Best of Rome in 7 Days (October 8-14, 2023): Viatour Vatican by Night Tour

Note that Viator is a booking service, not the actual tour company. The tour company for that tour is called “What a Life” and you can get a 10% discount if you book directly with them.

https://www.whatalifetours.com/tours/vatican-under-the-stars-tour/

Other tour companies offer the same “after hours” tour but most have a larger group size, like 22 instead of this company’s 12.

The Saturday tours start at 5:30 pm so it is not really a “nighttime” tour. I did see a comment in the reviews complaining that the museum is still open to the public at that time so it is not a “private” tour. And there will be other groups at the same time, but the museum is huge and people can spread out. I imagine they enter the Sistine chapel at the end of the tour.

Hi, we are not doing the RS tour in October. However, we are visiting and booked the Extra Time SIstine Chapel w/Happy Hour tour.

We did so direct through the Museum. Here is their email [email protected]
This was also the response received when we reached out for clarification on the tour itself:

with the reference to your email, we inform you that the Museum closes at 16:00 to the public.

The tour "Extra Time "is a special tour , (starts at 16:00 from the guided tour desk, you should be there 15 minutes before)
You have the exclusive entrance to the Sistine Chapel with the explanation of the guide inside (usually is not allowed) , after the closing to the public.
In this tour is included the "Happy Hour" in the end of the tour.
The duration of the tour included the happy hour is about 3 hours.
The itinerary includes:
Pio Clementino, Museum, Upper Galleries the Raphael Rooms and exclusive entrance to the Sistine Chapel.
We inform that This type of the visit is available only in English.
Hope that helps

Lola... When shopping for tours on the Web, it's difficult to differentiate the scamers from the brokers and from the actual tour operator! I did book the tour directly, as you suggested. Thank you!

The "Extra Time" tour on the Vatican Museum web site is sold out for our dates.

Hours for Vatican Museums

The tour operators are sometimes rather sly in the description of their products. During high season, the Museums are open to the public until 6 PM on Monday-Thursday, until 10:30 PM on Friday and until 8 PM on Saturday. Closing time is at 6 PM every day the rest of the year. Those late hours weren't in play when I visited Rome in February/March, but as I understand it a tourist can buy an entry ticket for earlier in the day and remain until the museums close. Therefore, only the part of a tour extending after the closing hours will be experienced without members of the general public swirling around.

Last entry for the general public is 2 hours before closing time (4 PM, 8:30 PM or 6 PM in high season, otherwise always 4 PM), so if a tour begins after that time, it's true the general public will not be entering the Museums at the same time, but people who entered the Museums before the cut-off time can remain for the next two hours. It sounds as if the tours are structured to hit the Sistine Chapel after the public closing time.

David, my husband and I are booked for the same tour! This is our first RS tour and our first time in Italy. Looking forward to meeting you, your wife, and the rest of the tour members