Our family of two adults and two teenage boys had a wonderful time on this private excursion. As frequent visitors to France, we were especially happy that we were able to customize the tour to our interests and set the pace ourselves. As we had previously visited Roeun, we opted out of visiting it again and instead chose to spend more time in Giverny enjoying Monet's home and gardens.
On this particular visit, we were traveling on a cruise making a port of call in Le Havre. Rather than taking a group tour offered through the ship, we booked this fabulous private tour through Viator and were delighted with our choice. Our driver promptly picked us up at the cruise terminal that morning, in a comfortable and clean van and safely drove us to Giverny. She was very knowledgeable and pleasant and she spoke English fluently.
We enjoyed the spectacular landscape of Normadie, traveling past scenes of grazing cows and rolling fields. When we arrived early that morning, we simply showed our tickets and entered. Independently, we had previously purchased our tickets online directly through the Fondation Claude Monet, which saved us from waiting in line. We enjoyed visiting at our own pace and after a few hours exploring Monet's gardens, studio and home, we invited our guide to a leisurely lunch in the charming cafe across the way. On our way out of town, she drove us to see the cemetery where Monet's tomb is planted with a flower bed.Then, we drove through the charming town of Giverny, past half-timbered buildings before heading back towards the coast and catching a quick nap in the car on our way to the port of Honfleur.
We were familiar with Honfleur from previous vacations, so we simply asked our guide to leave us there to explore on our own. Before doing so, she took a walk through the town with us to the tourist agency and helped us to line up a taxi service to bring us back to the cruise terminal later that evening. She also gave us her private number and told us to call her if the taxi didn't show up. NB: On a separate side note, unrelated to the day's tour, in hindsight, when reserving the taxi, I think we should established a set price with the tourist agency, because the taxi driver whom they recommended took advantage, demanding an exorbitant fee once we arrived at the cruise terminal. At that point, we had no option, but to pay, since we needed to catch the ship.
Back to the day, overall, we loved our private excursion to Giverny and Honfleur and highly recommend this company for a private tour. It was so worth the price being able to have a private car/driver/guide for the day and it was one of the highlights of our family's vacation.