Begin your Vatican experience a little differently with a climb up the dome of St. Peter's Basilica with a guide. After getting sweeping views of Vatican City and Rome beyond, proceed inside for a guided tour of the church itself, the Vatican Museums, and the Sistine Chapel. This half-day tour takes place in the morning, before much of the crowds arrive at the Vatican.

Save time with skip-the-line Vatican tickets
Sweeping views of Rome from St. Peter's Basilica dome
Comprehensive tour of the basilica, Vatican Museums, and Sistine Chapel
Art historian guide provides in-depth commentary

What's Included

St. Peter's Dome Climb to the top of Michelangelo's Cupola for truly amazing views of Rome!
Get into the Vatican Museums fast with our no lines priority access ticket and a local expert guide
Catch all the classic and ancient sculptures inside world famous chambers, halls and galleries
Immersive Sistine Chapel inside experience and a panel-by-panel tour of Michelangelo's ceiling
Full tour of entire St. Peter's Basilica covering all the major works of art and sculpture therein
Tour of little-known Papal Sarcophagi beneath St. Peter's Basilica which we call "Vatacombs"

Food and drinks
Hotel pickup and drop-off
Gratuities

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

Largo del Colonnato, 1
Largo del Colonnato, 1, 00193 Roma RM, Italy
Meet at 745am for 8am departure by the Tiare fountain (Fontana delle Tiare), just beneath Largo del Colonnato and in front of the pillars which run around Saint Peter's Square. · Your guide will be holding a When in Rome Tours signboard. Google maps link: https://goo.gl/maps/vZvCNgmmozFLnzT3A

Start time

08:00 am

End point

Piazza Papa Pio XII
Piazza Papa Pio XII, 00193 Roma RM, Italy
The tour concludes on St. Peter's Square beside St. Peter's Basilica.

What To Expect

St. Peter's Square

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

St. Peter's Basilica

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

St. Peter's Basilica

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Vatican Museums

2 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not 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
On days immediately surrounding religious holidays at the Vatican, alterations to tours may become necessary due to partial closings of areas normally included in this tour. In the event that the Papal tombs beneath St. Peter's Basilica are closed, the tour of the Basilica itself will be extended and no refunds made
Near public transportation

Infant seats available
Maximum 20 travelers on this tour, hand sanitizer made available (we will provide), mandatory mask-wearing on the tour (bring your own)
Travellers should have a moderate physical fitness level
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 20 travellers

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 travellers. If it’s cancelled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveller Photos

Traveller Tips

It was very hot but it was 90 out side skip the li e is a must as the wait was at least 2 hours or more in the hot sun .

The Climb to the top with "When in Rome Tours" is highly recommended, even by grandma!

Give yourself time to walk to the meeting point for Vatican museum and Sistine chapel tour.

Reviews

5.0

1,010 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-10 of 1,010 reviews

Family and Friends Vatican tour

Patrick_M, May 2023

Our tour of St Peter’s dome and Vatican museum was an amazing experience. Solomon was our tour guide and she was able to share many historical facts and stories that brought our tour to life. You will not be disappointed.

Information overload

Kevin_D, May 2023

Our guide was excellent. However, there was so much standing around waiting for security, tickets and just so many groups trying to see the same things. The view from a he top of the Dome were amazing, however, getting there was tough. Too much in one tour to get the most out of it.

Recommended

Carmen_B, May 2023

Marianne was amazing! Very comprehensive tour, well worth the price. Skip the line access was great as regular lines were super long.

Awe Inspiring Day!

FillyJenkins, May 2023

Amazing guide and overall experience. The climb to the top of dome was not for the faint of heart but it was totally worth the effort. The tour of the Vatican was emotionally moving and awe inspiring. May was a great time to go because it wasn't too hot out.

Wouldn’t recommend

Maddy_B, May 2023

Our guide, Chiara, did an amazing job and was an excellent guide! The first part of the tour with the dome climbing was a great experience. However, I would not recommend the Vatican tour as it is just extremely crowded and almost impossible to enjoy. This could be such a great experience and is not the guide or tour company’s fault. I hope that in the future there is regulation of the crowds and they only allow a certain amount of people in at a time.

