By car to Giverny

If you need a car for the run out to Giverny, Rent-Trip keeps 50 vehicles in Paris, from €75 a day, and brings the one you pick to the address you give us. Booking is agreed with a manager, so the model, the dates and the hand-over point are settled before you set off. The drive itself is short, but the choice of car is what decides how the day feels.

Car rental in Paris for a trip to Giverny distance and drive time

The drive from the city to Giverny runs about 75 km west along the A13, and with a delivered car you leave from your own door rather than from a station. Most of the route is motorway, with the final stretch on the D-road through Vernon and up the Seine valley. Outside peak hours the whole run takes 1 h 15 min to 1 h 30 min.

The route west on the A13

The drive is about 75 km, normally 1 h 15 min to 1 h 30 min outside peak hours. You take the A13 from the western edge of the city, stay on it past the A14 junction, then leave at the Vernon exit and follow signs for Giverny along the Seine. Vernon-Giverny station and the village sit on the same side of the river, so the final stretch is short. Leaving before 07:30 avoids the A13 build-up, and the return leg is slower on Sunday evenings when weekend traffic joins the same motorway.

Is the drive easy for a first-time visitor

Yes — traffic drives on the right and every car we supply is left-hand drive, so a driver from the UK, Ireland, Australia or South Africa sits on the kerb side for the first time. Lane discipline on the A13 is straightforward: the right lane is for cruising, the left for overtaking, and limits fall in poor weather. Around Vernon and the village the roads narrow to two lanes with roundabouts, and an automatic gearbox takes the work out of the stop-start village traffic. The last stretch into Giverny is a two-lane rural road, so an automatic gearbox helps in village traffic — and it is worth checking the SIPP code on your booking, where the gearbox letter tells you what you are getting.

A day trip or an overnight stay

• One-day rental: a single day covers the round trip comfortably, with the drive back in daylight if you start early.
• Two days: an overnight stay lets you see the village in the morning light and add a stop in Vernon on the way home.
• Weekly booking: a week is priced at daily × 6, which suits a wider Normandy loop through Rouen or the coast.
• Fuel: fill up before you return — the fuel policy is plein-plein, out with a full tank and back with a full one.

A one-day rental covers the round trip comfortably. If you add Rouen or the Normandy coast, a weekly booking is priced at daily × 6 — and on a longer loop the fuel policy matters more than the class, because a diesel SUV from our fleet drinks noticeably less on the motorway than a petrol crossover.

Train or car rental in Paris for a trip to Giverny day trip

Getting to Giverny without a car means committing to someone else's timetable. A hire car removes that constraint entirely: you leave when you want, stop where you want, and carry whatever you buy along the way. The table below sets out what each option actually involves.

What the train involves

The train covers the main stretch of the route, and a shuttle covers the last leg into the village. On paper it is simple. In practice the shuttle timetable is the constraint: services are limited, and if you miss the last one, the return journey becomes a problem you have to solve on the spot. The train also runs on its own schedule, not yours — you cannot linger in the gardens past the hour that gets you back. And everything you carry, you carry by hand, from the platform to the shuttle stop.

What a hire car gives you instead

With a car booked for the day you set your own departure and stop where you like — Vernon, the Seine banks, a village bakery on the way back. The vehicle also carries luggage and purchases from Vernon, which the train does not. Our cars on this page are five- and seven-seat, so a family or a group travelling together stays in one vehicle rather than splitting across carriages. We deliver the car to you, and the booking is agreed with a manager beforehand: dates, class, hand-over. That means the day starts at your door, not at a station.

Which works out better for a day trip

• One day, two people: the train is the simpler choice if you are happy to work around the shuttle.
• One day, four or more: a single car at €75–€185 a day usually makes more sense than four return tickets.
• A week with Rouen or the Normandy coast added: a weekly booking is priced at daily × 6, so the car stays with you for the whole trip.
• Anyone with luggage, children or a tight evening: the car removes the last-shuttle risk entirely.

In our experience the deciding factor is rarely the fare. It is whether you want to be looking at your watch in a garden.

Booking car rental in Paris for a trip to Giverny

We agree the booking with a manager, who confirms the car, the dates and the hand-over before anything is fixed. You tell us the day you want to see the water lilies, we check what is free in the class you picked, and the booking is settled by agreement rather than by an instant automated confirmation. The deposit, any delivery fee and any discount are set out in the rental agreement, so nothing arrives as a surprise on the day.

