Semi-Private Met Museum Tour with a Maximum of 8 Guests

Semi-private has a precise meaning on this tour: the group never goes above 8 guests. That is small enough to stand close to a painting, hear the guide without straining and ask whatever comes to mind. The tour lasts 2.5 hours and all entrance fees are included. Your ticket is taken care of, but the security check at the Met's entrance is not optional for anyone, and how long it takes depends on the crowd that day. From the Great Hall the guide heads for the museum's best-known galleries. Medieval Europe leads into the Studiolo from the Ducal Palace, and the armor galleries hold pieces worn by Henry VIII. The American Wing has the staircase rescued from the Chicago Stock Exchange and 'Washington Crossing the Delaware'. In the European paintings you meet Vermeer, Seurat, Picasso and Van Gogh, and hear about lives that were often hard going. The guide keeps drawing one comparison: this museum was started before the United States had turned 100, and it grew up measuring itself against Europe's older collections. A few things to know before you book. The tour is not available to travelers with walking disabilities or to wheelchair users, and a moderate level of fitness is expected. It needs at least 2 guests to run; if that minimum is not met, you are offered an alternative or a full refund. Large bags and suitcases are not allowed through security, only handbags or small, thin backpacks. Works on loan or under restoration drop out of the route, and a few rooms ask for near silence, which the guide mentions before you walk in.