Saint-Wandrille Abbey (Seine-Maritime) and La Roche-Guyon (Val d’Oise): Travel diary

After a night in a bed and breakfast, next to the tree houses, to save money, we come back to spend a night in our Airbnb in Rouen, before visiting other places left unexplored last time for lack of time.

Part 1: Travel Diary
Part 2: Practical Tips

Part 1: Travel Diary

Saint-Wandrille Abbey

Our first visit is to this abbey, which is the last one still brewing beer. The size of the parking lots worries us a little: parking 1, 2, 3… for cars, for coaches, for camper vans… it is so crowded at this point?

Not today, because with the Covid, the schedules have been modified and we were not aware of it (new schedules at the end of the article). We were alone on the premises, with a few residents doing sports.

The abbey is very beautiful, surrounded by fields and greenery. There is a tea room on the spot.

We see some discreet towers in the surroundings

Beer production has become rather industrial if you believe the size of the ultra-modern building next door. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to tell you more about it, because we left quite quickly. The place will only be open this afternoon, and we’ve already planned other activities.

Restaurant Le Coq Hardy

You can always count on my flair to find a good restaurant, even if I don’t guarantee the price ahaha. Luckily, we arrived in time to sit at the last available table for two, the restaurant is 20mn drive from the abbey (in Duclair). The owner had to refuse many other customers afterwards, so think about making a reservation. So if the abbey was open, we wouldn’t have been able to have lunch in such a good restaurant.

You can better understand the craze for this restaurant from the first bite. I opted for oysters and beef tartar with a knife, while JB delights in homemade foie gras and salmon accompanied by mashed potatoes to fall. He took a menu so he even gets a small plate of Norman cheeses and a kind of pancake millefeuille. I highly recommend it

La Roche-Guyon

It’s Sunday and the first Parisian holidaymakers are all gathering in La Roche-Guyon it seems. The unique and huge parking lot of the city is crowded. We have to go to the end of the parking lot and park on a wheat field prepared for the occasion. Finally, it was better this way because there was a shortcut taking us to the city center. We begin to realize how crowded it will be in France this summer.

I’ve never been on vacation in July or August in France, so I have no idea what it would be like. Besides this year, French people will mainly travel in France, we will surely be on top of each other, everywhere in France. And I naively thought that we would be more or less quiet.

La Roche-Guyon is one of the “Most Beautiful Villages in France” and its proximity to Giverny makes it the ideal destination for Ile-de-France residents on weekends or vacations.

The highlight of the city is the vegetable garden of this castle, with free access. As it rains intermittently, it is still decided to visit the interior of the castle – a large part of which is closed due to unsatisfactory sanitary measures. I advise you not to visit, it was not so interesting.

The only fun thing was the basement, intended for food storage, but it was hijacked by the Germans as a bunker. The walls are indeed very thick.

From the terrace of the castle and a few rooms inside, we have a beautiful view of the vegetable garden, but we aren’t high enough to see the entire vegetable garden and admire its structure as a drone would know how to do.

The vegetable garden in front of the castle is a little more interesting. Its structure reminds us a little of the exuberant gardens visited in Morocco. It is much larger than the one in Villandry and has more fruit trees. Each plant, each tree has a sign in front so that we can know its name. There are a lot of insects, but they are very busy with the flowers that bite the tourists. Don’t be afraid!

The vegetable garden was created in 1741 as a garden of pleasure and utility. This generic name of “kitchen garden” actually covers, as in Versailles, the association of a vegetable garden and a fruit garden. The originality of La Roche-Guyon’s garden, what makes it exceptional, is first of all its location on the main axis, between the castle and the Seine, as a major element of this monumental composition.

Source : larocheguyon.fr

Just next to the parking, you can access a small hill that gives a beautiful view of the vegetable garden & the Seine. The view is more satisfying than from the castle.

I don’t know if that’s the world there was, but I was not impressed by this “most beautiful village in France” compared to other most beautiful villages in France (like Gerberoy with their thousands of roses). It’s a nice stopover after your visit to Giverny, but to move just for that, I don’t think it’s worth it. There are more beautiful villages next to Paris.

Part 2: Practical Tips

• These villages are part of the +800 tourist places in France that we recommend. To access the Google Maps map of these 800 places for free, click here
• Car rental: we compared the offers and that day, the cheapest was 24€/day with Enterprise. To compare the rental offers, you can look on Lastminute(link) or Expedia (link)
• Restaurant Le Coq Hardy: from 25€/person : 84 Avenue du Président Coty, 76480 Duclair. Remember to book in advance : 02 35 37 50 37
• Château Laroche-Guyon (ask for information, there are guided tours of the vegetable garden too)
  • Full price : 7,80€
  • Reduced rates: €4.80 (13-18 years old, students, job seekers); €4.30 (6-12 years old); €3.70 (people with disabilities); €3.30 (residents of the Vexin Val de Seine Community of Communes).
  • Family package: 22€ (2 adults & 2 children); 26€ (2 adults & 3 children).
  • Free for children under 6 years old
• Abbaye Saint-Wandrille, here are the new opening hours