How the booking is agreed

We agree the booking with a manager, who confirms the car, the dates and the hand-over. That conversation is where the practical details land: which of the 50 cars on this page suits the run west, whether you want an automatic or a manual for the village roads around Giverny, and where the hand-over should happen. The deposit, delivery fees and any discount are set out in the rental agreement, not quoted in advance — in our practice it is better to settle that in writing before the trip than to argue about it afterwards. If you are adding a second day or a week, say so at this stage: the manager can hold the same car for the whole period.

Documents you need

• Licence held more than 1 year: an EU/EEA licence is valid in France with no time limit while it stays valid, and digital licences are not accepted by rental companies.
• IDP not older than 3 years: a non-EU/EEA licence in a non-Latin script needs an official translation or an International Driving Permit.
• IDP is only a translation: it does not replace your licence — carry it together with the national document.
• Residence, not tourism: driving is allowed for 1 year from the visa entry date; on moving to France the licence has to be exchanged.
• Minimum age and young-driver fee: there is no single national rule, so the condition is agreed when booking.

One day, a week or a month

The same multiplier applies to every class on this page, so the cheapest car stays the cheapest whether you take it for a day or a month. A weekly booking is priced at daily × 6 and a monthly one at daily × 21 — worth knowing if you plan to add Rouen or the Normandy coast to the Giverny run rather than turning straight back.

Choosing a class and model for car rental in Paris to Giverny

Class matters more than badge here: the run to Giverny is 75 km of motorway and a short rural stretch, so the cheapest Crossover does the job unless you need seven seats or all-wheel drive.

Classes and prices on this page

Matching the car to the day

• Crossover: a 5-seat petrol or hybrid car from €75 a day, the default for two people and a picnic basket — Jeep Avenger, Renault Captur and Peugeot 2008 sit in this class.
• Comfort: hatchback or estate from €79, and the estate body matters if you plan to bring back plants or crates from a farm shop near Vernon — Peugeot 308 SW and Skoda Octavia cover that.
• SUV & 4x4: from €79, the largest group on this page at 19 cars; Dacia Duster is the only all-wheel model at the bottom of the range, while Nissan Qashqai and Peugeot 3008 are front-wheel hybrids.
• Minivans: from €119, 5 cars, 7 seats — Ford Grand C-Max and Peugeot 5008 take a family plus a stroller without folding anything down.
• Automatic or manual: the French market runs on manual gearboxes, and automatics are a smaller, dearer part of the fleet, so book early if you want one — Citroen C4, Peugeot 2008 and Toyota Corolla Hybrid are automatic.

What the price actually buys

The range on this page runs from €75 to €185 a day, and 50 cars sit inside it. Moving up a class adds a few euros a day, never a jump: Crossover at €75, Comfort and SUV & 4x4 both from €79, Minivans from €119. Fuel type splits the fleet three ways — Diesel, Gasoline and Hybrid — and the hybrid Crossovers (Fiat 500X, Nissan Juke, Toyota Yaris Cross) tend to return better figures on the A13 run than a 1.0 L petrol hatchback at the same money. In our experience the model name persuades people far more than it should: a Ford Puma and a Renault Captur differ by €6 a day and by 35 hp, and on a 150 km round trip neither difference is visible. Pick the body and the gearbox first, then the badge. If you add Rouen or the Normandy coast to the same booking, a weekly hire is priced at daily × 6, and the same multiplier applies to every class — so the cheapest car stays the cheapest over seven days.

Tolls and Crit'Air for car rental in Paris to Giverny

The A13 out of the capital is a tolled motorway, and the ZFE de la Métropole du Grand Paris sits right at the start of the route. Both are easy to handle once you know which rules apply to the car you are driving.

Tolls on the A13

The A13 is a péage motorway, and the A14 is the other tolled option if you cut south of the city. Both run on péage en flux libre in places — no barrier, no ticket, and the charge must be paid within 72 hours of the crossing. Tariffs are not quoted here because they vary by operator and by section; the amount for your route is set out in the rental agreement. A télépéage badge such as Liber-t lets you pass the gantry without stopping, which matters on the return leg when the queue at the barrier builds up. If you would rather avoid tolls altogether, the fuel policy for the run is agreed when booking.

