monet's house and gardens in early april
 

My friend and I will be in Paris the last week of March and the first few days of April. I see that Monet's house and gardens in Giverney open on April 1st.

Do you think this would be worth a day trip from Paris or would it be too early to see any flowers in bloom?

We will be in Paris for one week and we hope to do 1 or 2 daytrips.

Thanks for your help.
Laurie

I don't know about the beginning of April, but I visited Monet's garden toward the end of April this year and it was GORGEOUS!

I think something is always in bloom while the gardens are open. By the time I visited, for example, some of the azaleas were pretty much finished blooming & must have been beautiful earlier in the month.

So I don't know if you'll want to make a day trip in early April, but I know if I were only going to be in Paris for one week in early April, I'd go.

If you do go, go on a weekday when it's less crowded. I'd also recommend staying in Giverney the night before, so you can get there when it opens when it's not crowded.

Hope this helps.

I would go at anytime if given the opportunity. We were there in Sept last year and just loved it. You can catch the early train from Paris, about 7.50am which gets you into Vernon in plenty of time. We were about the first lot to go through. A little bus met us at the rail station, coming home was a bit more tricky the buses from Giverny to Vernon don't quite connect with the train times, all a bit strange, but that's the way it was. You will love it, go. Schnauzer

Laurie...We were there in mid April and would love to return. Since it is mostly an outdoor experience checking the expected weather would be a good idea. You will be there just before Easter. I think that you'll enjoy it.

closed on Mondays i believe

I was there in early April a few years ago and there was lots in bloom. It is worth the trip. I would schedule your time to be there early in the morning. If you are one of the first in, here's a tip - the entrance waterlily pond is on the opposite corner of the garden from the entrance. Immediately go there and you may be lucky enough to have the bridge to yourself for awhile! Or go later in the day, maybe arrive around 3. There are lots of tour busses and I try to avoid their arrival times.

My daughter and I were in Paris last year, and the trip to Monet's house in Giverny was my favorite part of the trip. The gardens are truly breathtaking!

Here's a link to the website. There's a page that lists what's in bloom each month.
http://giverny.org/gardens/index.htm

There's more to Giverny than the gardens - like the fairly new American Impressionists Museum, the local cemetery where Monet lies dormant, and a neat old untouched French village. And you can trek down to the Seine to recapture views in some of Monet's most famous canvasses.

If into hiking, there's a 3-mile footpath from Vernon along an abandoned rail line, the rail line that Monet used to use to get to Rouen, that goes to the village.

I was at the gardens this year, the first week in April and not much was in bloom. We had been before, a bit later in April and it was beautiful that year.

This past winter was very long and cold in France and it showed at the gardens. The gardens were very disappointing.

I'd wait and see how the winter goes, then decide on going or not.

Thank you to all of you for your responses. Monet's gardens sound lovely. It sounds like they may be worth seeing even in early April.

I appreciate the heads up about it being closed on Mondays. We would have to go on a Sunday since our flight home is on Tuesday.

I hope they have a nice mild winter this year, so many flowers will be blooming.
Thanks again for your advice.
Laurie

My French in-laws are convinced that global warming is real and it's already reeking havoc on their weather - especially with heat waves rarely experienced before in northern France. So if true the blooms may begin appearing earlier than normal!

Official site for the gardens:
Welcome to Claude Monet'sClaude Monet's garden in Giverny. Located 80 km West from Paris France in the village of Giverny, 4 km from the town of Vernon, Claude Monet House and ...
giverny.org/monet/welcome.htm

Hi Laurie,

We visited in Oct one year and I asked how they kept the gardens "in bloom" that late in the year. The answer: we use hot house flowers and the gardens are re-planted every season!