A Private Day Trip From Paris to Giverny Gardens & Palace of Versailles

Meet your English speaking local guide

Enjoy a private small group full day trip that includes guided tours, the visit of the Palace of Versailles combined with the visit of the House & Gardens of Claude Monet in Giverny with pick up and drop off from your accommodation in Paris City center.

Meet your guide and board your luxury air conditioned vehicle that will take you to Versailles Palace followed by the House & Gardens of Giverny. Please note that the visits can be switched around depending on weather conditions or traffic conditions. Your guide will adapt the tour as best as possible. 

Monet's House & Gardens in Giverny

In the afternoon, visit the stunning House and Gardens of Claude Monet, one of the most famous 19th century impressionist French painters. Even though the term 'impressionism' already existed, one of Monet's paintings - impression, sunrise - perfectly summarized the style and start of this painting movement. Upon arrival you will be taken by your guide to the entrance where your visit of the Gardens and House of Claude Monet will begin. There are several things to see on site:

Claude Monet's House

The painter arrived in Giverny in 1883 aged 43 years old. Thanks to the selling of a number of paintings to art merchant Durand-Ruel, he is able to acquire this house where he believes he will be able to ameliorate his work on light and color. During more than 40 years, Monet will transform, develop and enlarge the house.

As you enter Claude Monet's home, you will first discover the reading room or 'little blue sitting room' followed by the artist's first studio where he worked until 1899. You will then proceed to the first floor where the private apartments are located. These include Monet's bedroom where objects and artwork from Monet's time are exhibited.

There are also reproductions of paintings made by his friends: Cézanne, Renoir, Signac or Caillebotte. Then, move on to Alice's bedroom - Claude Monet's wife - and end the tour of the upper floor with the last room which was Blanche Monet's bedroom. You will then return to the ground floor to visit the dining room and kitchen. Here, you will admire Monet's famous collection of Japanese prints.

The 'Clos Normand' Garden

Monet's love for gardens came as he visited the gardens of friends as well as with the one he took care of in his previous house of Argenteuil. In Giverny, the artist will model his garden so as to better paint it. In front of the house, he creates the Clos Normand.

He starts by removing a number of trees, to Alice's great despair, then reorganizes the flower beds playing with the colors for his paintings. The flower garden is composed of daffodils, tulips, narcissus, iris, oriental poppies, peonies while the central path is lined with nasturtiums, fragrant roses, cherry and Japanese apricot trees.

The water garden

By diverting a small river, Monet completely created this water garden. He will contemplate nature for hours especially fond of the reflections of the sky that occur on the water. Deeply inspired by 'Japonism' - influence of Japanese art on French Artists and writers - he creates a unique world.

A Japanese bridge is built and oriental plants are introduced such as maple trees, Japanese peonies, white lilies, bamboos and Ginkgos Biloba. In 1897, Monet began to paint the "Nymphéas" series inspired by the water lilies pond, achieving one of his most famous artwork reaching the limit of abstraction. Today, ten gardeners take care of Monet's gardens all year round.

Lunch in a local restaurant in Giverny or Versailles (at own expense)

During your full day tour from Paris, we will book a restaurant for you so that you can enjoy local food in a relaxed atmosphere. Depending on the itinerary of the day your booking will be made in either a restaurant in Versailles or in Giverny.

Château de Versailles Palace & Gardens visit

Chateau de Versailles is without a doubt one of the most unique Chateau visits of France. This 3 star rated Michelin travel guide historical site is considered to be the symbol of perfection when it comes to Classical Architecture.

The largest known Palace in the world was, from the late 17th century until the French Revolution, a permanent construction site. The Chateau is also a symbol of the power of Royalty from Sun King Louis XIV to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Today, the Chateau as well as the whole domain are gradually regaining their original splendor thanks to immense restoration works.

Here, you will have skip the line tickets and access to fast-track entry, allowing you to jump the queue. Thanks to your accompanying tour guide, you will also be able to start your visit to Versailles rapidly. At last it will be time to begin your tour of the Palace and hear about the History of the Palace & the many stories that have made Versailles Palace what it is.

The visit will take you through the State apartments and beautiful rooms of the King and Queen, the Royal Chapel and Hall of Mirrors and so much more. Outside, you will also have free time to visit and explore the French style Gardens designed by André Le Nôtre. The gardens of Versailles are considered to be the best example of French Style formal Gardens.

The Hall of Mirrors

The Hall of Mirrors, the most famous room in the Palace, was built to replace a large terrace designed by the architect Louis Le Vau, which opened onto the garden. The terrace originally stood between the King’s Apartments to the north and the Queen’s to the south, but was awkward and above all exposed to bad weather, and it was not long before the decision was made to demolish it.

Le Vau’s successor, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, produced a more suitable design that replaced the terrace with a large gallery. Work started in 1678 and ended in 1684.

The War Room

Hardouin Mansart started building the War Room in 1678. The decoration, completed by Le Brun in 1686, pays tribute to the military victories which led to the peace treaties of Nijmegen. The walls are covered with marble panels decorated with six trophies and weapons in gilded bronze. The wall adjacent to the Apollo Room bears an oval stucco bas-relief depicting Louis XIV on horseback trampling his enemies.

The Peace Room

The Peace Room is symmetrical to the War Room and contains the same marble panel decoration and chased trophies of arms in gilded bronze. Here, however, Le Brun decorated the cupola and arches on the themes of the benefits of peace brought to Europe by France. From the beginning of Louis XIV’s reign this room was separated from the hall by a movable partition and was considered part of the Queen’s Apartment, constituting the final room after the Queen’s Chamber.

Visit the Gardens

Visitors looking through the central window in the Hall of Mirrors will see the Grand Perspective stretching away towards the horizon from the Water Parterre. This unique east-west perspective originally dates from before the reign of Louis XIV, but it was developed and extended by the gardener André Le Nôtre, who widened the Royal Way and dug the Grand Canal.

Creating the gardens was a monumental task. Large amounts of soil had to be shifted to level the ground, create parterres, build the Orangery and dig out the fountains and Canal in places previously occupied solely by meadows and marshes. Trees were brought in from different regions of France. Thousands of men, sometimes even entire regiments, took part in this immense project.

For all information concerning the musical gardens and musical fountain show, please refer to our good to know section of the trip page. After the visit, return to Paris and end of our services