Crit'Air and the ZFE

The ZFE de la Métropole du Grand Paris (Zone à Faibles Émissions) covers everything inside the A86 motorway — the A86 itself is excluded — and takes in the boulevard périphérique, the Bois de Boulogne and the Bois de Vincennes. Crit'Air 5, Crit'Air 4, Crit'Air 3 and unclassified vehicles are banned from the perimeter. The windscreen sticker is the document that proves your class, and without a vignette Crit'Air entry into the zone is formally prohibited. Giverny lies well outside the perimeter, so the zone only concerns the city end of the trip — the first and last few kilometres of your day.

• ZFE perimeter: inside the A86, including the boulevard périphérique and both woods.
• Banned classes: Crit'Air 5, 4, 3 and «Non classé».
• Proof of class: the Crit'Air vignette on the windscreen.
• Where it applies: the city end only — Giverny is outside the zone.

Speed limits and the one rule that catches visitors

Speed limits follow the Code de la route: 50 km/h in built-up areas under art. R413-3, 80 km/h on ordinary roads under art. R413-2, 110 km/h on dual carriageways, and 130 km/h on motorways. In rain the motorway limit drops to 110 km/h, dual carriageways to 100 km/h and other roads to 80 km/h; if visibility falls below 50 m, 50 km/h applies everywhere. Drivers within three years of passing the test — permis probatoire — are held to 110, 100 and 80 km/h respectively. The boulevard périphérique has run at 50 km/h since 1 October 2024 under a decision of the Paris city hall, phased in from porte des Lilas to porte d'Orléans by 10 October. In our experience the covoiturage lane catches people out more than the tolls do: the left-hand lane between the Issy embankment and porte de Bercy, both directions, is reserved Monday to Friday 7:00–10:30 and 16:00–20:00 for cars carrying two or more people, with a 135 € fine from 2 May 2025.

Fuel and the practical order of things

Diesel in the Paris department is running at €2.44 a litre against €2.414 nationally, and SP95-E10, the standard petrol, sits at €2.183 nationally. Fill up before you leave rather than on the A13, where the service areas charge more. We hand the car over with the fuel policy agreed at booking, so check the level against the état des lieux before you set off and again on return. And plan the day around the zone: leave before 07:30, clear the A86 before the evening peak, and the ZFE, the tolls and the périphérique all stop being a problem.

Parking with car rental in Paris for a trip to Giverny

Parking is the part of a Giverny day trip that catches people out, and it splits neatly into two problems: where the car sits while you walk the gardens, and where it sits overnight back in the city. Neither is difficult once you know the rules, but the two ends of the drive work on completely different systems.

Parking at Giverny

Giverny is a village of a few streets, and the village car parks sit close to the entrance. Arriving before 10:00 usually means a space in the main village car park within a few minutes' walk of the entrance; arriving later in the day means a longer walk. There are signed car parks on the edge of the village rather than on the rue Claude Monet itself, and the walk in from those takes 5–10 minutes. Coaches use separate bays, so the village lots stay usable for cars. For anyone driving out from the city in a hire car, the practical move is to treat the car park as part of the itinerary: park once, walk the whole village on foot, and drive on afterwards.

Parking in Paris

• Zone 1 street parking: applies in arrondissements 1–11, with a progressive tariff rather than an hourly one — 1 hour is €6, 2 hours €12, 3 hours €24, 4 hours €39, 5 hours €57, 6 hours €75.
• Six-hour ceiling: the maximum stay on one space is 6 hours in a row, and the tariff is split into 15-minute blocks, so a short stop costs proportionally less.
• Forfait post-stationnement: an unpaid or overrun parking charge is not a driving offence but a fee — €75 or €50 for light vehicles in Paris, depending on the zone.
• Payment: parkings are run through horodateurs, and payment is also possible through apps.
• Underground garages: the alternative to street parking for a full day, and the simpler option if the car is staying put overnight.

The A13 and the tunnel

The Duplex A86 is a separate tolled tunnel between Rueil-Malmaison, Vaucresson and Vélizy, roughly 10 km long, operated by Cofiroute/Vinci. It is not on the Giverny route, but it matters if the day continues south-west afterwards. The tariff for class 1, Rueil → Vélizy, runs from €8.30 to €13.70 depending on the hour on Monday to Thursday, and up to €14.90 on Fridays and the eve of public holidays. On the A13 and A14, péage en flux libre means there is no barrier — the charge is settled within 72 hours.

