Giverny & Monet's House Audio Guided Half-day Tour from Paris

Traffic delays resulted in only 75 minutes before Giverny closed. Need to be able to walk!

I would not recommend taking this tour in the afternoon, or if you have any mobility issues. From a mobility standpoint, once we walked from the metro station to the meeting point, we then had to walk 1/2 mile to get on the bus. Slower walkers were quick to fall behind the trek down the street to the bus. Afternoon tours are not the best as there were traffic delays which caused us to arrive late, but Giverny closes at 6 pm no matter what. We only had 1 hour 15 minutes to see Giverny, the garden and pond, house and the shop. Not the best experience.

Audio tour flaw

This was to have been an audio guided tour, but we were not told that it would be a download to our cell phones or that we would have to have our own earbuds to have the tour be private to us. In addition, one of us didn’t have a cell phone, so didn’t get to do anything. Other grouis on The same bus got quiet boxes and earphones and many of us got essentially nothing usable.

Skip

We were not given any audio for this. we didn't have internet which you need to get the audio. no mention when booking. Waste of money train would have been a better choice.

Memorable

The gardens were beautiful and memorable. I would suggest that you make your tours all guided rather than some with the guide and others not. We left our bus and were totally lost as to how to find the entrance and move through the exhibit. Most of the people on the bus were taking guided tours, but through a misunderstanding on our part, we did not select that option. It just didn’t make sense to have some taking part and others not.

Wonderful Experience at Giverny

Great tour and guide. Giverny is beautiful. The gardens are wonderful and the house was interesting too.

Inadequate information from tour guide

The gardens were beautiful. The site was lovely. The ‘sortie’ signs were not clear; the guide gave the wrong description of the bus for returning purposes;; bus was NOT in the parking area when we retuned nor were we told that the bus would be leaving the parking area while we toured gardens. Very disconcerting to find that upon returning to the parking lot out tour bus was no where to be seen.

Picture perfect!

While we took the self guided tour, our guide, Alexandra was so kind and helpful in how to make the most of our time. She had excellent knowledge not only of Monet's gardens and home, but of the sites we passed on the travel to and from the site. We highly recommend this half day tour and our guide, Alexandra!

Terrible misrepresented tour!

This was a terrible experience Not at all as described when we ordered tickets. It said the bus ride was a little over an hour. When we got on the bus, the tour guide said some freeway was closed so it would take an hour and a half. Well it took an hour and 45 minutes to arrive! Then we were so pressed for time during the tour. She said they added on 15 minutes. really? all of that should have been disclosed in the description. Also the self guided tour is BS. My phone got no internet service out there, and on my partners phone the sound went on and off! DO NOT BUY THIS TOUR and because of the 2 hour bus ride, we missed our dinner reservation back in Paris.

Wonderful trip to Giverny

Late April is a great time to see the gardens --so much color! Guide Alexandra was excellent, gently herding the group that wanted a guided tour. There was an option to see on own as well.

QR code audio guide didn’t work, ultra rushed, not much of a tour, bad customer service

If you are pressed for time, taking a tour bus *might* be a good way to see Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny. However, the audio guide didn’t work for me, the customer service orientation was not good, and the bus was packed and smelled bad. After getting to Giverny, hordes of tourists crowded the area and the pictures I managed to take did not belie the stress experienced by a lady ramming into me to get a better view of the bridge and feeling like appreciation of the gardens was stilted by a constantly moving line. If I were to visit Giverny again, I would choose to take the train by myself or maybe rent a car and I would more peacefully and leisurely spend the day with admiring the gardens, the museums, and having lunch. A solid 2 hours and 30 minutes is spent on the bus, 30 minutes (15 each way) are spent walking from parking into the main area of the town, and there were just shy of 2 hours for visiting the house and gardens. Very rushed and unpleasant experience. OH and, aside from 2-3 clips, my audio guide didn’t work! You have to scan a QR code to listen to pre-recorded clips dictated by a man whose voice seems designed to put you to sleep. After a few clips, there was no sound. The attitude of Paris City Vision was that they’re not responsible and that’s that. Do not go on a Paris City Vision tour to Giverny! I learned very little outside of my own explorations. I really should have just gone on my own.

Giverny is a great place....

Giverny is a great place. Unfortunately, way too crowded to appreciate. Audio guide not very useful. Guide was ok but not too helpful and didn’t add anything to the experience.

I bought a guided tour in...

I bought a guided tour in Spanish, unfortunately the tour was always in English. The agency did not communicate in it.

Cozy garden trip

The gardens were beautiful in the spring. I have been there in the summer so it was totally different. The flowers were gorgeous

A must see!

