I arrive in Rome on Thursday, April 21. I probably need to deal with Vatican tickets soon. I've been to the Museums before and have no need to see the Sistine Chapel again. I don't particularly want a tour and definitely don't want to pay more for a commercial tour than I'd pay for equivalent access through the Vatican ticket office. I would just like to see the paintings, etc., outside the Chapel in conditions that aren't sardine-like. I plan to use the Vatican's audio guide.
Here's the ticket-booking website: https://tickets.museivaticani.va/home/fromtag/1/1650686400000/Biglietti-Musei
These are the moderately-priced options I see available for April 22 and following days; perhaps this list will be of help to others. It's not exactly what I was expecting to see, based on comments here in the past. I think things have changed.
- Admission ticket on Mon-Thu: €21; audio guide €7. First entry 9:00 AM. Last entry 3:30 PM. Closing 6:00 PM.
Admission ticket on Fri-Sat: €21; audio guide €7. First entry 9:00 AM. Last entry 8:00 PM; every half hour is listed as a possible entry time. Closing 10:00 PM. I see no evidence that people who enter in the morning or early afternoon are kicked out earlier than 10 PM. Am I missing something?
Breakfast at the Museums: €39; audio guide €7. Entry 7:45 AM. Includes breakfast first, then access to Museums. I assume you can stay until the day's closing time (6 PM or 10 PM).
Prime Experience: €63 [edited--this does not include the audio guide]. Entry 7:30 AM (English tour). Includes 2-hour tour, then breakfast and continued access to Museums, I assume until closing time. [This appears to get you into the Sistine Chapel earlier than Breakfast at the Museums because of the earlier start and different timing for breakfast.]
Extra Time Sistine Chapel (beginning Apr 20 but only on Mon-Thu): €63, no audio guide mentioned (no time to use it if tour is about 2 hours). Entry time 3:45 PM. Includes tour first (including time in Chapel after regular visitors are gone), then happy hour. I am guessing other visitors are required to leave the Chapel before the Museums' 6 PM closing time--maybe at 5:30??), and the Extra Time tour goes into the Chapel then, leaving no later than 6 PM for the happy hour. This is a Mon-Thu tour, and the Museums are not open late on those nights, so it seems this option only gives you about 2 hr. 15 min. to see the Museums. It seems unlikely they'd keep the Museums open for re-entry after happy hour.
I don't see a late-entry, happy-hour-inclusive tour on Friday and Saturday that allows visitors to remain until at least 10 PM. You can now choose either a late closing time (Fri-Sat) for the same price as all other regular entry tickets or the pricier tour-with-happy-hour combo (Mon-Thu) that allows only a short visit.
If the Museums were previously cleared of earlier entrants before the late-Fri/Sat people were admitted, that also seems to have changed. It appears you can enter early on Fri or Sat (though tickets for entry before 4 PM are gone for Fri and Sat through the end of Apr) and stay until 10:00 PM--unless you expire from hunger first.
If I have any of this wrong, please let me know. I don't want to buy a 4:30 PM ticket on Fri or Sat and find myself being ushered out at 6 PM.
Thanks for your thoughts.