Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel Tour in Vatican City

Badge of ExcellenceRome, Italy

The Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel

Likely to Sell Out

From $118.20

Select Date and Travelers

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

2 hours 30 minutes
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Visiting the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel with a guide is the best way to appreciate the vast collection without getting overwhelmed, but private tours can be expensive. Save time and money with this group tour that covers the galleries and Sistine Chapel in just a few hours at a more affordable price. Avoid a wait at the door with skip-the-line tickets and learn about works by Michelangelo, Raphael, and other masters.

Priority entrance and a guide to cover the museums without wasting time
Insights about the top works and artists, with headphones to follow along
Includes entrance to the Vatican Museums galleries and Sistine Chapel
Choose a morning or afternoon tour start time for easy trip planning

What's Included

Entrance ticket with priority access
Professional Guide
Mandatory audio device with disposable earphones from 11 participants

Transportation
Tips and gratuities

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Bar L'Ottagona
centro piazza, Piazza del Risorgimento, 00193 Roma RM, Italy
Please be at the meeting point 15 minutes before the beginning of the tour. The meeting point is in Piazza del Risorgimento, in front of L'Ottagono Bar. Contact our staff recognizable by our logo (pink colour).

Start time

03:00 PM

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Vatican Museums

2 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Sistine Chapel

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

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

No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Most travelers can participate
By purchasing this tour, the customer agrees to follow only the guide assigned to him/her. It is not permitted to add external guides to the group after the tour has been purchased. We inform our customers that, in such circumstances, access to the Vatican Museums will be granted only if escorted by the assigned guide and respective group. If one chooses to opt out, they will forfeit all rights to the tour and ticket, with no possibility of a refund.
For the issuance of Vatican Museums tickets, providing a first name and surname is mandatory. Without this information, the ticket cannot be issued. Once the Vatican Museums ticket is issued, it is non-refundable. It is also mandatory to bring your passport on the day of the tour.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 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

Reviews

4.5

237 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 237 reviews

Great experience!

Shea_W, Mar 2024

Very informative. Luckily we went at a time when the crowds weren’t too bad. Skipping the line was a huge timesaver, the tour is absolutely beautiful and the guide was very knowledgeable.

A great tour!

Roisin_H, Feb 2024

Mara, our guide was brilliant. She was really authentic and knew so much about the Vatican. We would highly recommend this tour for an initial delve into the Vatican museums.

Excellent tour and thoroughly informative and enjoyable.

Demetrios_K, Feb 2024

Our guide, Maria Teresa, was very well organised and very knowledgeable on our tour, giving us lots of historical information from the start of the meeting point. Very enjoyable tour and we avoided all the long queues.

Great interesting tour

Briauna_B, Jan 2024

Great tour, just enough detail, not too much but not too little. Loved our guide! Group size was a little bigger than what we were hoping but overall okay

Beautiful!

Paul_B, Jan 2024

Great time in the Vatican. We had a fairly small tour group and our guide was great as explaining things to us as well as answering questions. The museum was amazing as was St. Peter's Basilica. Francesca was very knowledgeable about all of it.

Great Experience

Kathleen_G, Jan 2024

Very knowledgeable guide and it was very clear she loves what she does! We moved through the sites with ease despite there being lots of people. We thoroughly enjoyed our time!

Great Tour

Cameray_M, Nov 2023

We had a great tour of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel. We were able to find the guides easily with the provides instructions and the led us through the confusing process of the security line. Our guide was very knowledgeable about every room we were in and we learned a lot. Highly recommended!

In awe of the tour.

Cynthia_O, Oct 2023

Our guide was very knowledgeable and informative. She also engaged everyone and I liked the photo suggestions. I came away thinking how much more I would like to learn about the history and art of the time, it’s all so fascinating.

Great tour.

Cordell_B, Oct 2023

So much to see and Fabio did an awesome job showing it. Would recommend Fabio anytime. A great experience.

Worst experience ever

MARTIN_S, Oct 2023

Viator were brilliant but the tour was poor due only to the money grabbing Vatican. We skipped the lines of thousands of people, only to be met by thousands more inside. The guide was exceptional, however the museum and Chapel were so full you could not take it all in. Sardines and sheep spring to mind. In the Chapel no one observed the silence and it was a safety nightmare if there had been a security or fire risk. I would not recommend visiting this money making machine.

Worth it!

Lizeth_R, Sep 2023

Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and patient with our group as we navigated the museum despite the large crowd that day.