This is a place that every tourist to Paris should see. Being on this tour made the excursion doable. It is too far to try to maneuver on our own with trains. Our guide Alexandra was wonderful. She gave a running commentary the whole tour. I learned so much. Unfortunately, it happened to be a school holiday so the grounds were mobbed with people. But the grounds are beautiful. The flowers are amazing. And as I said, I learned so much!

Traveling in July allowed...

Traveling in July allowed us to see the water lilies. The grounds were stunning. Definitely worth a half a day’s trip.

Nice time

I really enjoyed visiting the gardens and Monet’s house. It was better than I expected. The grounds were lovely even in October. I would recommend doing the self guided tour.

Stunningly beautiful gardens.

I enjoyed taking photos of the flowers and Monet's house. The reproductions of his art was lovely to see.

Great

Although extremely crowded, still worthwhile . Beautiful kept gardens, the foundation foes a great job with this property upkeep

Excellent guide!

Alexandra was an amazing guide. She made sure everyone wore seatbelts and answered all our questions!

Excellent Guide

Our guide Alexandra was very good. She was very organized and thoughtful with all of the guests. We would recommend this to our friends and family.

Great Giverny tour

We totally enjoyed our Viator Giverny tour. It was easy to make reservations, meet and get tickets, very comfortable bus ride, and the gardens, of course, were spectacular. Two hours was enough time to see the house, have a snack, visit the museum shop and relax a bit before our return to Paris. We highly recommend this tour.

I recommend this tour to all who appreciate the beauty of nature.

Although we visited in October, the gardens were bursting with vibrant colors and plants in full bloom. Obviously planted with each season considered.

Beautiful gardens, must visit

This place is gorgeous. Definitely worth visiting even if you aren’t a huge fan of Monet. The coach was very comfortable as well.

Skip the middle man.

Unfortunately, the most memorable part of our Giverny "experience" was the fact that we were misdirected as regards the pickup location. This created a delay for everyone, not just ourselves. This in turn most likely led to everyone's time being limited once we got there.

Monet's house and gardens...

Monet's house and gardens at Giverny were beautiful and we enjoyed our audio tour and independent walking around. Two disappointments were with the tour group. 1. They didn't tell us we would be using our own phone and headphones (which we didn't bring) as our audio for the tour. (In the end, the tour guide found some devices for us to use. 2. Everything from Viator said we would meet at a location and be dropped back at the same location. Well, we were dropped off at a different location and were unsure how to get back to our starting point. This was at a hotel. The tour guide was a bit helpful but other people from our bus helped us more to get where we needed to be to catch our transportation.

Beautiful Monet’s Garden

Alex was our tour guide and she was extremely friendly and organised. The whole experience was fantastic! It is definitely worth visiting and I would thoroughly recommend it!

The beautiful gardens....

The beautiful gardens. They brought a feelings of peace to me, with the mixture of colors, types of flora and water.

The gardens were lovely...

The gardens were lovely although a little crowded. We could not get into the house. Interesting to hear the history of gardening as well as of art. You should make very clear to those booking that they need headphones for their phones not their audio devices - for example iPhones need an adapter for most headphones. Might be an idea also to recommend to bookers to go on a weekday where possible.

Informative tour guide

Very personable tour guide with a good sense of humor. Knows his stuff! He provided us with detailed information regarding the life and works of the famous Claude Monet.

Good data or a guide

Our data was in and out. We came to do the tour on our own. Paths in the garden are small. We couldn’t pass the Tour groups. My point is you should do the tour with a guide. Plus it poured all day. 1/2 day is only an hour and a half at the gardens bc of travel.

A must see place to visit

One of the most beautiful place in France. The house, flowers, and pond are even more beautiful than I expected. The grounds are as tranquil as beautiful even with the large amount of people visiting. A must place to experience!

Easy way to get to Giverny

We choose the sel guided tour which was perfect for us. We didn't know we needed ear buds and our cell phones to get audio tour because of your writeup but guide fixed that

As beutiful as I dreamed it

Excelent service providing another way to listen to audio, when my phone battery was low. Thankyou for ensuing I did not miss out.

Great tour!

It was a wonderful experience to be in Monet’s house and gardens! We had great weather and the tour was very well organized.

Giverny tour spoilt by rude guide and unclear instructions

While the tour as a whole was what we were after we were greeted by a guide on the bus who gave us audio equipment which was not very clearly explained. When I asked him to repeat instructions to my husband - as two head are always better than one he was rude and dismissive. Many people seated near us on the bus were also having difficulties. As he stormed down the bus he hit his head several times on the TV screens and became rude and offensive to us all. At a later point he upset a Spanish lady who took him to task and asked him to stop being so rude. It was an intimidating and acceptable behaviour from someone who is hosting the tour. Our other problem was that the map was not very clear and the only instruction was left, left then right with so idea of the distances. We became lost on our way back to the bus and were stressed by the thought we may miss the deadline. There appeared to be no head counting or ticking people off the list as they entered the bus. Given many people are foreigners experiences difficulties with language and systems I think the procedure needs a rethink. And our guide needs to consider another job!

