Green getaway

The smell of wet grass along the riverbank and a pearly sheen on the Seine set the tone. Just 75 km from Paris, Giverny breathes again at midday, when most coaches are gone. Slip into Sainte-Radegonde Church where Monet rests, then read the Clos Normand like a living canvas, its sightlines shaped by the painter after 1890. One for connoisseurs: from the Epte canal path, two lanes behind the Musée des Impressionnismes, the meadows open up the way Blanche Hoschedé-Monet painted them.

Collected from your hotel, you cruise the A13 to Vernon in roughly 1 h 15, with the car on standby for quick pivots. With a private driver in Normandy, lunch unfolds at Auberge Baudy while parking and timing are handled, then the gardens come easy—no clock-watching. Your call: a quiet stop on Vernon’s quays, a 20‑minute hop to La Roche-Guyon, or a simple espresso facing the Water Lilies. Flexible plan, the driver waits between each stop.