The Definitive Guide ยท Normandy & Giverny, France
Normandy & Giverny: The Complete Authority Guide
From the history of a Norman village to the world's most beautiful garden โ every secret, every detail, every season. Trusted by 500,000 travellers.
Complete Travel Guides
From Viking Normans to Monet โ the village's complete history. American colony, two World Wars, garden restoration.
Read the full guide โClos Normand, water lily pond, Japanese bridge, Monet's house, practical info and booking. The most complete guide.
Read the full guide โCombine Giverny with the D-Day beaches, Mont Saint-Michel or Rouen. Itineraries and practical advice.
Read the full guide โAll options from Paris: Transilien J train, shuttle, car, guided tour. Timetables and price comparison.
Read the full guide โWhen do tulips, poppies, irises, roses and water lilies bloom? Our complete flowering calendar.
Read the full guide โThe 4 AOC cheeses, cider, calvados, pommeau, restaurants in Giverny and Vernon, local markets.
Read the full guide โWhy normandy-giverny.com?
2,000โ4,000 word articles written by experts, based on primary sources and verified every season.
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Opening hours, prices, bloom calendars: all information verified at the start of each season.
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A Village Through the Ages
Giverny was not always Monet's village. Long before the painter's arrival in 1883, this Norman hamlet had a history over a thousand years deep โ from Viking settlers to medieval monks, from the Hundred Years' War to the Belle รpoque. Then Monet arrived, and with him a colony of 500 American artists, the most photographed garden in the world, and a restoration funded by donors on both sides of the Atlantic.
Read the full guide โWhen to Visit Giverny
Everything You Need to Know
Giverny is famous above all for being the home of the Impressionist painter Claude Monet from 1883 until his death in 1926. The village is home to Monet's legendary gardens โ the Clos Normand flower garden and the water lily pond with its Japanese bridge โ which inspired his most celebrated series of paintings. Giverny is also known for the historic American artists' colony that gathered here in the late 19th century, and for the Museum of Impressionisms.
Absolutely. With 300,000 visitors per year, Giverny is consistently ranked among the top tourist destinations in France. The gardens are genuinely extraordinary โ not a reconstruction but a living work of art maintained to Monet's original specifications. Even outside peak blooming season, the garden's structure, the house interior and the village itself make for a deeply rewarding day trip from Paris.
Giverny is 75 km north-west of Paris, or approximately 1h20 by train (Paris Saint-Lazare to Vernon), followed by a 5 km shuttle bus or taxi ride to the village. By car it is approximately 1h15 via the A13 motorway. Organised day tours from Paris typically leave around 08:00 and return by 17:00โ18:00.
The Fondation Claude Monet gardens and house are open from 1 April to 1 November, every day from 09:30 to 18:00 (last entry 17:30). They are closed from November to March. Ticket prices: โฌ13 for adults, free for children under 7.
Yes. Giverny is in the dรฉpartement of Eure, in the Normandy region of northern France. It sits at the confluence of the Seine and Epte rivers, historically on the border between Normandy and the former รle-de-France territory โ a strategic position that shaped the village's history for over a thousand years.
May and June are the undisputed peak months โ the garden is at its most spectacular, with poppies, irises, roses and nascent water lilies all blooming simultaneously. April is beautiful and less crowded (tulips, cherry blossoms). July and August offer lush gardens but more visitors. September is a hidden gem: dahlias and asters, fewer crowds, gentle autumn light. The garden is closed NovemberโMarch.