Rome
Top Rome landmarks

Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel & St Peter’s Basilica Guided Tour

Badge of ExcellenceRoma, Italy
Likely to Sell Out

From $75.49

Price varies by group size

Select Date and Travelers

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

  • 3 hours (approx.)
  • Mobile ticket
  • Offered in: English

Explore our promoted experiences

Overview

Discover the Vatican on a group tour of the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums with an expert guide. Navigate the vast complex of rooms, artwork, and history with a guide, who brings the ancient collection to life. Skip all the entrance lines to explore halls such as the Gallery of the Maps; step inside the Sistine Chapel to admire ‘The Creation of Adam’ by Michelangelo and finish your tour visiting St. Peter's Basilica. Choose from several departures, or upgrade to a small-group tour.
  • Enjoy the Vatican highlights including the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica
  • Choose from several different departure times, or upgrade to a small-group tour
  • Audio headsets are provided to make sure you can hear your guide clearly
  • Avoid long queues with skip-the-line entrance tickets

Why Travelers Choose This Tour

“Skip the line” with this tour means using a special entrance to bypass even the fast-track line.

What's Included

  • Reserved Priority Access to the Vatican Museums
  • Guided visit of St. Peter’s Basilica (except: Vatican Museums only / Evening / Wed morning options)
  • Access to the Sistine Chapel
  • Audio headsets so you can always hear your guide
  • Group of 20 people or less
  • Gratuities
  • St Peter's Basilica Tour [for: Evening / Wed Mornings/ Vatican Museums only options]

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

  • Via Tunisi, 4
    Via Tunisi, 4, 00192 Roma RM, Italy

    Meeting point: 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).

End point

  • St. Peter's Basilica
    Piazza San Pietro, 00120 Città del Vaticano, Vatican City

What To Expect

Vatican tours with skip-the-line access are sought-after, so even the fast-track lines are long. This experience includes admission through a special entrance, so there are no lines whatsoever. Follow your guide directly inside the vast collection of private artwork that is the Vatican Museums.

Walk through the Gallery of the Maps and Gallery of Tapestries as you listen to tales of Vatican intrigue. Gaze at artifacts such as timeworn yet fascinating Italian maps, and admire the sculptures and candelabras of the Gallery of Candelabras. Stop for photos in front of the Pigna statue in the Pinecone Courtyard, designed by Donato Bramante.

Step inside the Sistine Chapel—the pope’s personal place of worship and a highlight of any Vatican trip. Stand beneath Michelangelo’s 'The Creation of Adam,' which cloaks the ceiling, and admire 'The Last Judgement,' his colorful mural that adorns a wall.

After your Sistine Chapel visit, continue to St. Peter’s Basilica, the symbolic heart of the Catholic church. Learn about its history and see more Vatican art including Michelangelo’s 'La Pietà,' which was sculpted when the maestro was only 24 years old. Gaze at the baldachino by Bernini, and then say goodbye to your guide in St. Peter’s Square.

Keep in mind that St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's Square might be unavailable on Wednesdays due to the weekly Papal Audience. As an alternative, enjoy an extended itinerary within the Vatican Museums, which still includes the Sistine Chapel and Raphael's Rooms. If you want to make sure that St. Peter's Basilica and Square are included in your tour, don't select Wednesday as your travel date.

If you want to enhance your Vatican experience, select one of the following experiences:

Small-Group Tour in the morning: Enter the Vatican Museums as soon as it opens, before the other lines enter. Your tour is limited to 10 people for personal attention and information about the Vatican’s must-see sights.

Tour in the evening: Explore the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel after the doors close to the general public. A visit to St. Peter’s Basilica is not included.

Vatican City

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Vatican Museums

1 hour 15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Cortile della Pigna

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Sphere within a Sphere

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Gallery Of The Maps

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Sistine Chapel

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

St. Peter's Basilica

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

St. Peter's Square

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking
  • We regret that we are unable to accommodate guests with wheelchairs or any impairments requiring special assistance. We are also unable to accommodate strollers or baby carriages on our group tours.
  • Not wheelchair accessible
  • Avoid bringing large purses, bags, or backpacks on your tour
  • At times, despite our priority access tickets, we may experience delays in getting through mandatory security checks when entering these venues
  • Near public transportation
  • No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
  • Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
  • St Peter’s Basilica is subject to last-minute closures for religious ceremonies. When this occurs, we're happy to offer customers an extended tour of the Vatican Museums. While we endeavour to tell tour groups ahead of time if there are any planned disruptions to the Basilica's opening hours, this is not always possible and in these cases we are unable to provide refunds or discounts.
  • On Wednesdays, due to the Papal Audiences, access to St Peter's Basilica is not possible until 1pm
  • St Peter's Basilica is not accessible on the evening tours
  • 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.

Traveler Photos

See more

Traveler Tips

Arrive early since it is a bit difficult to locate the tour guide to check in.
Bring water with you as you won’t find any inside.
Don’t go on a Wednesday because the Pope will be doing mass and it supposedly gets really crowded.

