Giverny's Monet House & Versailles Palace Day Trip from Paris

Best most beautiful village I ever saw!

Best of the best. Modt beautiful town I jave ever seen. Spend the entire day there. Do not rush. Picturesque!!!!!

Breathtaking Beauty

This was such a great experience to enjoy everything about Monet. The gardens were definitely our favorite.

Highly recommended tour

Great tour guides, they take care of everything for you and give very detailed information. Kadir was prepared and informative for the Monet house and Severine was charismatic and informative at Versailles. Not having to worry about transportation from Paris is one of the best parts.

Giverny/Versaille Day Tour

The gardens at both Giverny and Versailles were beautiful. Our hosts Kadir (Giverny) gave a good presentation and Christina (Versailles) was engaging and knowledgeable. They both enhanced the experience for us.

Giverny was great; Versailles less so

Loved Giverny and Monet’s house and gardens; I would have appreciated it if our guide for Versailles gave us our ticket for the gardens at the same time as she gave us our tickets to the palace. Instead, she held us inside the palace for an overly detailed historical tour for the majority of our time at Versailles and we got less time in the gardens than I would have liked, since they close at 1730

Wonderful

Sam, our tour guide to Giverny, was absolutely amazing. 10/10 and I would do the same tour with Sam again. The right amount of information offered, very knowledgeable and just incredibly helpful. We all had a wonderful time.

The bus driver drop us...

The bus driver drop us spot not in the Contract,we from Los Angeles, so we got lost in the Heavy rain, I think that is not nice !

Wrong Meeting Place.

We missed our trip due to going to meeting place as instructed. Upon arriving at meeting place no-one was there. We phoned to find out we should have been at redemption place but with the traffic there was no way of getting there on time so we missed our tour. Tour would not wait. We then had to pay for train tickets and tickets to get into Versailles ourselves and missed going to Monet Gardens. We were not happy and believe we should be given a full refund due to misinformation provided in the instructions ie. the meeting point for the tour was not the meeting point.

Beautiful views

It was a great tour with beautiful views. Hendricks was a great guide with a lot of knowledge of Monet’s work and his past. Highly recommend.

It was a great experience...

It was a great experience to see Monet's house and where he derived his inspirations from for his famous paintings. The trip was comfortable. It would have been 5 stars if not for the guide. With the tours I have joined, it has always been mandatory to stop first at the toilet. Once everybody's back, then we all proceed. But with this tour guide, she just left the remaining people who were still in the queue in the toilet, including me and my partner. When we got out, together with the other members of the group, we were clueless where they were. On the next segment of the tour, before leaving us with the next tour guide. She repeatedly told us to give her a 5-star review at Tripadvisor and asked the group to scan the QR code. She did try to be funny and practically related almost all the names of the passengers to her relatives / school crush, which was annoying and irrelevant.

Beautiful tour, knowledgeable guides, charismatic staff, but driver left a few minutes early

My sister and I quite enjoyed the tour! We wanted to see both Giverny and Versailles, and we wouldn’t have had time to do both without the tour. Michelle was our guide for Giverny, and she was very smart and charismatic! Monets house and gardens were so beautiful. As an art history nerd, it was fantastic to get to see where he lived and worked. Versailles was lovely as well, but much more crowded. I can recall our guides name 😬 but she said she’d worked there since 2019, and she was very knowledgeable! The gardens outside were my favorite part. The reason I removed one star was the bus driver… after we had a couple hours to explore the gardens of Versailles, there was no CityWonders guide aboard the bus. The driver left 4 minutes early and nearly left a lady and her daughter there! Another person on the bus saw them flagging us down and got him to stop… but a bit concerning behavior. I don’t recall the drivers name either, but the bus was branded “TDS Autocars”. So maybe if you take this tour and it’s a big orange bus, be back a few minutes early to be safe.

Very fun!!

michelle was a wonderful guide. She was a wealth of information and you could feel her passion for the subject! Our tour guide for Versailles was wonderful as well!!

A wonderful day tour

We had a wonderful day. The bus was comfort and excelent, the driver drove carfully. The first guide to Giverny, his name was Hendrix. He gave as a lot of information and was patianate to the group. In the garden and the house of Monet we had an audio guide app on the phone. Hendrix installed it duribg the ride to Giverny. Bring headphones with you. The guide to Versaille palace, her name was Severene. She was excelent as well. She explained everything in every room. She gave us extra informatipn about the palace and its era.

