Rome

Vatican Early Morning Tour

Name: Vatican Early Morning Tour
Brand: City Rome Tours
SKU: 74121P1
Price: 158.63 USD
Rating: 4.5 (37 reviews)

Rome, Italy

3 hours 15 minutes
Offered in: English

Overview

The Vatican counts among UNESCO–listed Rome’s must-see sites of interest, but its popularity means the queues and crowds are often challenging. On this tour, visit the Vatican in the early morning with your guide and explore in peace. Enjoy skip-the-line entry to St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums, and learn the stories behind the artworks in the Sistine Chapel—with headsets to hear your guide clearly.

Visit the Vatican in the morning, before the crowds assemble
Skip-the-line entry to St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums
Marvel at the artworks in the Sistine Chapel
Headsets help you hear your guide with complete clarity

What's Included

Small-group Tour
Professional guide
Priority entrance tickets

Hotel pickup and drop-off

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Via Tunisi, 5a, 00192 Roma RM, Italy
via tunisi 5/a

End point

Saint Peter's Square
Piazza San Pietro, 00120 Città del Vaticano, Vatican City

What To Expect

City Rome Tours

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Vatican Museums

2 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Sistine Chapel

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

St. Peter's Basilica

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller 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

Will be operated by a professionale guide.
Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 20 travelers

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.

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

37 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 37 reviews

We did not get to go City Rome Tours canceled because the guide did not show up.

Steve_S, Oct 2023

We did not get to go on the guided tour. We got to our meeting place and the tour was canceled the guide did not show up. We had to go to the tour with the ear phones. We did not get to see the Basilica. I would not recommend viator for the Vatican using City Rome Tours. My booking #was 1019035135. Viator should be Ashamed to use City Rome Tours

Response from Host, Oct 2023

Hi! Thanks a lot for sharing your experience with us. As a recommended company, we are always trying to do our best for our clients. Unfortunately, that was the very rare day that we had such a problem. The guide canceled the tour at the last minute and we could not manage to find another guide. We took you inside at 10:00 a.m. by skipping the line and we did a partial refund for you as well. As you can see from the rating, our company is one of the best companies here. We are so sorry to what happened and thank you for your understanding. Kindest Regards

Great guide, wonderful experience.

Marilyn_B, Oct 2023

Fred was the most excellent guide. Super knowledgeable and friendly. Highly recommend this experience, it added so much to our understanding of the Vatican.

Best tour we had in Rome!

Daniel_C, Oct 2023

Fred took us through some extra rooms instead of simply parking us to wait for Systine chapel as others did. He was knowledgeable, and unafraid to share his historical insights. It was like you met up with an incredibly knowledgeable friend for a visit

Memorable Experience

Stuart_N, Oct 2023

Our guide Fred was informative and thoughtful for our entire tour where we faced heat and large crowds. He navigated through the Vatican Museum ensuring we all good have an excellent experience.

A lot of great...

Shatora_E, Sep 2023

A lot of great information given on tour, but tour was too long! Would recommend doing a shorter tour or doing your own tour with paid guide through headphones.

Our tour guide Fred was...

Edward_B, Sep 2023

Our tour guide Fred was very knowledgeable and engaging. Taking a tour like this is the only way to see the Vatican.

Seeing the Vatican City...

Allan_w, Sep 2023

Seeing the Vatican City was one of the highlights of our trip. We had scheduled a guided tour that had included all three; Vatican museum, Sistine chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. Our tour guide had to leave our group prior to visiting St Peters Basilica due to a schedule conflict for her next group. It was disappointing that we did not have the guide while visiting the Basilica; it was advertised for a guided tour of all three.

Best Vatican Tour!

Colette_P, Sep 2023

Meeting point was easy to find, we skipped all the lines and went right in. Our guide Fred was amazing! Super knowledgeable and funny. Highly recommend!

Response from Host, Sep 2023

Hi Colette, We are happy to hear that you find our service worthy.Skipping the line is one of the best options in the high season and we are always trying to do our best for our client. We are also glad that you enjoyed the tour with Fred. Hope to serve you again :) Best Regards City Rome Tours

This is a game changer!

Dana_N, Sep 2023

If you’re going to Rome for a short amount of time, the early morning tour was a game changer! There were so many people by the time we left plus we were able to cut all lines. Frederico was such a wonderful guide, filled with so much knowledge and fun! He made our experience one we will never forget!

