Avoid the massive crowds that can make exploring the Vatican difficult and prebook this Sistine Chapel First Entry Experience with Vatican Museums Admission Ticket. This experience takes you inside the Vatican, right to the Sistine Chapel, before the crowds can even find their way there. Within a small group of up to 12 people, see Michelangelo’s famous ceiling fresco with a guide before exploring the other works and exhibits in the museums before the crowds arrive.

Gain special, first-entry access to the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum
See Michelangelo's masterpieces before the general public can
Explore the Vatican Museums for as long as you'd like
A small group provides an intimate experience you won't get from other tours

Why Travelers Choose This Tour

Be among the first people of the day inside the Sistine Chapel with this ticket.

What's Included

First Entrance into the Vatican Museums
First Entry Experience to the Sistine Chapel
Entrance Tickets and Reservation Fees
Small group of 12 people or less
Expert, English-speaking guide

Gratuities
Hotel pickup and drop-off

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Via Tunisi, 4, 00192 Roma RM, Italy
At the bottom of the steps across the street from the Entrance of the Vatican Museums. The steps are located right next to Caffè Vaticano on the corner of Viale Vaticano and Via Tunisi. The closest Metro stop is Line A (Ottaviano – Musei Vaticani).

Start time

08:00 AM

End point

Sistine Chapel
00120, Vatican City

What To Expect

Your early morning Vatican experience starts as you meet your host outside the Vatican Museums. Be one of the first to go in and head directly to the Sistine Chapel, the pope’s private place of worship, which is normally the last thing seen on a tour of the Museums' complex. However, with this ticket, enter the chapel as one of the first visitors of the day, allowing you to enjoy it without the crowds.

Gaze in awe at Michelangelo’s iconic ceiling fresco, 'The Creation of Adam,' as well as 'The Last Judgment,' his blue fresco that adorns the back wall of the chapel. Talking is not allowed inside; learn about these Renaissance masterpieces before you enter from your guide. After seeing the chapel, you're able to explore the Vatican Museums.

Your tour concludes back in St. Peter's Square, where you're able to take in the architectural splendor of the Vatican.

Vatican City (Pass By)

Vatican Museums

1 hour 10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Sistine Chapel

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
A dress code is required to enter places of worship and selected museums. No shorts or sleeveless tops allowed. Knees and shoulders MUST be covered for both men and women. You may risk refused entry if you fail to comply with these dress requirements
St Peter's Basilica, the grottos and the dome: After the tour, you may visit these attractions on your own. Your tour will end at the front of St Peter's Basilica, which is a very convenient location to leave for lunch, visit the Vatican bookstore, visit the Vatican post office, enter St Peter's Basilica, continue to the grottos below St Peter's or climb to the dome. Your tour guide will be happy to point you in the right direction!
Not wheelchair accessible

Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate
Please note: Due to the current circumstances and regulations, the Vatican currently opens at 8:30am instead of 8:00am. However, by arriving at the line 30 minutes before the doors open, you will be one of the first visitors to enter the Sistine Chapel and enjoy the Museums in peace before the crowds arrive.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 12 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

4.5

1,015 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 1,015 reviews

Incredible guide for a once in a lifetime experience

Jenna_M, Apr 2024

Our guide Hilaria, or YaYa (meaning friend) as she let our kids affectionately refer to her as, was an exceptional guide. She was incredibly knowledgeable and her passion for the history and art was ever present. Our only regret was doing the shorter tour. Thank you Hilaria ❤️

For art enthusiasts

Kristenstephan, Apr 2024

Oscar was very passionate about art and he pointed out things that most people would overlook. The excursion wasn’t quite what we thought it would be but we enjoyed it.

Bad

James_M, Mar 2024

Don't waste money. A waste of money. Not worth it. Don't book this.Go by yourself. You can do it alone. There is no need to book this tour.

Response from Host, Apr 2024

Hi James_M, Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us regarding the Sistine Chapel First Entry Experience with Vatican Museums. We apologize for any disappointment you experienced. Your feedback is valuable to us as we continuously work to improve our experiences. Particularly, our Vatican tours are special to all of us, and we would like to offer you further tour accommodations for additional feedback. Please contact us at info@citywonders.com to discuss further. We are committed to learning from your feedback and ensuring better experiences in the future for our First Entry Sistine Chapel Tour. Best regards, The City Wonders Team

Good one to avoid the crowds and lines

Eva_W, Mar 2024

Good over view...disappointed not to see St Peter's tho and the square. At least we weren't rushed thru the Sistine Chapel like so many other tours

Great Vatican Museum highlights and direct to the Sistine Chapel!

