Skip-the-line Private: Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter

Rome, Italy

Skip The Line Private Tour of The Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel

3 hours
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Explore the sacred city-state of Vatican City on this private tour with skip-the-line admission. Avoid the long lines to enter the holy walls and jump right into the history and artifacts with your guide. Visit the Vatican museums including the Gallery of Ancient Roman Sculptures and the Room of Muses, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica.

Take a private tour of the religious city-state of the Vatican
See the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica
Avoid long queues with skip-the-line admission to all the monuments
Enjoy a personalized experience with your own personal tour guide

What's Included

Professional art historian guide
Local taxes
Guaranteed to skip the long lines
Private tour

Gratuities

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Viale Vaticano, Roma RM, Italy
Meet your guide in front of the white gate of the Vatican Museums, below the statues of Raphael and Michelangelo, it is the Museum entrance.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Vatican Museums

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Sistine Chapel

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

St. Peter's Square

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Wheelchair accessible
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
Stroller accessible
Near public transportation

Most travelers can participate
READ CAREFULLY: Because of the growing popularity of the current pope Francis and his intense activity in organising mass events in the Vatican some areas might get closed last minute without previous notice. This has already happened this year and can happen again during you Vatican tour: the Sistine chapel and/or the Basilica of Saint Peter might not be accessible. In case of such events our tour guide will provide you with a valuable alternative focusing the tour inside the Vatican museums.
At the moment the Basilica is not accessible from the Vatican Museums because of anti-Covid19 measures. Our tour guide will explain everything about it and you can go there on your own right after the tour. Our guide will assist you.
FFP2 Masks are required until further notice.
This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate

Cancellation Policy

This experience is non-refundable and cannot be changed for any reason. If you cancel or ask for an amendment, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

5.0

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

Fabulous tour of the Vatican with a wonderful guide!

Torrey_S, Apr 2024

Francesco did such a great job taking us through the beautiful, majestic, awe-provoking, and also frenetic Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. He gave us the perfect amount of backstory so that we were knowledgeable about what we were seeing. He is a funny, kind, welcoming person which made the tour even better. We loved our tour and would recommend it to everyone!

A Masterclass of The Vatican

ADRIANNA_G, Apr 2024

A Masterclass of the Vatican. Our tour guide was exceptional! This tour is perfect for the history lover. Thomas was so knowledgeable and made the magic of Rome and the Vatican unforgettable. An experience we will remember forever.

Fantastic tour

Amy_C, Apr 2024

Francesco was a fantastic tour guide. Incredibly informative, easy to talk to, and gave great recommendations. He pointed out some features to note in the Sistine Chapel (can't talk while in there) and tailored the tour to mine and my husband's interests. The Viator app was helpful in coordinating the tour and helping us get to the meeting point since this was out first time in Rome. I would definitely do this tour again.

Great tour

Rajnish_P, Apr 2024

To cover all sights in the Vatican is next to impossible but our guide made it seamless showing us around the most important places and providing a lot of information.

Response from Host, Apr 2024

Thank you! Our guides are amazing companions :) Glad you had a wonderful time!

Excellent tour

Linda_H, Nov 2023

Claudia provided an excellent overview of key sights and history of the Vatican. We highly recommend this private tour. We also had the Luxury of skipping lines and bypassing crowds of people (even in November!). A must do for the first time visiting Rome.

Great Personal Tour

Kevin_M, Nov 2023

Meeting directions a bit confusing but other than that mishap, this is a tremendous tour. Tour guide Claudia is a true Roman and very passionate about the history of the Vatican. Provided great detail and insight in all 3 areas, Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St Peter’s Basilica. No lines in this tour!! Great tour in an amazing historical venue.

Truly Fantastic Experience

Susan_P, Jun 2023

Sarah is a wonderful tour guide- kind, informative and so smart! We learned so much and were so grateful to have three hours with a private tour guide! We will remember this for a lifetime. Thank you!

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Sara is amazing, glad you loved your tour with her!

Andjelka was simply amazing

Scott_D, Jun 2023

Andjelka, was simply amazing. She took us on a private tour of the Vatican and had so many stories and tales. We all thoroughly enjoyed spending the morning with her at the Vatican.

Vatican

Paul_S, May 2023

Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s. Our guide Maximilian was excellent. He guided us with passion and care.