Recommend with a guide

Anna_T, Jul 2023

Definitely don't miss Vatican if you are there. We took a guide, and found out interesting facts, not just taking 10000 pics. But only con - the guide tour ended somehow unawaited and suddenly, didn't get the closure. i had the feel it will be longer . But Yulia was cool! Very smart!💜

Response from Host, Aug 2023

Dear Client, Thank you for sharing your experience. We’re thrilled to hear you enjoyed your Tour. We are so happy that we exceeded your expectations, it takes a special guide to make it magical and you had that in Yulia. We look forward to seeing you again!

Great Tour Guide

Bronwyn_M, Jul 2023

Fred was excellent. Being an archaeologist, he was very informative, answered questions & very friendly. Would totally recommend him for people to take his tours.

Response from Host, Aug 2023

Vatican Morning Tour

Leonard_D, Jul 2023

Reminder: shoulders and knees must be covered to enter. Yulia is an awesome tour guide! We did the 8:45am tour and the process/check in was very easy. If you are able to get an earlier one I would choose that one. Brig crowds already at 8:45am. Yulia was very knowledgeable and very well education about the Vatican. She had a great sense of humor and isn't afraid to stand up for her group when the crowds are around. She gives you the best experience you can get. Beware there is no AC so if you are going during summer time, bring a handheld fan with you as it can get extremely hot inside especially with all the crowds. We would love to come back and do the tour with Yulia again!

Amazing

Kathy_P, Jul 2023

Julia was amazing and knowledgeable about the art and history of the Vatican. I highly recommend this tour!

Very disappointing

Jenna_C, Jul 2023

The positives of the tour were that you didn’t have to wait in line for tickets, and that we got through security very quickly. The overall tour was extremely rushed and nowhere near 3 1/2 hours. Our tour guide took us very quickly through the museum, spoke way too fast, and left us right before the Sistine Chapel. You’re better off doing a self guided tour, since that’s what half of our experience was like anyway.

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Dear Client, We are sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with your guide. Our goal is always to make our customers happy and we are always working to make our process even more efficient. We hope to have the chance to meet you again! Thank you,

Julia our tour guide was fantastic!

Alpa_P, Jul 2023

Yulia (Julia) was amazing and she really was so informative with her theology educational background. She was so engaging and answered everyone’s questions with such detail. Highly recommend her!

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Good way to see the highlights of the Vatican

Caroline_Y, Jun 2023

My husband and I were looking forward to touring the Vatican while spending a few days in Rome. Our guide, Federico, made this a great experience! As a native Roman and an archeologist, he was incredibly knowledgeable about Vatican City, the artifacts and artwork in the Vatican museums, and the Sistine Chapel, and even gave us pointers for touring St. Peter's Basilica after the official tour was over. We were in Rome in June during the week of a Catholic holiday, so the crowds at the Vatican were even larger than usual. Federico managed to keep our group together in the masses of people. There is no way to see everything without spending days there, and the size and opulence of the Vatican can feel overwhelming. However, we felt that Federico did a very good job of highlighting noteworthy things through the time we had together on the tour. We were grateful for the opportunity to spend time in these holy and historic places, and we highly recommend this tour, especially if you are able to have Federico as your guide.

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Unimpressive

Estella_T, Jun 2023

We were given several different report times by the agency before beginning the tour and our operator didn’t know which line was our entry line. The tour was advertised as 3 - 3.5 but the operator only spent 2 hours with us. Better option would have been a self-guided tour. Would not recommend.

Great tour of Vatican City

Cheryl_A, Jun 2023

Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable & also entertaining. She pointed out the most important points if interest & got us through the crowds easily.

Not worth it

tamara_H, Jun 2023

This tour was very disappointing. I booked this tour because the title says early morning tour best the crowds. This was not the case, we had to wait for our guide then we waited around for some late comers. So we didn't actually start the tour till almost 10AM. It was not an enjoyable experience due to the crowds and our guides English was poor - so it was very hard to understand what she was saying. The only positive parts of this tour were the Sistine Chapel and St. Peters, those two visits happened at the end.

Amazing

Janet_B, Oct 2022

Our tour guide was amazing and very knowledgeable. Skipping the long lines is always recommended as well as avoiding the large groups. We had a small group of 5 along with 2 other couples. You could see long lines and we just skipped on by. Our guide help navigate and avoid the larger groups as much as one can in the vatican. The stories and history he shared was incredible. For sure would do this tour again.