Giverny and Marmottan private guided tour

What 'private' means here

There are two ways to visit Giverny and the Marmottan in the same day. The group day trip takes you from one place to the other and lets you explore on your own. This one assigns an art historian guide to stay by your side all day, exclusively for your group. The difference is most noticeable in the museum: standing before Impression, soleil levant, a guide explaining why this painting gave its name to a movement, or in front of the late Japanese Bridge paintings, someone discussing Monet’s cataracts, transforms what you see.

This format includes extras you won’t find on coach tours. After booking, the operator calls to plan your day. They help arrange lunch in Giverny, which remains at your expense. Pick-up in Paris is included, along with round-trip transport. And while the itinerary is subject to change, it adapts to what you’d like to see.

The itinerary, minute by minute

The day begins in Giverny, about 75 km west of Paris. Seventy minutes at Monet’s water garden—the pond, the water lilies, the Japanese bridge. Then forty minutes at the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, just steps from the house. Next, lunch for seventy-five minutes at a restaurant the operator helps you book. Finally, the return to Paris and a seventy-five-minute guided tour at the Musée Marmottan Monet in the 16th arrondissement, with the ticket included.

This is the reverse of the four-stop day, which starts at the museum. Here, you see the subject before the paintings. I prefer the other order—I’ve said so elsewhere—but with a guide who connects the morning’s pond to the afternoon’s Water Lilies, this sequence works: you enter the underground gallery still seeing the garden’s colors in your mind. An analog photo session is offered as an option; I know no more than what the description says.

The only review, and what it says

The 5.0 rating is based on a single review, and I won't pretend it's an average. It comes from Jeanne, from the United States, who talks about guide Kat: she "kept us informed at every step," was "very focused," and "knew everything we wanted to see inside out." It's not much, but it's precise, and it describes exactly what you expect from a private guide—that they organize the day around you. The reviews page includes this feedback and expands on it as more bookings come in.

For whom

For a family or small group who don’t want to mix with a tour bus, for those with questions who want someone to answer them, and for those who won’t be returning anytime soon and want the full Monet experience in one day. It makes less sense if you don’t speak English, the only language offered, or if your daily budget is that of a museum ticket: what you're paying for is the private guide and vehicle, several times the price of admission. For just the museum, as I’ve said before, there’s nothing to book—tickets are available on-site.

Book the private tour

If you're torn between the private tour and the group day trip, the all tours page compares the three Giverny options side by side.

Frequently asked questions