Wonderful experience

larcochran, Oct 2022

Our tour guide Massimiliano had a wealth of knowledge which he clearly enjoyed sharing with us. His personal experiences, including having met two Popes, made the tour especially interesting. If you have the opportunity to tour with Massimiliano you will not be disappointed.

An excellent tour!

Chris_P, Oct 2022

Fabio was an amazing tour guide! Knowledgeable, friendly and entertaining. The details he shared brought the place to life for us.

What a fantastic way to see the Vatican!

Beth_G, Oct 2022

This tour exceeded my high expectations! What a wonderful way to see the Vatican. As a solo traveler staying an extra day in the city on business, I wanted to experience the Vatican and this one on one experience was really incredible. My tour guide, Angelica (sp?) was warm, so knowledgeable, and able to customize my experience. I felt like I was walking through the Vatican in the company of an incredibly educated friend. Highly recommend this tour to anyone wanting to see the Vatican in a personalized, skip the line experience.

Vatican Private Tour

Cheryl_W, Sep 2022

We were a private tour of three, which was ideal to be able to hear the tour guide. Our guide was a wealth of knowledge about the art especially in the Sistine Chapel which was covered extensively before entering. As silence is required in the Chapel the preview gave us many notable details. The Museum, Square and Basilica were all amazing.

Once in a lifetime with Claudia!

Terry_B, Sep 2022

Claudia was awesome. Very patient and understanding and great knowledge of history and literature!! The tour was incredible from start to finish!!

Highly recommend

Luke_B, Jul 2022

Highly recommend the experience- the Vatican is breathtaking- and having Claudia as our personal guide allowed us to take in the highlights and to understand the significance of what we were looking at. Claudia was very knowledgeable and showed a true passion for the artifacts and history of the Vatican.

Not worth the price

Gordon_P, Jul 2022

We paid CDN $583 for this tour that was supposed to last 3 hours . It turned out that we were just the two of us with the tour guide Maria . She was very good ,( although we weren’t shown the Bramante stair case ) but the tour lasted only 2 hours , so compared to other tours that we took at 1/2 the price - it wasn’t worth that kind of money.

Nice guide. Was teacher...

Marc_K, Apr 2022

Nice guide. Was teacher archeolegy and escavated on some hotspots in Rome lime the Mausoleum of Augustus. Looking at the many treasures of the vatican without a guide is impossible.

Response from Host, Apr 2022

Ciao Marc, Thank you for your review! I am glad to know you've loved Tommaso and also what the Vatican offers. Having a guide there makes the whole experience amazing!

Fantastic experience. Strongly recommend.

Rachel_B, Apr 2022

Could not recommend this tour more. Francesco is a great storyteller and incredibly knowledgeable. He brought the place and the art to life in a very engaging way. We take a lot of private tours and this is one of our top experiences. So much so, we booked him again for another tour.

Response from Host, Apr 2022

Ciao Rachel, thank you very much! I am so happy you had a wonderful time with Francesco. Hope you'll keep those memories forever! Thank you for your time, hoping to having you again here! Carmen

A Tour as Golden as the Surroundings -- Highly Recommend

Caitlin_W, Mar 2022

We lucked out choosing this tour and getting Anna as our guide. Anna is a professional art historian and tour guide who has over a decade of experience talking about Classical Art, the Vatican, the Renaissance, and every aesthetic movement that sprung up during those millennia of time. She met us outside the gates and, without us waiting in any lines ourselves, whisked us right through "border control" and into the Vatican. Anna was able to make the art come to life. As much as we love beautiful things, we wouldn't know the history or connections of the paintings and sculptures on our own. With Anna there, though, it felt like stepping into the past itself. Her stories made the work come alive. My husband and I were both drunk on beauty by the end of the tour, and I know a large part of our heady experience was due to the insight, intelligence, grace, and storytelling prowess of Anna. BRAVA!

Response from Host, Apr 2022

Thank you for your honest review! Anna is lovely and an amazing guide. I have loved the part were you wrote "my husband and I were both drunk on beauty"! It really means a lot for us, means we're doing the job properly!

Gobsmacked

Cheryl_G, Sep 2021

Tomas’ knowledge of Roman history was incredible! I learned an awful lot and thoroughly enjoyed our tour!