OCTOBER 2021, UPDATED 2026

You can visit the gardens of Monet from April 1 until November 1, which means that you can visit it in springtime, summer and autumn. Years ago, I first visited the gardens of Monet during spring and since my first visit I have been back three times. I have now visited two times in April, recently in May and a few years ago in September. In this blogpost I will share my recent pics as well as some throwback pics, so you can make an informed decision on when to visit the gardens!

Practical information

Tickets to the gardens and Monet’s house cost € 13 for adults. It is advised to buy your tickets in advance, this will save you at least one queue. Make sure to buy tickets for the opening time slot. This gives you a few minutes to enjoy the gardens before it gets busy. On my last visit in May we had tickets for lunchtime and it was incredibly crowded. I hoped the tour buses would have been gone at that time, but this wasn’t the case.

If you visit early in the day, you will see that people spread easily and lots of visitors will visit the house first. Monet actually lived in the house that is located on the premises and I highly recommend visiting inside. The house is super colorful, homely, cozy, stylish and artsy. I find it incredibly fascinating how much ahead of his time Monet was, with his paintings and style. There are several parkings near the gardens, which are free of use. Giverny also has a free camperspot without facilities within walking distance of the gardens. Giverny itself is a pretty charming town and I would advise to walk around and have a meal here. The flowers in the village match the flowers in Monet’s garden so you will find the whole village “in style”. It also hosts several art galleries and you can visit Monet’s grave.

Should I visit in spring or summertime?

You can visit Giverny several times a year, because the garden changes with the seasons. The garden is divided in two parts, one part is the famous part with the bridge over the pond, that is featured in many paintings of Monet. The other part is the garden in front of the pink house. My advice on when to visit the garden depends on two factors: which flowers you prefer to see and the kind of weather. In spring the garden in front of the house is scattered with tulips and daffodils and the cherry blossom trees are in bloom. The wisteria over the bridge over the pond is also at its peak in springtime. May is that time of year where you will find the roses and water lillies in bloom. In summertime you will find a rich assortment of wildflowers, dahlias and hibiscus. I personally prefer the springtime flowers, but when we visited in spring it was super cold outside making our summer visit much more enjoyable. Below you will find my pictures of the gardens in the different seasons, to help you make your decision on when to visit.

Late summer garden

I absolutely loved the carpet of pink and red flowers that we found in September! Such a showstopper in front of the house! Pay close attention to my pictures below to spot my favorite wildflower 🙂

Early summer garden

I recentently revisited after driving back from the Loire. It was the end of May and finally got to witness the roses and peonies at their finest. The waterlillies and foxgloves were also in bloom. Unfortunately we visited during a heatwave, it was super sunny and therefore the light in the pictures is very harsh.

Spring garden – 2023

The seasons can always change a few weeks and when we visited in April in 2023 the wisteria was not in bloom yet. We were the first ones to visit the gardens as it was still a little foggy. This year the tulips were truly the start of the show. We combined this visit with a little trip in the area, read up on fun things to do near Giverny here.

Spring garden – 2018

This was my first visit and we caught the wisteria at its absolute peak in April. I loved the pink and purple hues, but you can see that it was super cold when we visited and that I wasn’t a twirling pro yet in 2018. Looking back at these pictures I really note the lack of crowds. The past few years Monet’s garden has become super popular, so you won’t have an opportunity to take pictures on the iconic bridge like this.

The house

I hope that the pictures below give you an impression of the house of Monet. It truly is as magnificent from the inside as the outside and it gave me lots of interior decoration inspo!

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