly to Giverny, handling the Vernon connection as part of the itinerary. This removes the two-leg logistics entirely and typically bundles in skip-the-line or pre-booked entry to the gardens, plus commentary on Monet’s life and work.

The trade-off is straightforward: more money for less planning. For a first visit, or for travellers who don’t want to build a return-shuttle timetable into their day, a tour is the simpler choice. For travellers comfortable managing a train connection and who want to control their own pace at the gardens, the train plus shuttle is cheaper and gives more flexibility about how long to stay.

The Giverny catalogue itself runs to 40 products, covering a range of guided formats and combined itineraries — enough that comparison-shopping is worthwhile rather than booking the first option seen. Because the tours below are drawn from a fixed list of bookable activities rather than searched fresh for this page, they lean toward private, driver-led day trips in a similar distance bracket rather than a Giverny-specific product:

If a fixed public shuttle timetable feels like an unnecessary risk for a trip this far out, a private driver removes that variable entirely — the Normandy day trip with a private driver from Paris follows the same logic on a comparable stretch of road northwest of the city, and the private tour to Villa Savoye with Le Corbusier covers a shorter outing in roughly the same direction out of Paris, useful as a reference point for what a private car and driver look like for a half-day beyond the city limits. Travellers weighing whether any private guide makes sense for a trip this length can also read hiring a private guide in Paris — the option to arrange a private guide for a custom day out from Paris is listed there directly.

For travellers who would rather book something built specifically around Giverny rather than a general private-driver product, a dedicated guided tour of Monet’s house and gardens from Paris covers the return transport and a guide on-site, which removes the last piece of planning the train-and-shuttle route still leaves to the traveller: knowing where to look once you’re inside the gardens rather than only how to get there.

Coach and minivan formats sit between those two extremes on price and group size, and are worth a look for travellers who want the connection handled without paying for a fully private car. Either way, read the tour description closely before booking: some Giverny products combine the visit with another Normandy or Île-de-France stop in the same day, which adds time on the road rather than time in the gardens, and is not the same trip as a Giverny-only excursion.

Train vs. tour: a quick comparison

	Train + shuttle to Vernon	Guided tour from Paris
Connections to manage	Two legs: train, then shuttle/taxi/bike	One pickup, one vehicle
Flexibility at the gardens	You set your own visit length	Fixed by the tour schedule
Planning effort	Higher — check shuttle timing and return options	Lower — itinerary is set for you
Typical cost	Lower	Higher
Best for	Independent travellers comfortable with a connection	First visits, no interest in managing logistics

No prices are given here since they change; compare current fares and tour rates directly when booking.

Before you go: check the gardens’ opening dates

This is the point that trips up more Giverny plans than the transport itself. Monet’s house and gardens are not open year-round. They close for winter and reopen in spring, running through into autumn — the exact opening and closing dates shift slightly each year and are set by the gardens’ management, not by the train timetable. There is no version of this trip that works outside that season: arriving at Vernon in the closed months, having booked a train or tour without checking first, means the gardens simply aren’t there to see.

Confirm the current season’s opening and closing dates before booking any train ticket, shuttle, or tour, not after. This matters more for Giverny than for most other day trips covered on this site, since Versailles and Disneyland Paris both operate on a year-round basis and don’t carry this same seasonal risk.

How this compares to other day trips from Paris

Giverny sits at the longer end of what’s realistically doable as a single day out from Paris. It takes more transport time than Versailles and more planning than Disneyland Paris, though it’s still a shorter, simpler outing than the longer excursions covered elsewhere on this site, such as the route to Mont-Saint-Michel, which is a considerably longer day in both directions.

For a side-by-side look at whether Giverny or Versailles suits a particular trip better, see Giverny vs. Versailles as a day trip. For a broader view of what else is realistic as a single day out, the best day trips from Paris guide lays out the full set, and the things to do in Giverny page lists what’s bookable there once transport is sorted.

