Vatican Museums Alone: VIP Early Entry or After-Hours Guided Tour
Description
Before the Eternal City awakes, or as the sun sets over Rome, enter the empty hallowed halls, opulent galleries, and sacred chambers of the Vatican Museums, in an exclusive small group with an expert guide. You will experience the Apostolic palaces as the popes of the Renaissance did – peacefully, without the crowds. Enjoy some of the greatest art in the world. The Apollo and Laocoon of antiquity, the Renaissance wonders of the Raphael rooms, and the majesty of Michelangelo’s masterpieces in the Sistine Chapel.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Enter the hallowed halls and galleries of the Vatican two hours before it opens to the general public, or after opening time. Enjoy an exclusive semi-private tour with an expert guide alone in the Vatican with just a small group of 10 people.
Normally full of hundreds of people jostling for position, enjoy the peace and quiet of Pope Julius II’s private apartments by Raphael, the painter of sweetness and light. Admire the incredible frescoes of the School of Athens and the Disputa. Learn about the life and tragic early death of the beloved Raphael.
Marvel at the hand-stitched Flemish tapestries, created according to Raphael school designs. Admire the golden opulence and amazing accuracy of the 17th-century frescoes in the Gallery of Maps.
To enter the empty Sistine Chapel is an unforgettable moment. Normally filled with over 1000 people, you will stand alone beneath Michelangelo’s mighty masterpieces. Be swept up in their splendor and magnificence.
The tour ends in the peaceful Pinecone Courtyard.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
- All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Places of worship have strict dress code requirements for entry. All participants are required to have shoulders and knees covered (no tank tops or short dresses) to enter
- There is no photography allowed inside the Sistine Chapel.
- Backpacks are not permitted in the Museum.
- Everyone in your group, regardless of age, needs a government issued ID to enter the Vatican Museums.
- IMPORTANT: Please advise our team if you believe that a disability qualifies you for complimentary access to the Vatican
- Due to the exceptional circumstances of this tour your group size will have a max of 10 people
- The evening tour option does not include breakfast, and it is approximately 20 mins shorter than the advertised duration. The total duration of the evening tour is therefore 2hr 15mins.
Reviews(12)
The Liv Tours Alone in the Sistine Chapel experience was one of the highlights of my trip. Our guide Barbara was fantastic. She was enthusiastic, fun and knowledgeable and what really put her over the top was that she not only took pictures for anyone that wanted them along the way, but went out of her way to make sure everybody got some good ones in the Gallery of Maps. The whole process was such a refreshing change from my tour with Walks last year (keymaster) where they misled us regarding the number of people involved (40 instead of the listed 20). This tour went at a slower pace with more detail and more time to spend in the areas we saw and if there were any other groups in the museum we never came across them. The breakfast at the end was just ok, but provided a good chance to sit down for a minute and have a bite before getting back in to see a couple of the areas not originally covered by the tour. Overall, highly recommended.
Liv Tours was super easy to schedule and Laura P. was a fantastic guide! She is so personable, warm and fun. She really knows her history and has a special way of sharing a great amount of information in small enough bites for people like us …overwhelmed by so much to see at once, to keep up and finish the visit feeling like we’d seen and learned so much!! We talked about Laura P. and the Vatican visit many times during our trip and shared with others. We are so grateful for the wonderful memories she helped us make! The breakfast-tour combination is very unique and a terrific way to enjoy such a special place. Thank you so much for everything! Grazie Mille Laura P.!! Ann and Sandy from North Carolina
Did the Alone in the Sistine Chapel tour and it really was amazing. I think there were two separate groups of six people each doing it. The access was phenomenal, to be alone in the quiet of the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel. Tour guide Michaela was passionate and knowledgeable. Pricey, but an amazing experience.
This was an excellent tour. Being able to see The Vatican in such a small group was surreal. Our tour guide David was amazing and full of knowledge. I’d highly recommend this tour and would do it again in a heartbeat.
I am so glad I waited to write this review after attending two other tours from two different tour companies. Our visit to the Sistine Chapel and Raphael rooms were beyond amazing. Our tour guide Davide F. kept our attention with his quick humor and talent for storytelling. To be in the Sistine Chapel with only a handful of people is an experience I will cherish forever. I can tell you from personal experience LivTours is the best of the best. Don't waste your time or money booking with other tour groups. I can't wait to have the opportunity to book with them again.
Amazing experience, perfectly organized, best tour guide. No line to enter and we were a small group of just 5 people. Vatican museum and Sistine chapel like VIP. Definitely worth the money and super raccomanded
Being alone in the Vatican, especially the Sistine Chapel was an unforgettable experience. I had done a different company's tour of the Vatican at a more crowded hour and while it will always be stunning, the views and pictures I was able to get on this tour blow the other out of the water.
100% recommend this tour! Visiting the Vatican museum with the abstinence of crowds was absolutely AMAZING! Our knowledgeable tour guide walked us through the empty museum, which made for some EPIC photography. Our private tour included- exploring the Gallery of Maps, Raphael's Room, Sistine Chapel, and Michelangelo's masterpieces all before the sunrise. Highlight of the tour, we were able to spend 30 minutes in the Sistine Chapel. Our guide told us stories about the masterpieces and explained the history of the chapel. After our tour we were escorted to the beautiful Acorn courtyard to enjoy a delightful breakfast. You are able to sit and enjoy breakfast for as long as you would like. I highly recommend this tour!
Thank you for highly recommending us! We're glad you enjoyed the tour, the photography opportunities, and our knowledgeable guide. We're thrilled that your visit to the Vatican Museum was memorable.
It was an absolute thrill to visit the Vatican Museums with a small group of people and excellent guides on this early morning tour including the Sistine Chapel. I have visited the museums several times and found this experience to be outstanding. The highlights for me were walking through the hall of maps with virtually a soul in sight, getting up close to Raphael's masterpieces and of course a complete half hour in the Sistine Chapel hearing stories about Michelangelo's methods and life as he brought his ultimate masterpiece to completion. Highly recommended
Thank you for your high praise. We're delighted to hear you enjoyed the Vatican Museums tour and found the guides excellent. We look forward to welcoming you back in the future!
First off: this was a totally astounding experience. The Vatican Museums were essentially empty: staff was coming in for the day, the windows were open, sunlight was streaming in and the birds were chirping. We entered the Vatican in a group of about 15 and then split into two different groups with one guide per group. We got to visit all the major highlights of the Museums and there was no one else - outside of the other group. I learned so much about the artwork and the setting - and I have been on a tour group tour of the Vatican Museums before. This was way beyond that "normal" tour. The crown jewels were really the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel. We were alone in the Raphael Rooms and got to spend plenty of time - without any crowds - learning all about the dynamics of the artists and great thinkers and church leaders of the time. Then the Sistine Chapel! We spent probably 30 min in the Sistine Chapel and our guide was allowed to talk the whole time. This is not normally the case. We sat on the benches along the side and learned all about how a new pope is picked, when the chapel is used these days and of course, the incredible ceilings and wall. There are so many details and so many stories that I learned on that day - it was totally enriching and unique. We finished with breakfast in the Pine Cone Courtyard and it was a pretty nice breakfast: some breads and pastries, meat and cheese, a yogurt, coffee, etc. Then we were able to take our time - some of the people went back into the museum and others wandered out. But by this time people were entering the Museums and it was starting to fill up.
Dear Colleen, We're truly touched by your feedback. We're so pleased you found your visit to the Sistine Chapel inspiring and enriching. Your wonderful review motivates us to continue providing excellent experiences.