I do not recommend the English speaking tour

Joanna_K, Sep 2023

The best part of the tour was the skip the line benefit as walked past about a 3 hour queue with these tickets. We arrived on time and it did take about an hour for processing and entry so the actual museum tour was only approx. an hour long and seemed to be conducted by an offical Vatican guide not the tour company. We were rushed through the areas and the guide was only going through the motions and not engaged with the group or the delivery of the content. The monotone accent was also hard to understand, which was not helped by the poor quality headsets. The headsets provided were similar to the old school phone Bluetooth earpieces and were uncomfortable on the ear, especially if you wear glasses. They made it very difficult to hear and frustratingly kept cutting in and out. We had to hold the ear piece on our ears the entire tour to be able to hear even a little bit. On different tours we received a device and an ear bud which have worked very well and seem to be norm on tours. The information on the Sistine chapel was about 5 minutes and given in the outside courtyard, an hour before the chapel entry. I have previously visited the Vatican and had a wonderful tour experience (with a different company), and even with the large crowds the guide was able to keep us engaged, was clearly passionate about their job and did not rush through the sections. It’s a shame this tour could not meet the same standard and I do not recommend this tour unless your main motive is to skip the atrocious queues!

Vatican City tour

kasey_c, Sep 2023

Our guide was really knowledgeable however the audio ear pieces did not work well at all and we could barely hear him. We missed out on a lot of information.

Worth the money

Rissan_N, Sep 2023

Guide was very knowledgeable about everything present here. The entire place is just a bit too chaotic for me personally (too many people) but would definitely recommend

Beautiful tour - no...

crystal_m, Aug 2023

Beautiful tour - no issues. Viator gave us free water which was appreciated. Would recommend to everyone.

Response from Host, Aug 2023

Dear Crystal, We thank you for the excellent review of Gray Line I Love Rome tour! The complimentary mineral water is a treat we wish to offer our customers during this hot Roman summer! We look forward to welcoming you back to Rome!

Wonderful

Latifa_A, Aug 2023

I had a wonderful time, the tour guide was great she explained everything in details. Highly recommended

Be prepared to do a lot of walking!

AdrianMichael_R, Aug 2023

Excellent tour, would’ve been 5 stars but was a bit rushed at the end. Highly recommend paying for the skip the Liene tickets, as no one wants to queue for 45 minutes in direct sunlight!

Misleading title of "Sistine Chapel tour"

Jefferson_A, Aug 2023

Tour guide was very knowledgeable. She explained a ton. We were surprised though when she explained the sistine chapel an hour before we got there. We then toured parts of the Vatican museum on the way to the Sistine chapel. Once we got there the tour ended and we were left to go into the sistine chapel and the rest of Vatican city on our own. No where did I read beforehand the tour ended there. In fact the tour name has "Sistine Chapel Tour" in the name, not a guide to the chapel... We understand there are no pictures in the chapel and it should be quiet however other guides were in the chapel and continued their tour upon exit. Our guide was great and we skipped massive lines or we would have rated this tour lower.

Response from Host, Aug 2023

Dear customer, thank you for reviewing your experience at the Vatican Museums. We're sorry that you weren't able to give us the highest rating, but we understand your perspective. Indeed, the tour revolves around the Sistine Chapel - the highlight of the tour - and aims to provide an overview of what is on display in the Vatican Museums. The choice to explain the Chapel in advance is due to the fact that speaking inside the actual Chapel is not permitted, as it is a place of worship. Furthermore, the tour is intended to continue after the visit to the Sistine Chapel and proceed towards St. Peter's Basilica. However, there are instances when the Vatican closes the doors to the Basilica a bit early. This is beyond our control. In such cases, the guide is forced to conclude the tour slightly earlier. This said, we appreciate your sharing your experience. Your review will not go unnoticed, as it will help us better monitor the progress of our tours. Best regards, Gray Line Rome

Terrible miscommunication

Moshe_M, Jul 2023

We never started our tour, because the meeting place was difficult for us to find. It was difficult to communicate with the guide as we were approaching the location. we were a group of 11 very disappointed people.

Response from Host, Aug 2023

Dear customer, sorry to hear about this! Please send us an email to feedbackteam@graylinerome.it providing your booking code. We would like to look into what happened. So sorry you found it hard to find our meeting point which is though indicated everywhere online on Viator as well as on the booking confirmation and voucher. Best regards, Gray Line Rome

It was amazing to see but...

Kristin_T, Jul 2023

It was amazing to see but way too crowded. Our tour guide was not very friendly and argued with one of the guests on the tour. She was also very hard to understand. We signed up for an English speaking tour

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