UNPROFESSIONAL

This company clearly cares more about their pocketbook than their customers. I accidentally double booked this tour for my husband and me and called the company prior to beginning the tour to request a refund. I was told after the tour was over via email that no refund would be given despite my advanced notice to the tour operator. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME AND $ WITH THUS COMPANY Extremely disappointing customer service! I lost $160 unnecessarily

Monet Tour

The Monet Tour was not the standard excursion as the rest of our trip. We didn't have the guide, instead we had headsets that didn't work and we were on our own for the tour.

A Beautiful and Inspiring way to spend an afternoon!

Eve was a lovely and guide and the driver was friendly. Mum and I did the afternoon tour. Listened to the commentary on the air-conditioned bus on the journey to Giverny which saved time and gave plentyofinsight into all areas of Monets work, public and private life ect. There was plenty of time to enjoy Monets beautiful, peaceful gardens and bright, sunny and open house, and buy gifts from the shop which supports the upkeep of the property. The lilies were still out which was pleasing. We even enjoyed tea at a nearby Cafe before heading back. Highly recommend this guided tour. Convenient and comfortable way to travel to lovely Giverny. Everything ran smoothly and on time.I can see how Monet gained so much inspiration in this beautiful setting.

Verify meeting point

Giverny is beautiful but the organization of the tour and meeting point information needs to be improved. The ticket said one place and the website said a different one. We had to run to catch bus in time.

Bucket List

Can you say Bucket List!!! It was an amazing, beautiful tour. The Lilly pond, the flowers, the gardens. So wish I could grow flowers at home like this! The house was amazing. I was overwhelmed with the art work, the furniture and architecture. It was an amazing day!!!

The garden were...

The garden were wonderful. Even though it was a little late in the season to get the full effect of the water lilies. It was still amazing. Money’s house had a good vibe about its room. It felt welcoming.

Monet garden in August

An amazing experience not to be missed when visiting Paris in August. Monets garden was outstanding with an abundance and variety of plants and flowers I have never seen anywhere else with a vibrancy of colourin August which has to be seen to believed. We also took lunch at a small cafe which i would highly recommend. We visited the gardens through an.organised coach tour from Paris which took us to see Versaiiles palace in the afternoon

Our experience in Monet’s home in Giverny.

Our tour guide, Alex (Alexandra), was fantastic. Informative, thoughtful, patient, and helpful. The gardens were beautiful. We did the water gardens first and ended up at the house gardens and the house, to end the tour. Two hours was adequate. The early morning light was beautiful on the lily pond; as the sun came up (end of August) the lighting wasn’t great for pictures. The flowers and gardens are well put together and this was my wife’s favorite trip in France. It was relaxing and refreshing to look at nature, and get exposed to Monet’s world.

Just bus ride, no tour

we did not get any tour experience. All we received for our cost was the bus fare and the ticket into the gardens. I feel that the advertisement explaining the tour was inaccurate.

Beautiful and relaxing

Wonderful! The amount of time you have at the museum and gardens is the perfect amount. It is leisurely and very beautiful. The bus to and from is very comfortable!

Easy, thoughtful trip to Giverny

The trip made it easy to visit Giverny without having to use public transportation or a private car. I appreciated the audio commentary on the app which was very thorough and insightful and better as individually guided since not everyone has the same interest level.

Beautiful place, bad tour

This review is not for Monet’s house itself, but for this particular tour. Rest assured - the house is beautiful. It is in a tranquil place. If you like it, I suggest you visit Skagit Valley in the United States one day for a similar idyllic landscape. Now for the tour… First of all, the only guide you get is an audio guide you access through a QR code. The audio for this guide did NOT work at all! I received no audio feedback at all and the website was glitched. The tour operator was also quite rude. He would chat it up with the other customers, ask them how their trip was, etc. When he came to ask me for the paper pamphlet with the audio guide link, I mentioned I had left it. He sneered and said “of course you did” and moved on. He was consistently rude on this tour. I recommend you arrange a tour with another company, or find transportation to the gardens yourself. It’s literally cheaper to rent a car and drive there yourself!

A great tour

The garden the house and our lovely guide Eve. The bus ride was comfortable and the group was fun. It was hot and humid but there were many of places to rest.

Eve - The most awesome tour guide

Eve was our tour guide and she was absolutely amazing! I would highly recommend this tour and request Eve if possible.

seeing what this...

seeing what this incredible man saw...love love the gardens his house beautiful ...a wonderful day it was