Rome

Fast track: Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel Guided and St. Peter's Basilica Tour

Rome, Italy

From $125.58

Select Date and Travelers

up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)

3 hours
Offered in: English

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Overview

Explore the unparalleled collection of artwork amassed by the popes throughout the centuries and learn about the incredible masterpieces housed by the Vatican Museums on a small group tour. In the Pinacoteca Gallery you will find works by incredible artists (Giotto, Raphael, and Caravaggio amongst others) displayed to best show-off their beauty. Over a thousand pieces of antique sculpture are on display in the Chiaramonti Museum, and in the Gallery of Maps, you will see 16th-century maps depicting Italy and its regions. You will even find works by modern artists such as Chagall and Picasso in the Collection of Modern Religious Art. The highlights of all this and much more will be explained and brought to life by your fascinating guide. In the Sistine Chapel, you will be able to wonder at Michelangelo’s famous frescoes, Creation of Adam and the Last Judgment, the largest ever painted by one man alone. His work is truly breathtaking and is an absolute must-see when in Rome.

Entrance fees included in tour price
Fast-track entrance to St.Peter's Basilica
WiFi available at the group's meeting point
Listen to guided commentary through provided headsets

What's Included

Expert tour guide
Fully narrated tour
Headsets
Free Wi-Fi at the meeting point
St. Peter's Basilica tour

Gratuities/Tips
Hotel pickup and drop-off

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Via Germanico, 8, 00192 Roma RM, Italy
The nearest Metro Station: Ottaviano (Line A). Please arrive 25 minutes before the tour's departure time, inside our office - Enjoy Rome.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Vatican Museums

2 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Sistine Chapel

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

St. Peter's Basilica

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate
The Vatican has strict security restrictions. Due to metal detectors at the entrances of most attractions, It is forbidden to bring the following: Weapons, Blunt objects, glass bottles, spray. luggage or pets.

Please note- the Sistine Chapel maintains a strict dress code year-round. All visitors must have their shoulders covered and pants/skirts must come to the knee. Please wear comfortable shoes.
St. Peter's Basilica is closed during the following times: Wednesdays: 8:00 AM-12:00 PM, December 24 and 31 During these times, the tour will visit other parts of the museums
St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel close without notice on rare occasions; if this happens, your guide will take you to tour the Vatican Museums and/or the Sistine Chapel/St Peter's Basilica/Raphael Rooms instead
Individuals with Disabilities MUST NOTE it on their booking.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 25 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

4.0

141 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 141 reviews

Crowded. Not organized

LaTerra_C, Dec 2023

Tour was unorganized. Overly crowded and the tour guide kept talking in circles about the same stuff. Spent a hour just talking about a chimney. The museums were beautiful. Would probably go again without the tour

Wonderful experience

Donna_H, Nov 2023

Our guide Marco was informative and engaging. It was a fantastic experience to see and hear about the history of this iconic place.

Great

Ryan_S, Oct 2023

Fast paced but we were able to see all the highlights. The Vatican is a huge place and a person could probably spend a week there if they wanted to admire every piece of art and read every placard

I won't use Viator again

Mr_C, Oct 2023

During our stay in Rome, there was a strike in the public transport system, that delayed us to arrive at the point of meeting. I communicated this to Viator a day before and was given the details of the local vendor. That never answered the phone. We arrived late, and were told all the tickets were void. Openly Ill say that klook has refunded us or found a way we can use the services when there are disruptions beyond our control. So viator ate the $300+ and gave us the "oh you are late, suck it".

Excellent overall Vatican experience!

Tony_U, Oct 2023

Very informative tour guide and this tour provided an opportunity to see all of the highlights of the Vatican! You will need to use the restroom before you start the tour since the restrooms are at the end of the three hours. Definitely recommend the tour!

Very opulent, very hurried but a must see.

Roger_M, Oct 2023

Vatican is really over the top opulent. The tour feels quite rushed. Our guide was good - she was very efficient and no nonsense. There are so many people getting shuffled through it's impossible to take it all in. The tour culminates at the sistine Chapel and for our group of four, it was underwhelming. I recommend the tour - it's a must see.

Beautiful!

Carrie_R, Sep 2023

This was our first day in Rome, so we were a bit tired from travel. This tour was worth it to see all the beautiful places in Rome at a quick pace.

Nice day about the Vatican

Michael_J, Sep 2023

Our guide was knowledgeable and added good clean humor. We passed up the lines and went through all the quoted venues ending in the Basilica. Pasquale let the way and we quite enjoyed our tour.

Go your own way, if you get the older lady.

Ellison_S, Jul 2023

Once we left the tour guided group, we had an amazing time visiting the Vatican and going to St Peters Basilica. St. Peter’s basilica is something you will not see any where else, you can not describe this to others. You can only go and see it for yourself!! Photos do not do it justice either. I do recommend going to the top of the Basilica as well. As you can see the whole city from there. Including stopping at the inside of the dome, as you can not see the mosaic from the bottom that surround the inner dome walls. I do not recommend the older lady as a tour guide. 6 people left due to her being very unprofessional. As I was actually excited to learn the history, yet the lady was very hard to understand, difficult to talk to and plain rude. I was externally disappointed with the tour guide. I believe the issue was due to her having issues with the English language. She kept asking the tour group questions when I believe she didn’t mean too. She either needs to go back and learn more English or not be an English tour guide at all. Thankfully the Vatican is so beautiful and huge that we never ran into the tour group again.