Loved the gardens

I loved Monets house and gardens! Definitely worth the trip! Versailles is huge. Our tour guide Lili was FANTASTIC! 10 stars for her! Great history lesson with facts and a little bit of comedy. Versailles gardens are enormous. Needed more time to explore but still an overall great tour!

Monet and Versaille

Onana was an excellent tour guide gave lots of information in clear yet entertaining way. The driver brought us as near to the door of venues as possible. Nice relaxing way to see both fantastic sites.

Tranquillity in Giverney

Mimi was a great guide & prepared us well for Giverney. She managed to arrange a wheelchair for one of the other participants which allowed her to see all the beautiful gardens had to offer. We really enjoyed it. Tony was a fabulous driver. Poor Lili had to contend with an unexpected request for a wheelchair in Versailles which isn't really set up well for impaired access. That coupled with a very long toilet queue & people in our group who hadn't taken the opportunity at Giverney, made us waste about 40min of our time, so we decided to go it alone. I highly recommend the tour, the guides are very knowledgeable & fun. But the tour company needs to organise better. 1) Each participant should be given a map & their tickets, 2) they should be available on the morning of the tour. I messaged them & was told I might have to wait 48 hours, this is not good enough, 3) participants with injuries, impairments or disabilities should advise the tour company, this should be part of your questions when booking

Not informed of change in pick up location! Almost missed the entire tour!

Our guides were really good at managing our expectations and giving good recommendations BUT we (and another group) nearly missed the Giverny and Versailles tour as they changed the pick up location WITHOUT TELLING US! We frantically called the hotline and had them tell us they would reissue the new instructions (which they did.. at 8:02am, 2 minutes our tour started). Luckily I think the operator also informed the guide on the bus and they waited for us to get there by 8:08am and we started the day.

Beautiful locations, great history. A beautiful day trip!

This was a great tour, that made for seamless travel from Paris to Giverny to Versailles. Kadir gave an engaging presentation on the bus about Monet's life and was helpful throughout our time at Giverny. Fred was our Versailles guide who went in-depth about the art, history and the life of the palace. Monet's house and garden are charming and inspiring. My only suggestion is that as a garden lover, I would have appreciated some information about both gardens in the presentations. Also, it would be great to include Marie Antionette's estate if possible - or allow more time at the Versailles gardens. We race-walked there from the palace and barely made it back to the bus at 6.

Well worth it

The guides were great. Danielle gave some insightful background information on Monet and the Impressionists, while our guide for the Versailles section (whose name I unfortunately did not catch - she was the one waving her iPad in the air) really brought the palace to life with her wonderful historical anecdotes and background information. In spite of the rather unpleasant weather it was a great time, and her commentary was a highlight.

Day Trip to Giverny and Versailles

This was a very fun trip. Our guide, Michele was knowledgeable and friendly. She made an effort to interact with every member of our group.

Lovely tour

Lovely tour. Great balance of active tour and free time. Excellent guide. Highly recommended for a Paris day-trip.

Worth it

Giverny was awesome! If I was very knowledgeable and made it an interesting experience. Frederick was very knowledgeable.

Monet’s house tour

Our guide Hendricks did a great job. He gave us a brief summary of Monet’s life and his explanation of his artwork. I would definitely recommend this tour.

Must do tour in Paris

Giverny and Palace of Versailles was gorgeous. Must do tour. Michele who was our guide to Giverny was funny and entertaining. Flor our guide at Versailles was amazing. She was very knowledgeable and funny. She was able to keep us all together and show us the important parts of the palace. The Gardens were amazing.

Created lifetime memories

The trip was fantastic, everything was so beautiful and our guides were terrific! Flora was delightful, knowledgeable and fun!

Our stroll through the beautiful gardens at Giverny

Hendricks did a fantastic job of showing us individual attention by explaining to us the early and late life of Claude Monet and the history of his home at Giverny. The gardens were breathtaking and the Japanese Bridge was really cool as well! Definitely recommend going to Monet's place especially late spring/summer time.

Amazing insights and stories

We had such an amazing experience with Hendricks as out tour guide. We loved the insights he shared with us - one of the best trips I did so far! Highly recommended!

Versailles tour

Séverine was such a wonderful guide for Versailles! She was funny, friendly, and lively, and very knowledgeable. I would be happy to be on another tour with her!

