3 Days in Paris with Monet's Garden at Giverny

Monet lived at Giverny for more than forty years and spent them creating the garden he painted: a flower garden that changes color every few weeks, and a water garden with a Japanese bridge, weeping willows and the water lilies that filled the last thirty years of his work. It is about an hour from Paris, open from April to the start of November, and with a half-day guided trip it fits neatly into a three-day stay.

This route builds the trip around it. Day 1 is the heart of Paris: Notre-Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle, the Île Saint-Louis and the Marais. Day 2 is Giverny in the morning, when the garden is quietest, and the great Water Lilies panels at the Orangerie in the afternoon, so that you see the pond and the paintings on the same day. Day 3 is the Musée d'Orsay, with the largest Impressionist collection in the world, and a walk across the river to the courtyards of the Louvre.

Giverny opens only from April to the start of November, so this route is for spring, summer and autumn. The arrival day is for a walk and an early night. Keep Day 2 off a Tuesday, when the Orangerie is shut, and Day 3 off a Monday, when the Orsay is.

We earn a commission when you book through partner links on this page. It never changes the price you pay. See our affiliate disclosure.

This route at a glance

Tickets to book before you fly

Book Giverny first; in May and June, when the garden is at its peak, the tours fill up. Prices start at the figures shown, per person.

Arrival evening: a walk along the Seine

Walk along the Seine at dusk. Monet grew up on the Normandy coast and lived along the river all his life, from Argenteuil to Vétheuil and Giverny; the light on the water was his subject long before the water lilies.

Go to bed early if your Giverny day is the next one; the tours leave in the morning.

• Check the meeting point of your Giverny tour the evening before.
• Pack a light raincoat for the garden; the paths stay open in rain.
• Comfortable shoes: the gardens are on gravel and grass.

Day 1: Notre-Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle, the Île Saint-Louis and the Marais

Start at Notre-Dame, free to enter, and walk five minutes to the Sainte-Chapelle for 10:00. Its upper chapel of thirteenth-century glass is one of the most beautiful rooms in Paris, and on a sunny morning it is pure color. The ticket includes the Conciergerie next door.

Cross the little bridge to the Île Saint-Louis, an island of quiet streets and seventeenth-century mansions, and have lunch on its main street. The famous ice-cream maker of the island is on the rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Île.

In the afternoon, walk into the Marais to the Place des Vosges, the most beautiful square in Paris, and wander the streets around it, the rue des Francs-Bourgeois and the rue Vieille-du-Temple, full of boutiques, galleries and cafés. It is the perfect gentle first day before the trip out to Giverny.

Stops in order

1. 9:00 · Notre-Dame Cathedral: free entry
   6 Parvis Notre-Dame - Place Jean-Paul II, 75004, Paris
2. 10:00 · Sainte-Chapelle: with the Conciergerie
   8 Boulevard du Palais, 75001, Paris
3. 12:30 · Île Saint-Louis: lunch and an ice cream
   Rue Saint-Louis en l'Île, 75004, Paris
4. 15:00 · Place des Vosges: arcades and garden
   Place des Vosges, 75004, Paris
5. 16:00 · Le Marais: boutiques and cafés
   Rue des Francs Bourgeois, 75003, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Pack for Giverny tonight

Giverny tours leave early, and the meeting points are in the center. Put out comfortable shoes, a hat or a raincoat and a charged phone the night before, so that the morning is only about getting there on time.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: Notre-Dame and the chapel are indoors; in heavy rain, swap the Marais walk for the free Musée Carnavalet.

Day 2: Monet's garden at Giverny and the Water Lilies at the Orangerie

Most half-day tours leave central Paris in the morning and reach Giverny in about an hour. The garden is in two parts. The Clos Normand in front of Monet's pink house is a flower garden laid out in straight beds, with tulips in April, irises in May, roses in June and dahlias and nasturtiums in late summer. Through a tunnel under the road is the water garden: the pond with its water lilies, the green Japanese bridge hung with wisteria, the weeping willows and the bamboo.

Inside the house, Monet's yellow dining room and blue kitchen are as he left them, and his collection of Japanese prints covers the walls. The water lilies themselves flower from late spring to early autumn; in July and August the pond is at its fullest.

Back in Paris in the afternoon, take line 1 to the Concorde and visit the Orangerie, where the eight great Water Lilies panels Monet painted from that pond fill two oval rooms he designed himself. Seeing them a few hours after the real garden is the best way to understand what he was trying to do.

