Monet's gardens, an hour from Paris by train and by bike from Vernon.

Giverny is Claude Monet's village: the pink house where he lived for more than forty years and the gardens he painted, with the water-lily pond and the Japanese bridge. You get there by train from Paris to Vernon, on the other side of the Seine, and from there by bike along a car-free greenway. This plan puts you at the door at 10:00, when it opens, before the coaches arrive, and leaves the afternoon for the village. It only works from April to October: in winter everything is closed.

The day, hour by hour

8:00 · Train from Saint-Lazare. To Vernon-Giverny, between 45 minutes and an hour. There are works on the line: check the timetables the day before and buy the Monet ticket knowing what time you arrive.

9:00 · Bike along the greenway. Givernon rents classic and electric bikes, children's bikes, seats and trailers twenty metres from the station, from 9:00 to 19:00. You cross the Seine and follow the greenway, flat and traffic-free, to the bike parks in Giverny. If you prefer not to pedal, the shuttle costs €5 each way.

10:00 · Monet's house and gardens. With the ticket bought online, €13 (€7 for ages 7 to 17). First the water garden, before the queue forms at the Japanese bridge; then the Clos Normand and the house, with the yellow dining room and the Japanese prints. Two hours. Inside you cannot eat or bring a dog.

12:15 · Lunch at the Restaurant Baudy. The former hotel of the American painters, with a terrace beside the rose garden. At midday you do not book: at this hour there is still room. On Sundays it opens until 17:00 and on Mondays it is closed.

14:00 · Rue Claude Monet. The village is almost a single street, with galleries and stone houses. Behind the Baudy, the studios where the Americans painted.

14:45 · Monet's grave. In the cemetery of the church of Sainte-Radegonde, at the end of the street.

16:00 · Return. By bike to Vernon and train to Saint-Lazare. In Paris around 18:00.

Is it for me?

If you like gardens or painting, yes: you rarely see the exact place that inspired so many paintings. With children it works thanks to the bike and the pond. If you go by car, it is about 75 km along the A13 and the village car parks are free.