Money and what to carry on the day

France uses the euro, and cards and contactless payment are accepted almost everywhere on this route — the train ticket, the shuttle or taxi in Vernon, and entry to the gardens can all typically be paid or booked by card. It is still worth carrying a little cash: Vernon is a small town, and if your day includes a stop at a local market stall or a small café rather than a larger restaurant, not every vendor takes cards. There is nothing to prepay beyond your transport and garden entry — no separate visitor tax applies to a single day trip the way a hotel stay in Paris carries one.

Giverny alongside Normandy’s other day trips

Giverny technically sits in Normandy rather than Île-de-France, which puts it in an unusual middle position among the excursions covered on this site: closer to Paris than the Normandy D-Day beaches or Rouen, Honfleur and Etretat, but outside the tighter cluster of Île-de-France trips like Versailles or Chantilly. Some tour operators combine Giverny with a stop in Rouen or another Normandy town on the way back toward Paris, which turns the day into a longer, two-stop itinerary rather than a single-site visit — worth checking for in a tour description if a longer day suits your plans, and worth avoiding if you specifically want the shorter, Giverny-only version of the trip. It is not, on the other hand, a stop that pairs naturally with the Champagne region or the Loire Valley, which lie in different directions from Paris entirely.

Practical notes for the day

Pack for a full day out rather than a quick half-day errand: once the train, the Vernon connection, the visit itself, and the return trip are all counted, most travellers use the better part of a day on this excursion. Bring comfortable shoes for walking the gardens’ paths, and check the weather — the gardens are outdoors and the appeal of the visit depends heavily on being able to walk through them at a reasonable pace rather than rushing. A light layer is worth packing even outside the coldest months: Paris and Normandy share a temperate but changeable climate, and rain is possible at any time of year, including during the spring and early-autumn weeks that are otherwise the best time to see the gardens in bloom.

Because the return leg mirrors the outbound one — shuttle or taxi back to Vernon station, then train back to Paris — leave enough buffer before your return train that a short wait for the shuttle doesn’t turn into a missed connection. Travellers on a tour don’t need to think about this; it’s built into the itinerary. Either way, confirm your return option before you leave Paris in the morning rather than figuring it out on the spot in Vernon: the shuttle and the last convenient trains back run on their own schedule, not on the traveller’s.

Time zone and daylight are worth a passing thought too, especially for an outdoor garden visit. Paris and Normandy share the same Europe/Paris time zone, and daylight hours shift noticeably between a June visit and a November one — not that Giverny is open in November, but the point stands for the edges of the open season in spring and autumn, when starting earlier in the day buys more usable light for walking the gardens at an unhurried pace.

Frequently asked questions about getting to Giverny from Paris

How far is Giverny from Paris?

Giverny is roughly 75 km northwest of Paris, noticeably further than Versailles or Disneyland Paris. It sits just outside the town of Vernon, in Normandy, not in Île-de-France.

Is there a direct train from Paris to Giverny?

No. Trains run from Paris to Vernon station, several kilometres from Giverny itself. From Vernon you continue by a connecting shuttle bus, taxi, or bicycle to reach Monet’s house and gardens.

Is Giverny open all year?

No. Monet’s house and gardens close for winter and reopen in spring, staying open through autumn. Always check the current-year opening and closing dates before booking transport or a tour, since visiting outside the season is not possible.

Can I visit Giverny as a half-day trip from Paris?

It is possible but tight. Between the train to Vernon, the shuttle connection, the visit itself, and the return journey, most visitors need the better part of a day rather than a quick half-day stop.

Is a guided tour or the train better for Giverny?

The train and shuttle combination costs less and runs on a fixed schedule you need to plan around. A guided tour from Paris removes the connection logistics and usually includes skip-the-line entry, at a higher price.

Do I need to book Giverny tickets in advance?

Booking ahead is strongly advised, especially in peak spring and early summer weeks when the gardens are busiest and entry can sell out for a given day.

Can I combine Giverny with another day trip in one day?

Not comfortably. Giverny alone already takes most of a day once travel time is counted, so pairing it with Versailles or another excursion in the same day is not realistic.