See the Vatican Museums in a new light when you enter after regular closing time on our Vatican night tours. For short periods during the year the Vatican Museums open late to the public, allowing us to wander its corridors and examine artworks like Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescoes at a slower pace and with smaller crowds.
Your tour begins with immediate access to the Vatican Museums, getting you straight inside. From here, your expert, English-speaking guide will take you on a journey through the best of the Museums. At nine miles long, seeing all of the Vatican Museums would take months (if not years), so we’ve carefully-crafted the perfect route to show you the best of what the world’s largest art collection has to offer.
Our route through the Vatican Museums is diverse. You’ll see outdoor spaces like the Pinecone Courtyard and spot a silhouette of the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica from an open patio overlooking the Vatican Gardens. Then you’ll follow your guide inside through long hallways filled with ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, while they fill you in on the juicy details of life in Ancient Rome and the men who collected these works.
We’ll move on to the Gallery of Maps where you’ll see how much our understanding of the world has changed, and the Gallery of the Tapestries for stunning needlepoint masterpieces.
Listen to your guide as they tell you the history behind the Vatican, the Popes who have lived here and the artists that worked here. One name you’ll hear a lot is that of Raphael, whose four frescoed rooms are a highlight of our Vatican night tour. Here your guide will show you how Raphael honored the masters of his time, painting Michelangelo and Da Vinci into his famous ‘School of Athens’.
Of course we wouldn’t ignore the Vatican’s biggest star. By the time you visit the Sistine Chapel your guide will have taught you all about the frescoes you’ll find there. You’ll know where to look for Michelangelo’s self-portrait and how to spot portraits of his enemies among the heathens so your experience of this incredible spot will be so much more memorable than most.
With small group sizes limited to only 22 people or less and audio headsets for every guest, your Vatican night tour will be intimate and your guide easy to understand. And with Skip the Line Access, an expert guide and less crowds at the Vatican Museums, you can be sure that you’re getting the most from your Vatican visit.