What this means for the booking

A hire car removes the one real constraint of the train day trip: the shuttle timetable between Vernon-Giverny station and the village. With car hire in Paris for a trip to Giverny, the return leg is yours to time, whether that is after a late afternoon in the gardens or a detour through Vernon on the way back. The car is delivered to you and the booking is agreed with a manager, so the hand-over point and timing are settled before you leave. If the plan is to stay overnight rather than drive back the same evening, say so when booking — the parking question then moves to the hotel end, and a weekly booking is priced at daily × 6.

What the rental includes and what it does not

Every booking through Rent-Trip carries the cover French law requires plus the basic damage and theft protection that French packages normally bundle in. We state here what that means in practice, because the difference between «included» and «not included» is where most surprise bills come from on a short Giverny run.

Included as standard

• Responsabilité civile: compulsory third-party cover under French law, built into every agreement automatically — it pays for injury and property damage you cause to others, up to the legal limits of the country.
• CDW / collision damage protection: limits what you owe for repairs and for the days the car sits off the road after an incident, but only up to the excess.
• TW / theft protection: covers theft, attempted theft and vandalism in a car park, again within the same excess.
• Unlimited mileage: a 75 km run west and back, plus a detour into Vernon, sits inside the standard package.
• Fuel policy: full-to-full — you collect the car with a full tank and return it full.
• Child seats: available on request, and worth booking early: the law requires a seat for any child under 10 or shorter than 135 cm, and the fine for going without reaches €750.

Not included, or only partly covered

• The excess (franchise): a fixed amount you pay yourself after damage or theft. It is not a deposit you get back — it is your share of the loss, and its size depends on the protection level you take.
• Buying the excess down: rachat de franchise is a paid option. Medium reduces it, Premium removes it or cuts it substantially.
• Glass, tyres, roof, underside: base protection does not cover tyres damaged by abnormal use, glass unless it broke in a collision, the sunroof or panoramic roof, the underside, misfuelling and the engine damage that follows, or lost keys.
• Negligence and intent: damage caused deliberately or by careless handling stays with the driver.
• Additional driver: a paid option, arranged when booking.
• Young-driver surcharge and minimum age: there is no single national rule in France — the condition is set by each company and is agreed when booking.
• One-way returns: location aller simple, returning the car to a different town, is a separate arrangement.

What is agreed, not quoted

The deposit, the delivery fee and any discount are not figures we publish in advance — they are set out in the rental agreement, so read it before the car arrives. Our own practice on the Giverny route is simple: book the class you actually need, and add the excess buy-down only if the rural two-lane stretch into the village worries you.

Practical summary of car rental in Paris for Giverny

A day trip to Giverny works best as a single booking with one clear plan: a car delivered to you in Paris, a departure before the morning peak, and a return that does not depend on a shuttle timetable. The drive is about 75 km each way on the A13, normally 1 h 15 min to 1 h 30 min outside peak hours, and the timing of the visit itself is agreed when booking.

The practical points that decide how the day goes:

• Booking: agreed with a manager, who confirms the car, the dates and the hand-over; the deposit, delivery fees and any discount are set out in the rental agreement.
• Documents: a licence held more than 1 year, plus an IDP not older than 3 years if yours was issued outside the EU/EEA — the IDP is a translation and travels together with your national licence.
• Route: west on the A13 past Vernon; leave before 07:30 to stay ahead of the build-up, and expect the return leg to be slower on Sunday evenings.
• Emissions sticker: the ZFE de la Métropole du Grand Paris bans Crit'Air 5, 4, 3 and «Non classé» inside the A86 perimeter, which takes in the boulevard périphérique and the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes.
• Parking: on-street zone 1 runs on a progressive tariff — 1 h at €6, 2 h at €12, 3 h at €24, up to 6 h at €75, with a maximum of 6 hours in one place.
• Class: Crossover from €75, Comfort and SUV & 4x4 from €79, Minivans from €119; a weekly booking is priced at daily × 6 and a monthly one at daily × 21, and the same multiplier applies to every class.

If the day stretches into two, the same booking covers Rouen or a longer loop through Normandy without a second hand-over. Our fleet on this page runs to 50 cars, so the class you pick moves the total more than the model does — the cheapest car stays the cheapest on a longer booking. Fuel prices around the départements vary, and the toll-free streets of the capital end at the A13, so carry a payment method for the péage and check the fuel policy before you set off.