Giverny late afternoon?
 

What are thoughts on arriving in Giverny after lunch and arriving at gardens around 4pm and catching 6:50p train back to paris? Or best to arrive first thing in am? Thank you

I believe Monet's gardens close at 6, with last admission at 5:30. I suspect that the how busy the gardens are varies with the season and day (weekday vs. weekend). FWIW, I spent more than 2 delightful hours there.

To answer the OP's question, your itinerary is doable, but don't cheat yourself out of 2-3 hours in the gardens. The gardens are busy all summer. Lots of tour groups all the time.

I think it's a fine idea. I don't remember spending longer than that there, anyway, if you truly just mean the gardens. I enjoyed seeing the house and that took a while. IN fact, I doubt if I spend more than a couple hours at the place, total. I know I didn't spend 3 hours looking at the garden.

I was including the house when I said "the gardens". There is sometimes a queue to go through it. I do know I took a lot of photographs. I had two kids with me. It was so nice taking photos there and then going to see the waterlily paintings because the kids "got" it. They were 13 & 11 at the time (now 34 & 32, BTW). I have been to Giverny at least twice--maybe 3 times--but not since I went with my kids in 1993. I love France, but, when I go, I try new parts of France.

I will be on my own with my boys, ages 7 & 9. Plan is to rent bikes near train station and make our way to gardens. It would be on weekday. I guess fail safe way would be to go first thing. I don't know exactly what their attention span would be, but would hate to shortchange ourselves if they really enjoy the area.

So can I buy return train ticket in Vernon? I don't need to prepurchase right? I will buy tickets from Paris day before.

Thank you very much for all the input!

We were there last year as my bucket list visit. The bus from the train station coordinates with the train schedule. With that said there were also comments that you could walk it or take bikes, so I made particular note of the "sidewalks" or bike paths to see if we could have done it. Road from Vernon to Giverny is a very busy road. My grandkids are 8 and 10 so not quite comfortable thinking of you with your 2 on that road. Maybe someone who has done it will shed more light on the trip.

No need to reserve a train ticket.

Best advice I could give anyone--so first thing and speed race to the pond. Once everyone gets there, everyone will be in everyone else's pictures.

The cafe where you can rent bikes will also provide you with a map to reach Giverny. You will not be actually riding on the main street but we found even the smaller street had traffic so you will need to be careful. Once you get close to the river there is a bike path. Take into consideration the time it will take to get from the train station to Giverny and back in planning. Also, do you know you can get your tickets online and print from home which will save some time when you arrive? Personally, I'd try to go in the morning, maybe beat the crowds. If you want, you can pick up picnic type foods in Vernon, either at the market or grocery and have a picnic by the river if you think your children would enjoy that.
Enjoy your trip.

As Monet would have said, it's all about the light, I think 4:00 would be good for the reflections; at that time perhaps less crowded than mid-day or at opening time. What month are you going? The second floor of the house might be quite hot late afternoon as I recall. You should plan for two hours there. Be sure to allow enough time to catch your train.