Good access but hard to understand

Damola_O, Jun 2023

Experience was great but guide was very hard to understand. She kept switching between English and Italian. Also headsets kept going in and out

Florida had fun!

David_D, May 2023

Great tour guide. Very fast entry. Would suggest using her next time. Price was fair. Need better directions to finding the meeting point.

Response from Host, May 2023

Thank you for your feedback! We're glad to hear that you had a great tour guide who made the experience enjoyable for you. It's fantastic that the entry process was swift, allowing you to make the most of your time. Regarding the meeting point, we apologize for any difficulties you encountered in finding it. We understand that clear and precise directions are essential to ensure a smooth start to the tour. Your comment highlights the importance of providing better directions to the meeting point, and we will take this into account to improve our instructions for future visitors. Thank you again for your review,, and we hope you'll consider joining us for another tour in the future! Thank you!

Not inclusive

Denise_P, Apr 2023

Unfortunately the tour was not inclusive the staff that assisted us did not communicate effectively. 2 members of the group came with their walkers so they were given the opportunity to bypass the stairs and meet the group on the 4th floor. And we’re told they could still participate. 2 others assisted them in case they needed anything. Those 4 did not get to enjoy any of the locations except for the gift shop. They were told to wait on the 4th floor for our group. The rest of the group never went to their location. When we contacted each other they asked for assistance from staff and were shown the only way to get to the chapel or basilica was to walk the outside wall. Which they did and were then no longer allowed access inside unless they waited in line. The individuals that participated in the tour enjoyed it.

Response from Host, May 2023

Dear Customer, thank you for leaving a review. Within your precious words, we keep on improving as a company and for our future customers. The family who joined the tour with walkers have booked a standard ticket. Normally, they have had to book a private tour due to the usage of a different itenary, nevertheless we wanted them to join and enjoy with you as well. It is also another way we try to please our customers as we give free tickets to the family member who accompanies the disabled visitors as well. We are very sorry for this unpleasant situation; we always try our best to give our customers satisfactory service.

Great experience and highly recommend.

Jorge_N, Apr 2023

Our guide was great and very friendly. The pace of the tour was accurate and all well organised. I would definitely recommend it.

Misguided

Michael_S, Apr 2023

Guide was a little odd First she delayed the start 10 min or so arguing with her coworkers in front of everyone about how many people she had in the group After that she had the mask on and no one could hear her (until she got micd up at museum) From there she'd get flustered at people in the museum that were in the way but looking at artifacts like a normal person at a museum After that a group of 4 got lost and while we waited for them to show up someone in the group mentioned that the guide was walking fast in a few areas and it was hard to keep up with her in places, and so she started arguing with that person. Either very knowledgeable or remembered scripts well. That's a plus - but a bit of an odd personality for a guide.

Not the tour for me.

Yuezhe_L, Nov 2022

I think the tour company switched me from a guided tour of just Vatican museum and Sistine chapel to a tour that also contains St Peter’s basilica. Having said that, I wish the tour gave me more time on touring the Vatican museum, more time to appreciate the art inside, rather than spending 30 minutes talking about theology behind paintings on Sistine Chapel, talking about ticket rules, or waiting for other people using bathrooms. I barely had any time to read maps or check out the ceiling, but to walk through the hallways in Vatican museum. The tour guide did a nice job explaining Michelangelo’s techniques. But besides that, the only other nice thing about the tour is the private passage between Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. I also think the time in Sistine chapel would be nice. The guide didn’t even have time to go through the last supper. That’s supposed to be a famous one. I strongly recommend the tour to cut out talking about popes bronze/ wax covered bodies in St. Peter’s Basilica. It’s gruesome, it’s macabre, it’s deeply uninteresting to anyone that’s not religious, and certainly not something I’d willing to spend a dime on. To sum up, the tour has its pros and cons. But if I could choose again, I would not do it. For those naive holiday maker that has skin deep understanding about Vatican, this might be the tour for you. For those are not, I strongly recommend to look somewhere else.

The guide’s insights...

Nicholas_H, Nov 2022

The guide’s insights really elevated this experience from a fascinating look into the Vatican’s many treasures to a living showcase of the treasures the Catholic Church possesses.

Amazing tour!

Lissa_C, Aug 2022

This was a fantastic informative tour! The guide was fantastic and had so much knowledge of the Vatican and pointed out and explained things in great detail. Highly recommend.

Great tour of Vatican Museums

Stuart_G, Aug 2022

Great tour, Alexander was a great guide. Covered a huge amount during the tour and getting in with skip the line was relatively simple compared to the massive queue outside for tickets.

Slezius

Andrej_S, Aug 2022

Very good gued named Rudy👌👍 Also place is very interesting and should be visited by every visitor.

Refund

Matthew_R, Jul 2022

Hi. Viator, I recently booked a tour to the vatican museum that included a English speaking tour guide. My wife and I purchased this tour for $124.02. When we arrived at the tour office we were placed in a group with purple badges and were told to wait till our guide was ready to take us on the tour. We were called with the purple group around 9:00am and were given vouchers totaling 42,00 euros. When we entered the museum we were left with out an English speaking tour guide and navigated the Vatican museum on our own. I would like to request an $82.02 refund for the service that was not provided. Thank you