Stops in order

1. 9:30 · Monet's House and Gardens: house, flower garden and water garden
   84 Rue Claude Monet, 27620, Giverny
2. 11:30 · Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny: the village and the impressionism museum, if time allows
   99 Rue Claude Monet, 27620 Giverny
3. 16:00 · Musée de l'Orangerie: the Water Lilies panels
   Quai des Tuileries, 75001, Paris
4. 17:30 · Tuileries Garden: a walk in the garden after the museum
   113, 75001, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Cross the Japanese bridge first

Tour groups usually start in the flower garden. Go straight through the tunnel to the water garden and the bridge before it fills, then come back to the flowers and the house.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: The garden is beautiful in rain and much emptier; the house and the Orangerie are indoors.

Day 3: The Musée d'Orsay and the courtyards of the Louvre

The Musée d'Orsay has the largest collection of Impressionist painting in the world, and after Giverny you will look at it with new eyes. Go straight to the fifth floor for Monet's Poppies, his Rouen Cathedral series and his early paintings of Argenteuil, then Renoir, Degas, Pissarro and Van Gogh. Allow three hours; the museum closes on Mondays.

Cross the footbridge to the Tuileries and walk to the Louvre. Its courtyards, the glass pyramid and the arcades are free and beautiful, and you can leave the museum itself for another trip; Monet painted the view of the Seine from one of its balconies in his twenties.

Finish in the garden of the Palais-Royal, a quiet rectangle of lime trees and fountains behind the Louvre, and walk through the covered Galerie Vivienne for an evening drink.

Stops in order

1. 9:30 · Musée d'Orsay: start on the fifth floor
   1 Rue de la Légion d'Honneur, 75007, Paris
2. 13:30 · Pont des Arts: the footbridge and the Institut de France
   Promenade Marceline Loridan-Ivens, 75006, Paris
3. 14:00 · Louvre Pyramid: the courtyards and the pyramid, free
   Cour Napoléon, 75001, Paris
4. 15:30 · Palais-Royal Garden: garden and arcades
   Passage du Perron, 75001, Paris
5. 17:00 · Galerie Vivienne: covered passage
   Rue des Petits Champs, 75001, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Find Monet's Rouen Cathedrals at Orsay

Monet painted the facade of Rouen Cathedral more than thirty times in different light. The Orsay hangs five of them side by side; after Giverny, they show the same obsession with light as the water lilies.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: Orsay is indoors; skip the Louvre courtyards and walk through the arcades of the rue de Rivoli instead.

Departure morning: a print of the Water Lilies

The shops of the Orangerie, the Orsay and Giverny sell prints and posters of the Water Lilies that roll up for travel; they are the best souvenir of this trip.

Use the last morning for a walk in the garden nearest your hotel, or a last look at the river from the Pont des Arts.

• Rolled posters travel best in a cardboard tube.
• The RER C and the RER B link the Left Bank to the airports via Saint-Michel.
• Allow plenty of time for an international flight.

Which day goes where

The three days can run in any order. Use this table to keep every sight off its closing day.

When to visit Giverny: what flowers when

The garden at Giverny changes every few weeks between April and October. The table shows what you will see, so you can choose your dates or know what to expect.

💡 Pro Tip

Go in May for the wisteria

The wisteria on the Japanese bridge flowers for only two or three weeks, usually in May. If you can choose your dates, that is the moment the garden looks most like the paintings.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

Giverny: half day or full day?

• A half-day tour from Paris covers the house and both gardens with transport and entry included; it is the easiest choice on a three-day trip.
• A full day lets you add the Musée des Impressionnismes in the village and lunch in Giverny.
• Combined tours with Versailles exist, but they make for a very long day.
• On your own, the train to Vernon and a shuttle or bike ride take longer to organize.

Whichever way you go, the garden is busiest between 10:00 and 15:00 and on weekends in May and June, when the irises, peonies and wisteria are out together. A weekday visit is calmer, and an early tour that arrives at opening gives you the water garden before the paths fill. In rain the crowds thin out dramatically, and the water lilies look even more like the paintings under a soft grey sky; bring a hood rather than an umbrella, which is awkward on the narrow paths around the pond and on the Japanese bridge.

More 3-day routes

• Impressionist Paris: the Marmottan, Orsay and Montmartre.
• Paris in spring: gardens in bloom across the city.
• Paris with a day at Versailles: the king's garden instead.
• Paris for art lovers: what to add when the garden has made you want more paintings.
• The best time for 3 days in Paris: when Giverny is open.
• 4 days in Paris: Giverny as a full extra day.
• All the 3-day routes, by theme