by There was a buzz in Athens this week, with reports that Greece’s culture ministry plans to introduce private out-of-hours visits to the Acropolis and the Parthenon. The news prompted an angry response from those who see such arrangements as extremely demanding and unfair.
The proposed tours, which would cost €5,000 for a group of five, would allow tourists to be guided around one of the world’s most famous historical sites for two hours before and after normal opening hours. The reason, of course, is money. The Hellenic Organization for the Development of Cultural Resources (affiliated with the Greek Ministry of Culture) estimates that such an initiative could raise up to €40,000 per day to help develop and protect cultural sites.
Such a scheme may be new to Athens, but the world of cultural tourism has been operating this way for a long time. If you have the budget, a discrete inquiry will usually open doors after or before hours, so you can enjoy the art, sights and attractions without having to rub shoulders. hoi polloi.
Those eye-popping price tags aren’t the whole story, though. As the number of tourists desperate to catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa or Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling returns to post-pandemic levels, so the number of options to avoid them is increasing. Some museums – such as the Uffizi in Florence and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris – have reservation systems so you can cut out the worst queues. But there are some pricier ways to enhance your experience as well.
Sistine Chapel, Rome
I sometimes wonder what Michelangelo thought of today’s experience while looking at his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. His wonderful meditations on the Creation and the Last Judgment were made for a rare atmosphere: the Pope’s inner sanctum, his private chapel. Of course, it’s still his private chapel, but the sheer weight of numbers that pour in during visiting hours makes it less of an aesthetic or religious experience and more like going in and out of a football stadium. The Vatican Museums do their best to balance the flow – entry to the chapel comes at the end of the visitor’s itinerary. But it’s not a visit for the faint-hearted art lover, and it’s a good idea to plan a visit in December or January.
What a visit usually costs: A €20 ticket allows entry to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel.
For the privileged few: Walks of Italy (walksofitaly.com) offers another option, if you’re willing to get up early. Its special access guided tour (group size up to 20) starts at 6am and gives you two hours to explore the museums, the Raphael rooms and the Sistine Chapel before it opens to the public. It costs from £446 each.
St. Mark’s Basilica, Venice
Another sacred space, this one also originally created as a private chapel for the Venetian Doge, the Basilica of Saint Mark and, in my opinion, is even more endangered by the crowds. It should be the most amazing experience. The thousand-year-old gold mosaics on the walls and domes have a light and life of their own, especially towards the end of the day when the sun is going down and they flicker and glow like ashes. But to enjoy them you’ll have to join the long queue that stretches back into St Mark’s square. Security checks and basic crowd control mean numbers have to be managed. In practice, the queue is endless. It continues to move slowly through the church as you follow the path of visitors.
What a visit usually costs: You can visit the Basilica of Saint Mark for €3. Children go free.
For the privileged few: Viator (viator.com) – a specialist in guided tours and experiences around the world – operates guided visits for small groups (limited to 25 people) after the church is closed to the general public. They include access to the main scenes in the body and dome and last around an hour and a half. They cost from £68.20 each, depending on the date, although the price can rise to over £300 if you include an optional out-of-hours visit to the Doge’s Palace at the same time.
Palace of Versailles
Louis XIV’s baroque pleasure palace is huge: the main building alone has 2,300 rooms, and there are two other chateaux – the Petit and the Grand Trianon – on the grounds. Add to that the Royal Opera, Marie-Antoinette’s model village, acres upon acres of formal parks and gardens and – on summer weekends – spectacular firework and fountain displays. A dedicated visitor could take days to see it. But most do not. They want the highlights: the Hall of Mirrors, the King’s Apartments, and Marie-Antoinette’s Private Apartments. So, once the coaches start arriving and the gates swing open, that results in a scrum very often.
What a visit usually costs: A ticket to the palace will set you back €21, while access to the entire grounds costs €32.
For the privileged few: One of the most enjoyable assignments I have ever had was staying at Le Grand Controle hotel (airelles.com). This was the former Mansion of the state treasurer, built just inside the park walls around the Château. There are only 14 luxurious bedrooms, an excellent restaurant, and history and fun about the place. But its real USP is the privileges it allows its guests. You have direct access to the grounds at all hours, and the hotel offers this with daily tours outside of normal palace hours included in the room rates. So when you enter the Hall of Mirrors, the only reflection you see is your own. Double rooms from around €2,000 including breakfast and tea.
British Museum
Despite a recent rocky ride with the missing artefacts scandal, Britain’s National Museum has bounced back from the pandemic better than any other major London museum, with a 42 per cent increase in visitor numbers in 2023 in compared to 2022, only a few percent below. to record. That means a lot of people (nearly six million a year) crowd through the security checks. It’s obviously a big place and, once you’re inside, it’s easy to find the quieter corners and galleries. But the pressure on the Elgin Marbles, the Egyptian mummies and the Rosetta Stone can be intense at peak times.
What a visit usually costs: Visiting the permanent collections is free.
For the privileged few: The good news is that the museum operates one of the best value programs for visits outside normal working hours. It offers a choice of five different highlight tours, led by its volunteer guides. They start at 8.50am – which allows an hour in the museum before the 10am opening time. They include a general introduction tour and others focusing on China, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece and each tour costs £33 each (britishmuseum.org/visit/out-hours-tours).
Temple of Luxor
The sites around Luxor definitely get busy – especially some of the underground tombs. It might mean a long wait for a very brief glimpse of the interior to see Tutankhamun’s. But the intense heat of the Egyptian desert is often as great as the crowds that make such peaceful visits. Two of the most popular visits, along with the Valley of the Kings, are the Karnak Temple complex and Luxor Temple, which were partly built by Ramesses II and Tutankhamun and, so the theory goes, was where the pharaohs were crowned .
What a visit usually costs: Tourists pay 400 EGP (£6.63) to enter Luxor Temple.
For the privileged few: If you’re feeling particularly wet, and prefer to visit Karnak or Luxor Temple in the relative cool of the evening, Egypt Vacation Tours (egyptvacationtours.com), can arrange access to the sites after hours with an expert tour guide. Not only that but, if you want longer to soak in the experience, have dinner at Luxor Temple. Visits to Karnak cost from US$510, and Luxor Temple dinner costs from US$1,950. Both prices are per person based on a group of 9-17 adults.
The Late Supper, Milan
Leonardo on Last Supper It is, along with Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling, one of the most famous large-scale paintings ever made. But because of its fragility and the size of the room it was made of, it cannot accommodate the same number of visitors as the Roman church. To see it, you’ll need to book weeks in advance, although you’ll only get 15 minutes in the room, along with up to 29 other people. The result is that many people who come in without planning far enough in advance miss out on seeing it.
What a visit usually costs: Standard ticket to the Last Supper cost €15.
For the privileged few: The answer is to buy your way in and Tick Italy (tickitaly.com) has the solution. He says he liaises with local licensed guides who offer visits to see the Last Supper as part of a larger tour so it is often possible to add additional visitors to the group to accommodate unused places. To get in at short notice you’ll have to pay more than double the normal ticket price – from €36.50 – and you’ll still only get 15 minutes. But at least you will see it.