Taylor_W, Mar 2024

Our guide made sure we were super early to the Sistine chapel! We went back just a couple of hours after our tour ended and it was packed like sardines. The tour started a little after 8 (the company the guide works for, not the guides fault) and we took the most direct route to the Sistine Chapel. This was great bc it was a colder rainy morning and people were packing in. Going in this early allowed us to experience the museum with almost no crowds at all, and our guide told us about some of the more prominent art and about all the galleries along the way. So even though the tour was a little than 1.5h, we had a great time! Our guide, Oscar was really informative on everything we were interested in, and even gave us great recommendations on what to see after the Sistine Chapel based on our interests! We had a blast and would definitely do it again

Bait and switch

Robert_F, Dec 2023

The description said we would go directly to the Sistine first thing in the morning so it wouldn’t be crowded. We got a regular tour just like anyone else where the guide slow strolled us through one wing of the museum. Do not sign up for this one as the extra cost is complete waste of money.

Response from Host, Jan 2024

Hi Robert_F, We sincerely apologize for any disappointment you experienced during your Sistine Chapel First Entry Experience with Vatican Museums. December can indeed be a busy time at the Vatican, and we regret any inconvenience caused by the crowds. To further assist you and investigate if there was any misunderstanding or issue on our end, could you please provide us with your booking reference number? You can send it to us at info@citywonders.com. This will allow us to look into the details of your reservation and address your concerns properly. Your feedback is crucial, and we appreciate your patience as we work to ensure that your experience aligns with our standards. We value your input and are committed to making any necessary improvements. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and we look forward to the opportunity to address your concerns. Best regards, Edgar J. City Wonders

Our guide was wonderful...

Nicole_K, Dec 2023

Our guide was wonderful and so knowledgeable!! I learned so much on this tour! December is the time to come as it wasn't crowded.

Guided tour makes the experience so much better!

Alyona_S, Nov 2023

Mirco was very good and answered all the questions and made sure everyone was enjoying the tour. He helped understand the logistics and took some pressure off of what to expect. It is a lot to take in, especially if it is your fist time. The tour did not include the Rafael room, which was a bummer. We are glad we took the tour for this as it allowed us to enjoy it so much more.

Sistine chapel LAST entry

Bob_C, Nov 2023

Enjoyed the tour and our tour guide was excellent and very informative. Odd thing was this was sold as “Sistine Chapel first entry” but not only was it the LAST place we visited, our guide left us before we even got to the chapel with a vague “it’s that way” gesture and the group was left to go on our own. And the chapel was packed like a sardine can. Still enjoyed the tour however.

Would not recommend if American

Nicole_L, Nov 2023

Guide was extremely rude to us when she found out we were from the US. She was friendly to everyone in our group except for the 4 of us- her name was Olena I believe. The tour was mediocre- paid for a first entry experience and it was beyond packed.

Response from Host, Nov 2023

Hi Nicole_L, Thank you for sharing your experience with our Sistine Chapel First Entry Experience with Vatican Museums. We sincerely apologize if any aspect of your tour fell short of expectations, especially the reported rudeness from our guide. This behavior is not in line with our standards of service, and we are taking your feedback seriously. We would like to investigate this matter further to address the specific concerns you've raised about the guide named Olena. If you could provide more details, please feel free to reach out to us at info@citywonders.com. We assure you that we will thoroughly look into the issue to ensure it doesn't happen again in the future. We appreciate your understanding and hope to have the opportunity to welcome you back for a more positive and enriching experience. Best regards, Edgar J. City Wonders

Early Bird is Best

Shaun_F, Nov 2023

Our guide was the absolute best!! His knowledge of the content was apparently unlimited, he answered question after question with no hesitation and was very patient and kind. Early entry to the Sistine Chapel was great, not having to deal with a huge crowd was so nice. We later saw the line to get in and it was so bad I probably would have not went in if I hadn’t purchased this tour. 10/10 recommend getting this tour with early entry.

leave the tour guide after you get in

Tim_L, Oct 2023

well at least this tour gets you past a line that you can visibly see is a huge line, but still this "skip the line" concept they advertise is complete crock because they're like a hundred different tours scheduled every day and you're basically rubbing elbows with all the other tours who for the most part get in ahead of you anyway. only good thing is, is that by the time you get to the sisteen chapel it's so crowded it gets easy to sneak a few pics past the security guys...best part about this tour was that the tour guide actually left us alone at the sisteen chapel so we could wander the museums on our own and quite frankly that is the best way to do this. tour guides are a total waste of time because at first they bring you into the facility and then waste a hour of your time giving you a history lesson of the vatican which most people have already gotten off of google. then when they actually begin walking you through the vatican they try to get you through at an unreasonable pace....we just dumped our tour guide after the first 15 minutes of yakking and went on our own (that was the best thing we ever did)....only thing i would recommend this tour for is to get into the vatican past all the people waiting on the street....after that dump off your headset and go on your own....you will actually enjoy it much more.

