Entire Vatican & Vatacombs: Treasures of the Sistine Chapel

Badge of ExcellenceRome, Italy

Entire Vatican and Vatacombs Heritage of Rome Tour

3 hours 30 minutes
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Unlock the mysteries of the Vatican on this popular tour. With an expert art historian guide by your side, you’ll easily navigate through the largest and most important collection of art in the world. With more than 70,000 works of art scattered across 1400 galleries, we’ve carved out a tried-and-true route to highlight the most important masterpieces spanning over 2000 years while making our way to the majestic Sistine Chapel. You also gain fast-track access to St. Peter's Basilica and a fully guided tour of the masterpieces inside.

Top-rated tour of Vatican City highlights
Head straight to the most important pieces in the immense Vatican Museum collection
Hear the history and legends of the Sistine Chapel
Enjoy priority access to bypass the queues
Guided visit of St. Peter's Basilica and the papal tombs

What's Included

Priority entrance to the Vatican Museums
Immersive experience inside Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel
The remarkable frescoed Rooms of Raphael
Expert licensed English-speaking tour guide
Fast-track entry and guided visit of St. Peter’s Basilica

Food and drinks
Hotel pickup and drop-off
Gratuities

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Via Sebastiano Veniero, 19, 00192 Roma RM, Italy
Via Sebastiano Veniero 19, nearest metro station is called Ottaviano / San Pietro / Musei Vaticani on Linea A which on any Rome metro map is coloured orange.

End point

Vatican Museums
00120, Vatican City

What To Expect

Vatican Museums

2 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Sistine Chapel

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

St. Peter's Basilica

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Near public transportation
Not recommended for travelers with back problems
Most travelers can participate

A dress code is required to enter places of worship and selected museums. Knees and shoulders MUST be covered for both men and women.
On days immediately surrounding religious holidays at the Vatican, alterations to tours may become necessary due to partial closings of areas normally included in this tour.
Maximum 20 travelers on this tour
Due to the route covered and/or the means of transportation used, it is not possible to participate in this tour using a wheelchair, scooter, or other aid. Please contact us to inquire about customized tour options for guests with mobility challenges
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 20 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

360 reviews

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

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 360 reviews

Best tour in Rome yet

Kathy_B, Apr 2024

Our tour guide Nadya Del Rosa was so knowledgeable and passionate about the Vatican that it was the best tour I've been on anywhere. We touched on all the key areas of vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's. It could have been overwhelming but she made it so much fun. This is a tour not to be missed. We were lucky to have her as our guide.

Excellent

Karyn_H, Mar 2024

Natalia was t h e best tour guide. She is very knowledgeable and very nice. Enjoyed the entire tour. Would highly recommend.

Vatican and surrounding attractions

Cheryl_H, Oct 2023

Massimo our tour guide MADE the tour. He was knowledgeable, funny and keep us moving at a great pace. He was great at keeping our group together through the large crowds also. The tour itself covered everything and then even some unexpected treasures.

Knowledgeable, personable, and just amazing

Makayla_J, Oct 2023

Our tour guide, Georgia was phenomenal! The Vatican changed a lot of things just a day before the trip so we weren't able to get the full experience, but Georgia did her absolute best and made it still the best experience for my husband and I, despite the crowds and closure of the vatacombs! We definitely plan to try to come again, and hope to get another tour of the vatacombs in future with this company

Amazing

Mark_C, Oct 2023

Amazing place to visit. If you want to see opulence and grandeur, art, statues and history, this trip with an amazing guide and info is the one. The queues waiting to get in by yourelf seemed to be massive. With the organised trip, we seemed to bypass these.

Our tour guide was...

Patricia_C, Sep 2023

Our tour guide was absolutely fantastic. Kept the tour very interesting , informative & humorous. I unfortunately cannot remember her name but she had an American accent & long black hair. Best tour guide I have experienced would recommend to Everyone

10/10 would recommend.

Doug_M, Sep 2023

Everything was fantastic! The tour guide was excellent and definitely made the experience much more memorable. Definitely recommend booking a tour so you know exactly what you’re looking at.

Not your run-of-the mill tour

Ellen_M, Aug 2023

Vincenzo was a genuine treat —wonderfully knowledgeable about the soicio//historical-political, and cultural issues that were relevant for understanding the role of the Vatican and its art treasures.

Vatican Vacation Must Do

Kathleen_G, Jul 2023

Our tour guide was fabulous! She was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about her faith and the history of the Vatican! A wonderful Italian experience!