Crowds made this impossible to enjoy.

The tour company, guide, and transportation were clean, on time and good. We were kept in the loop and all aspects of the trip. If it were not for our guide within Versailles I’d have left. She was fantastic and funny and incredibly knowledgeable and informative. Her name was Boyanna sp? She was the highlight. She really was exceptional. Why the negative review? Monet House was small and manageable so no real complaint there. The gardens were stunning. Versailles……extreme crowds. Insane rudeness from other tourists. As an American I’m not accustomed to trying to fit my body into any available empty space I can without regard to the feet or toes or comfort of others around me. Just too many people. The People were not even listening or enjoying the art and history because they were to busy taking pictures and selfies. You can buy a book and see all of the same things and show your friends the pictures in a book. But no, they held up the flow constantly just stopping mid walk to take pictures. The most rude and inconsiderate bunch of people imaginable. They ruined the entire tour for me and others. This wasn’t the actual tour company’s fault so I feel bad writing a negative review but perhaps they shouldn’t endorse that sort of event.

Educational, Laid-back and well organized!

Carolina was our guide at the palace of Versailles and she was so incredibly knowledgeable of the history of the palace and on top of that was an amazing storyteller - she was very engaging. Overall the tour was worth it because we didn't have to wait in the long lines and having the history behind the palace made the trip much better. Giverny's laid back tour plan where you are allowed to roam around freely was great and very relaxing. On the way back from the palace of Versailles we took the public transport to avoid the traffic on the way back, which was a great idea if you are in a hurry, but the bus ride to Giverny was great.

Giverny Monet

It was a nice tour with beautiful scenery, interesting history and Hendricks was a very enthusiastic guide with great subject knowledge.

Flowers bloom despite the weather

We really enjoyed our trip to Giverney with Hendricks. He provided so much detail about the life of Monet and his family.

Wet but colourful

Hendricks was great 😃. We enjoyed the garden's and lunch at the restaurant. It was raining, but didn't affect the experience.

Good value

Convenient way to cover two main attractions in one day. Giverny was self guided and Monet’s house and gardens are very well preserved. At Versailles, we had a pre-timed entry. Our guide at Versailles, Alex was awesome - polite, knowledgeable, patient with all our questions - with a great sense of humour which really brightened the day.

Beautiful day!

Wonderful experience. Our guide was very informative and helpful! The home and gardens were breathtaking! Thank you Liz!

Most disappointed in customer care.!!!

Was unable to experience this tour due to illness and was unable to get ANY reimbursement from Viator. Very disappointed that they were so strict with the 24 hour window for cancellation (even due to unforeseen illness!).

Delayed start but beautiful place

Great views at Monet's painting house. Host did not show so we had to wait. Delay occurred all day. Bus had broken seats. Really could have done better.

Beware "Customer Care at Every Step" is just a hollow slogan

On Oct 29, 2023, due to incorrect directions by Versaille staff, we had difficulty in finding the way out of Versailles and were five minutes late for our bus only to see it driving off with items we left on the bus while on tour. Getting back to Paris was not our concern. We wanted our items back. We called City Wonders before the bus returned to Paris who told us to the return to the tour meeting spot the next morning to meet a guide to retrieve our items. We received an email confirming that. The next morning we waited for 1.5 hrs but nobody showed up. When we contacted City Wonders customer service again they said there were no items found. Why were City Wonders unable to tell Elite Coach Services, the bus operator, to secure our items? Why did City Wonders tell us to return to the tour meeting point the next morning if they then said no items were retrieved? "Customer Care at Every Step" is on the website but this is clearly not the case.

Interesting and inspirational

Liz is an awesome guide. The trip is much more easier thanks to her. The tour is very interesting even though the weather is not that good.

Giverny and Versailles Tour

Went last Saturday with a tour group. Rained all day. Saw some of the flowers - 2nd to last week for tours up until March 2024. Charming surroundings. I imagine the spring time is better as for flowers blooming. Quiet and peaceful.