Reviews

4.5
30,856 reviews
Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews
0
0
0
0
0
Reviews by Viator travelers.
Showing 1-10 of 30,856 reviews
Great experience
YongSiah_T, Dec 2023
The guide, Mr. Cosimo of City Wonders, is extremely systematic and knowledgeable during the tour. It so happens that Saturday is the Immaculate Conception holiday, and so the crowd was unexpected of even on a regular Winter Saturday, with police barricades and road blocks. Nevertheless, due to his experience, he was able to maneuvre the group through despite the presence of certain elements that were beyond his control, such as the constant shouting and hurrying of the movement by the security guards and the sudden cancelation of the Basilica of St Peter. Overall, his sincerity and efficiency still made the tour a great experience.
Wonderful small group priority tour
Jeffrey_H, Dec 2023
Our guide was delightful! So knowledgeable and passionate about the art treasures and history at the Vatican. She was very apologetic when our tour was cut short before visiting St Peter's Basilica, but that was completely beyond her control. While missing out on seeing the Basilica was disappointing it does give us a reason to return. When we do we will definitely use your tour company again.
A little rough
Windsor_H, Dec 2023
Couldn’t see the square or St. Peter’s bascillica. Tour guide was mortified, but she honestly made it worth the price even if we missed one of the coolest parts. Tours should be managed better to avoid things like that, but oskana was a great help and very knowledgeable. If I can choose my tour guide next time, she would be it.
100,000 VISITORS GO THROUGH THE VATICAN A DAY! DON'T GO!
Josephine_P, Dec 2023
It was the worst tour of my entire trip. The Vatican was so crowded, and I REMEMBER NOTHING of value about the Vatican because we went through the Vatican at break neck speed. I did not take one picture while going through the Vatican, nor did my sister. We missed going to the Tourist Shop. I wanted to see it to buy jewelry for family. The Sistine Chapel another disappointment, we did not stay together as a group. The group split up, our group was rather large, we did not know where to meet. We did not get to appreciate what was above us. Accidentally, we saw some our group. We ended up losing 3-4 people. I WOULD NEVER EVER GO BACK TO THE VATICAN! IT WAS A TOTAL RIP OFF.
Good tour but the guide must be much more selective in what she passes on.
Peter_R, Dec 2023
The Basilica, the Vatican Museums and the Sistine chapel were amazing and we are happy we visited them. The tour leader were friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Unfortunately she was talking constantly and giving us just too much information in a short period of time. So much information is almost impossible to remember and understand. Sadly there were too many digressions that I did not understand. The sound system was not good and at times we could not understand what the guide was saying.
Unbelievable history
Christian_J, Dec 2023
Very informative tour guide was knowledgeable and kept us in order on a very busy day. The City was so impressive needto go again to get a better understanding
Great way to see sites without queuing
Carol_D, Dec 2023
Easy to book. Very good joining instructions although we couldn't find on app. Fabio our guide was brillant. He was very knowlegeable, funny, calm and organised. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Highly recommended
Totally worth the money
Paul_M, Dec 2023
Was a great tour and informative. Was glad to do the early tour to miss the crowds and skipping the lines was an added perk.
Awesome Experience
Russ_B, Dec 2023
Best guide ever! She knew the perfect things to include for a complete experience. Pace was not rushed
My review
Lorena_V, Dec 2023
I liked this tour. Very informative. The guide did her best to keep the group together despite the crowds.
Great tour and tour guide
Todd_D, Dec 2023
Tour was amazing, very informative and lots to see. Our tour guide Christian was very knowledgeable and gave lots of details about everything we saw and answered every question asked of him and even gave a little more information after the tour was over which was very helpful.
Overwhelming
Mark_S, Dec 2023
Being in the Sistine chapel. The face, beauty and spirituality of that place is amazing! Would do that tour again!
Absolute must
Eric_K, Dec 2023
Amil was fantastic. Her art history background was clear from her extensive knowledge and her passion for the art added liveliness to the tour. Skip the line tickets are a must. Amil started the tour promptly and had us through security quickly. I cannot imagine trying to navigate the vatican without a guide. I highly recommend this tour.
Vatican Fabulous!
Harley_R, Dec 2023
Maria, our guide was very knowledgeable. She showed us all of the most important sites and beautiful views.
Excellent tour .
Carolyn_E, Dec 2023
This tour is an amazing experience . Our guide was excellent . He made sure we stayed together , gave plenty of time for pictures, spoke slow so we could understand . Our guide clearly loved his job and understood history . I highly recommend this tour .
Great time
angelo_e, Dec 2023
Amil, our guide , was wonderful. Knowledgeable, and funny. Great experience. Would do it again. You don't have to be in shape but expect to walk
Holy Ground
Timothy_C, Dec 2023
This was our first tour. We went to the meeting place and found our guide very easily. The tour was just breathtaking. Our guide pointed out intricate mosaics and explained so many wonderful details. All the art, gold inlays, mosaics and statues were magnificent. There is no way we could have toured the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica without our guide. She was very knowledgeable and willing to answer any questions. Well worth the investment!
Great semiprivate tour to Vatican museums and St. Peter’s basilica
Eunicelichan, Dec 2023
Our guide, Oscar was wonderful - knowledgeable, and with a good sense of humor. Frequently checked that everyone in the group was accounted for. Moved us through the tour at a good pace.
Best Rome experience
Yazmin_M, Dec 2023
Our guide Maria was so knowledgeable, she was the perfect guide. I learned so much in a short period of time. I would highly recommend. Especially Maria.
Great!
Paul_R, Dec 2023
Guide was great. The overall experience was wonderful. This is a must see when in Rome. You will learn a lot more than without the guide
...

Customers Who Bought This Tour Also Bought

Explore Similar Things to Do

Help CenterCustomer CarePrivacy and Cookies StatementAbout ViatorNewsViator blog
© 1997-2023 Viator, Inc.
Terms & Conditions