Fantasticly wonderful

Simon_S, Jul 2023

We thoroughly enjoyed the tour. Our guide Paola was exception and well paced and descriptive throughout. The skip the line aspect was appreciated. A cousin who had not skipped the line waited for 2.5 hours. We did not. The tour was worth every penny/euro and has inspired our interest I. The treasures of the Vatican

Great tour guide!

Cindy_M, Jun 2023

Our tour guide Paolo was excellent! I’ve visited the Vatican twice before but Paolo’s sense of humor coupled with the in-depth information he provided throughout the tour made this the most memorable visit.

Incredibly Long Tour

Antay_W, Jun 2023

While the tour was certainly interesting, it was incredibly long. Okay for adults but not so much for kids. Be sure to take a restroom break before you go to the meeting location.

Response from Host, Oct 2023

Dear Antay, Thank you for taking the time to give us your valuable feedback. We are sorry to hear that our tour did not live up to your expectations and we apologize for any inconvenience caused. We would like to specify that the duration of the tour is outlined on the tour description. We do hope that your trip to Rome was nonetheless enjoyable! Sincerely,

Thorough and great!

Patricia_H, Jun 2023

Great tour. Took longer than the three hours so give yourself plenty of time… but it was because the guide was great and thorough so definitely recommend!!!

Does not include any vatacomb experience over a regular basilica entrance

Amy_p, May 2023

The guide was good and Informative. However the wording of the title of the tour doesn’t really reflect what you see. We specifically got this tour for the vatacombs component and whilst you can go below the basilica - there is no access to anything over and above a regular access to the basilica. This tour was more expensive and we purchased it for the vatacombs component so please keep that in mind when purchasing!

Wonderful Guide

Cynthia_W, May 2023

Excellent guide one of the best on our holiday He is so informative and passionate on the subject which we loved

Chaos

Richard_P, Apr 2023

The tour guide was good herself but sadly the tour was chaos and we lost over an hour queuing to get inside. Inside it was carnage with the amount of people and we had no time to really take anything in. Due to the delay we had to cut the tour short and missed a 1/3 of it, which was a big shame. Not the fault of the tour operator. But be prepared for huge queues here and don’t plan anything within a 5 hour window later.

Response from Host, Oct 2023

Dear Richard, Thank you for taking the time to write a review of your tour. As you can imagine, the amount of visitors allowed inside the museums and the security check lines are unfortunately beyond our control. We thank you for your feedback though, and hopefully we can do right by you in the future. Sincerely,

The tour itself was...

Kathleen_P, Apr 2022

The tour itself was amazing However our guide was difficult to understand and the guides microphone and her transmitter produced irrating static in our earphones

Response from Host, Jun 2022

Dear Kathleen, We're sorry to hear that your tour guide was difficult to understand due to malfunctioning audio devices. Sadly, we cannot control or choose which audio headsets to use on tour, as this is a decision made by the Vatican City. We will of course relay your complaint.

Awesome guide

Alejandro_C, Nov 2021

Our tour was great, the guide was very informative and she answered all our questions. It was very interesting learning about the Vatican museum and Sistine Chapel.

Must see

Bailey_O, Aug 2021

Great tour that went the extra mile to accommodate us. Was running behind (we blame the bus) but a simple message to the tour guide and we still made it. They had to split the tour into two parts because of COVID, but it gave us a chance to get lunch around the Vatican. Very hot during August, many stairs and steps, but all worth it!

No catacombs

Barbara_D, Aug 2021

Our tour guide Massimo was great, he made the Vatican Museum tour very nice and interesting. But we did not get the catacombs tour and also not the Vatican City tour, what was very disappointing. Viators reason for that miss were the corona restrictions, but the catacombs were definitely open to visitors at that day. Even though we received a 10€ refund, we did not get what we booked. This felt like deception and I cannot recommend Viator.

Response from Host, Sep 2021

Hello, and thanks for taking the time to share your feedback. It is however a pity that you would give such a poor rating since you state that your guide was great. In advance of your tour, you received an email from us explaining very clearly that the PASSAGE between the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's is currently closed, and you were offered an alternative in order to be able to see all of the sites as advertised in the description. You declined to accept, and asked for the €10 refund instead. I don't see how you can now complain that you missed some of the sites...but we're glad you enjoyed Massimo's tour nonelethess.

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