Lovely visit to Giverny & Versailles

Enjoyed the tour, most especially at Versailles! Giverny was relaxing but the 3-hour time spent was too long. Better to spend an additional hour at Versailles instead as there are more places to see

Must see Monet's garden

Informative guide, the Gardens were awesome. The village and church were an added bonus that we really enjoyed. We had lunch at a little cafe near the church, lovely people great food. Highly recommend this tour

Great tour, bad experience with bus driver

First, let me say that the beginning of our tour was wonderful. The bus picked us up on time and our guide Daniella was very knowledgeable. The bus was also clean. Giverny and Versailles are spectacular and a must! The reason for my poor review is that we visited on October 14, 2023 and there was a bomb threat at Versailles during our visit. We were evacuated and returned to our bus. Our bus driver refused to leave the parking lot as a few passengers were missing. We waited on the bus for 40 minutes and the bus driver would not leave. The entire place had been cleared of tourists and he refused. We got off the bus and took an Uber back to Paris. What began as a great day ended with a very poor service experience. It was very stressful as police with AK 47 and bomb squad were all over the place. Our bus driver (I assume) called City Wonders and asked for permission to depart. I am guessing that City Wonders told him not to depart. Not cool putting us at risk.

Very well organised & enjoyable. Not rushed.

Well organised tour. Giverny wins hands down! Disappointed that when we booked were promised music & water fountain show at Versailles. However, none of the fountains were even working???

A bit disorganized and a disappointing guide.

We arrived at the meeting point only to discover I had booked my tour for the following day by accident. The City Wonders people were so very nice and accommodated us for the tour that day. Unfortunately, the guide we had on the bus ride to Giverny was awful. She had only been with the company for a few months and she pronounced Monet's name "Claude Money". Most of us on the bus ride fell asleep with her monotone description of his life. There was some disorganization when we arrived in Versailles, so the entire group had to wait for the other bus to arrive before we were able to move on with our guide. It probably wasted 45 minutes of our Versailles experience but our guide in Versailles was very nice and knowledgeable.

Mark your bus stops and do not be late.

The Giverny visit was beautiful. Being on our own gave us time to visit the gardens and spend time where we were most interested. A paper map or a downloadable one showing where the parking lot was would have been helpful. Several of us had some difficulty finding the parking lot. The Versailles visit was not as good. The guide that we were given spent about 10 minutes where we disembarked from the bus telling us about the visit. The other guide left right away. She could have given us the information as we walked to the entrance. As a result, we got behind some groups that had later arrival times and were unable to get in on time. Then she asked if anyone needed to us the rest room and we waited about 15 minutes for one person to do so. As a result our tour was hurried. Versailles was also very crowed at the time. We were told to be on the bus at 6:00 p.m. and that it would leave at 6:05. At 5:50, two women got off the bus, I do not know why. A minute later a young man came and found them not on the bus. He went find them. At 5:55 the bus started off, Several people flagged it down ad were able to get on. The two women and the young man were left behind. The driver knew he was leaving people behind but showed no concern.

Too much to do in one day, by the time you get to Versailles, it's a mob scene.

If I had this to do over again, I wouldn't take this tour. This is too much crammed into one day. I'd opt for an earlier start to get to Giverny earlier so you can be there with less people and really be able to enjoy walking around the gardens without feeling like you're walking in a line of people. By the time we were done doing this, there wasn't really time to enjoy the village. And once we got to Versailles -- it was way too crowded to enjoy being inside and not enough time to enjoy the grounds outside so I'd recommend going earlier to Versailles as well.

A great day for sight seeing.

A great time. Early start but was well worth the trip. Giverny is amazing: the color and the beauty is just unbelievable. It is just a relaxing stop. I took more pics there than at any other site in France. The Garden is like stepping into a fairy tale. Versailles was about the opposite: so stately and the gardens so manicured. The Hall of Mirrors so Historic. The only problem I had with Versailles was that there were so many people: you couldn't get a pic without someone in there, but that's something you have to deal with. In any event, I loved the day, it was well worth the money.

Too notch storytelling!

Very nice tour to delve into Monet’s life and art, as well as the iconic Palau’s de Versailles. Make sure to walk around Giverny and enter the surrounding shops and galleries as there are lots of hidden gems to discover. The guides Giorgia and Maxime were very friendly and great storytellers! The bus and the driver were also top notch. Everything ran smoothly and on time from check in to check out

Nice to see the countryside of France, since staying in Paris.

The guide was very interesting! The gardens were beautiful and the house well preserved. I could actually visualize Monet at his pond painting. If you are a fan of monet’s work it would be a good excursion. We stayed in Paris, so it took up much of the day.