Response from Host, Oct 2023

Hi Tim_L, Thank you for sharing your feedback on your recent experience with our Sistine Chapel First Entry tour. We genuinely appreciate your insights, as it allows us to continuously refine our services. We apologize if you found the "skip the line" experience to be less efficient due to the volume of tours on the same schedule. The Vatican Museums can indeed become crowded, especially during peak seasons. We aim to provide our guests with an advantage over the regular lines, but the sheer popularity of the site can make it challenging. It's great to hear that you were able to take advantage of the time spent in the Sistine Chapel to explore the museums at your own pace. Some guests do prefer a more self-guided experience, and we completely understand the desire for personal exploration. Your comments are valuable to us, and we'll certainly consider them as we work to enhance our offerings. We hope that you may consider joining us again for another tour in the future. Thank you for choosing City Wonders, and we appreciate your time and insights. Best regards, Edgar J. City Wonders

Great company, great tour!

suzesamson53, Oct 2023

City Wonders does a great job with tours. They are organized, efficient and friendly. Our guide on this tour was great! She was knowledgeable and we had no trouble understanding her. She also had a great sense of humor! The history and details she gave us about the popes, museum artifacts and the Sistine Chapel made our visit more meaningful and interesting. Great tour!

Perfetto

Joan_V, Oct 2023

Wonderful tour with excellent knowledgable & friendly guide. Too bad she was not able to come inside the chapel.

Do it!

Martha_M, Oct 2023

Very informative and just the right length of time for our group. And the early start time is the way to because when we were leaving the lines to get in were ridiculously long.

Skipped the line but not the crowds

Arianne_B, Oct 2023

Yes, we skipped the lines and the guide was good, but the museum was very, very crowded, including the Sistine Chapel

Herding Cattle was not what I signed up for

Sandy_W, Oct 2023

This was my second visit to the Vatican Museums and I didn’t think my feelings about it could be worse, they were. First our tour guide never showed up. We were given the option to cancel, come back another day, or go in with a ticket and no tour guide. This was our last day in Rome so we chose to continue with no tour guide. We were not given the ramifications of that choice. Every entry point we got to we were told we couldn’t go further without a tour guide. We were first told it would be 8:30. At 8:30 we were told we could enter without a guide at 9 am. We were finally allowed in at 9 and we probably had a reasonably good 20 minutes before the crowds descended. With the increase in numbers the security personnel started herding people and shushing people. They were rude and very ungracious in their position. This was my experience the first time I visited but I thought by getting an early entrance tour I could avoid it this trip. I think the security personal need to come up with a better way of moving people in and out without treating visitors like animals.

Response from Host, Oct 2023

Hi Sandy_W, We deeply regret the inconvenience you experienced during your visit to the Vatican Museums. It's disheartening to hear that your tour guide did not attend your tour as scheduled due to a last minute cancellation. You will receive a partial refund for this inconvenience, as is always our policy when a guide cannot attend their tour for whatever reason. Please allow for 10-14 days for these funds to be processed back to you. We will address this with our Guide Management team to ensure that this does not happen to our travelers. We also apologize for the issues with the security personnel and the overall tour experience. Your feedback is important to us, and it helps us identify areas for improvement. We appreciate your understanding and patience during this visit. We hope that your future travels are more enjoyable and that you consider giving us another chance to provide you with a better travel experience. Thank you for choosing to travel with us, and should you need anything, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. All the best, Edgar J. City Wonders

Great experience

Annie_B, Oct 2023

Well organised, not too busy. Helen our guide was lovely, she pointed out lots of things wewe didn't know.

Informative tour

Tricia_S, Oct 2023

Our guide was knowledgeable and fun! Oxanas energy and enthusiasm made for a wonderful experience in the vatican museums and Sistine Chapel. Headsets worked well and were really necessary to hear her due to size of crowds.

Great

Melissa_B, Oct 2023

Our guild Ilaria was great and have a good over view of the museum before our visit to the Sistine Chapel

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