Sistine Chapel Tours September 2023

Tours actually start in other areas and get to the Sistine Chapel after the general public opening

While I've not done one of these tours, you should know that the Sistine is kind of "buried" in the Vatican Museum meaning you have to walk thru many miles (!lol) of corridors to get to it from the entrance area. I believe there is a bit of a set route all tour companies have to follow to the Sistine based on what the local guide said on my RS Best of Italy tour in October.

Also, know that Viator is a 3rd party tour consolidator and does not actually provide tours. You'll do better to book directly with a company such as Pristine Sistine and The Roman Guy. On the Viator listing you can usually click "more information" and come up with the actual name of the company providing the tour. Viator charges the tour company 20-25% of the tour fee for listing. Very hard on the smaller companies.

What Pam said. I had a similar experience on a different RS tour. I'm pretty sure the only way to get into the Sistine Chapel is through the Vatican Museum, which means a lot of walking through hallways. The good news is that those hallways are filled with magnificent works of art. And Viator, while perhaps useful to identify different tour choices, is just a broker that charges a commission to the company doing the actual tour. Better to book with the actual company.

I hate to promote Trip Advisor over this forum, but you might get more useful answers from people not as skewed as we are to the RS experience. I'm sure that my excellent guide gives tours for other companies, but I don't know which ones. On our morning visit the crowding detracted a lot from the overall experience of the museum and the chapel. Look for a tour that enters as early as possible and, if only the chapel interests you, doesn't go elsewhere -- if such a tour exists. Perhaps you could email a company that looks right with specific questions.

You raise a great question to ask providers.

What time does the tour enter the vatican museums?

When I was researching tours, many started at 7:15 or 7:30, but would start at their offices. So you would not enter the vatican museums until 8:00 or later. (and still finish 3 hours after the start time of 7:15, thus losing 45 minutes or more of the "tour". They also talk to you a lot outside the museum, so less time inside.

In the end, I booked directly with the Vatican, using the Prime Tour option. I'm taking this in Jan, and would be happy to report back, I have read glowing reviews of this one.

You enter the museum at 7:30. Do a 90 min tour (which means you would finish at the Sistine about 9am, then you have breakfast on the grounds, and can enter the museum again (without a guide).

Its actually fairly reasonable compared to third parties, you get in early, and you will be one of the first to the Chapel - as others have said, its at the end.
You get breakfast, which is not a selling point for us, but I'll take it.

In the end the Prime tour offered the best access to the museums and chapel at the earliest time within my budget. You wont be able to book this one until a few months out. I got my booking in November. You could place a placeholder booking with another company, as I did with my Colosseum tour. Once I obtain the tickets the official way, I will cancel the third-party one.

I booked an early hours group tour on the official Vatican site (Musei Vaticani) for a Saturday in November. The tour started at 8:00 and was 2 1/2 hours. We got to the Sistine Chapel at the end of the 2 1/2 hours. There were a lot of people in there, but it was not oppressive. Of course, it could be much worse in September.

You're not allowed to talk in the Sistine Chapel, so you can't really have a guided experience while you are in there. Also, it's at the far end of the museum from the entrance. It seems likely most tours would end at the Sistine Chapel, though that is just a guess.

Our tour guide made it clear that you could drop out of the tour at any time, so you could elect to skip out when the Sistine Chapel opens to avoid the crowds.

Regarding the tour I took -- Our guide was very good, but it took an hour before we saw any art. By then, the museum had opened to the public, though it was not very crowded. We spent a half hour outside while she told us about the tour and specifically the Sistine Chapel. (In all honesty, I forgot most of what she said by the time we got there.) Then we walked around the outside of the building for another half hour. Based on this, I cannot recommend the tour, but it wasn't expensive, and I was happy to get an early start.

"We spent a half hour outside while she told us about the tour and specifically the Sistine Chapel."

Because the guides are not allowed to talk in the Sistine Chapel they do spend a lot of time outside near the several large boards of color photographs of the artwork doing explanations so you'll know what to look for once you get inside.

Lots of good advice!
I'll second the vote to skip any tours offered through 3rd-party Viator, and go directly to the tour companies themselves.

Ignore any which advertise "Skip the line" tours as some sort of special benefit. EVERY tour skips the ticket line, and tickets sold in advance by the Vatican itself are 'Skip the line' as well 'cause they're all sold by specific date and entry time, just as Galleria Borghese's are.

No one AT ALL skips the security-check line but it moves quickly.

I've never seen a tour which only goes to the Sistine. Doesn't mean it's not possible but I've never seen one. Some of the tours which have gotten high marks from RS posters who've used them have been Walks of Italy's "Pristine Sistine" and The Roman Guy's "Privileged Entrance Vatican Tour with Sistine Chapel". Both enter the museums early - likely around 7:30 - but the Sistine is the final stop on the Roman Guy's tour, and the first stop on WOI's. See the full description of both, and be cautious of browsing reviews which go back too many months. Reason? There was a lot of procedural stuff in flux for quite some time due to COVID so things can be different now than it was awhile back.

https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy/vatican/sistine-chapel-vatican-tour
https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/pristine-sistine-chapel-tour/

One of the recent reinstatements has been allowing some tours to access the basilica again directly from inside the museums, via a back passage reserved for groups. That passage had been closed for a couple of years, and it is a real time saver as you don't have to exit the museums, walk all the way around to St Peter's Square, and stand in the (sometimes long) security queue for the church (which is free entry) if visiting it after the museums. Both of the tour examples I linked specifically note that they offer this benefit except on Wed. mornings and infrequent or unexpected days the church or the corridor may need to close.

If you are planning on visiting the basilica, I'd consider a museum tour which provides not just early entrance of one sort of another but this special back-passage access to St Pete's as well. It can save not just time but a very decent amount of wear on your feet!!! :O)