In a word AMAZING

Peter_C, May 2023

Mama Mia - how good was Mama our beautiful guide 10/10 totally caring person, amazing knowledge - she was key to the success of the tour. All staff were great And knowledge was abound.. WARNING never say no the skip the line alway yes, yes, YES so important. Thanks for the great experience- will always be remembered❤️ by us both.

Barely Discernable English - not the best use of 5 hours at the Vatican

michael_o, May 2023

Our guide was very kind, but she barely spoke English. It was extremely difficult to understand her. We understood about every 5th word. The crowds are ridiculous at the Vatican and it doesn't help that they start all 13 or so tours at the same moment in the morning from the same place. So you end up with 13 groups trying to fit their way through the same spaces at the same time. Our guide would often be way ahead of us just sort of rambling about whatever she was in front of, many in the group were just fighting the crowd to catch up. We went on a Tuesday, which is supposed to be the lightest crowd day of the week. The positives are that, from what we could understand, we did learn several things we would not have learned on our own, and the skip the line certainly helped at the museums, but I think there has to be a better way to explore the Vatican for 5 hours on your own at your own pace. We got 30 mins for lunch, which started with us located deep within the Vatican. We then had to find a bathroom and get all the way out of the Vatican, find a place to get food and drink almost instantly, and then re-meet up with the group at the original start point. It's nearly impossible to do in 30 minutes. I would not do the long tour again, and I would be hesitant to assume that an "English" tour is really going to be understandable. Two people on our tour just left about 4 hours into it and the others all complained that they felt our guide was not helping much. I think a different guide might have made things better. Ours was very nice and very friendly, but not a very good "English" guide.

A great day out

Carol_M, May 2023

Although the weather was wet, our guide was a Ray if sunshine. Massio (I hope I’ve spelt his name correctly) was very knowledgable, happy to answer questions with a wonderful sense of humour. I really enjoyed this trip and gave him a well deserved tip. The Sistine chapel was awesome. The walk up to the top of the dome was a wonderful work out. I would recommend this trip to anyone and hope to go back to the museums again to spend more time looking at the various exhibits. I was with my adult daughter, there does not appear to be a category for this though.

Beautiful

Jacob_W, May 2023

Sarah's Colosseum tour was amazing! She was knowledgeable and engaging, bringing the history of the site to life. Highly recommend!

Fantastic Tour

Daniel_D, May 2023

Fantastic experience, beautiful tour of the basilica and grotto, and informative tour of the museum. Even on a Monday the museum was unbelievably crowded, so I recommend booking this tour as early in the morning as you can.

Superb

Kimberly_G, May 2023

Great tour and fabulous Dome climb. Highly recommend. Fitness needed and closed spaces, so check this is for you. Also be prepared for crowds. It was unusually busy putting us 1 hr behind schedule and only 1 toilet stop!

Interesting but be patient and kind

Jeffrey_K, May 2023

The tour overall was amazing but that's in part because our tour guide Chiara has such a passion for the history and builds relationships with each person in the group. Teaching us the layers of history in Rome and connecting the stories so well. The tour sequence did get shortened because there was only one metal detector open for quite some time, eventually they began opening more as time passed. We missed about 30 minutes being inside because of this but you just have to have a mindset to be ready to pivot and be patient. Once inside we learned so much and saw many beautiful artifacts. Thank you so much for a wonderful 15th wedding anniversary trip!

Magical. One of a Kind.

Kasey_C, May 2023

Wow! What a truly memorable once in a lifetime experience. Our tour guide Chianti, was exceptional and provided the perfect combination of humor, expertise, and passion that allowed you to truly experience the magic of The Vatican. This is an absolute must! If you see nothing in Rome you have to see the Vatican at least. A magical experience.

Phenomenal Tour!!

Alexandra_R, May 2023

Wow this was worth getting up early for!! If you have Maria as a guide you will have the best tour!! Maria was very knowledgeable and made the entire tour fun and she involved the entire group / family!! Be prepared Rome is very busy however with the expert guide you get an immersive and amazing historical tour in the best way possible!!

Excellent tour

Renata_N, May 2023

Sabrina, our guide, was very knowledgeable and made our tour extremely interesting. Thank you Sabrina!

As the title says, it is "Entire"

Shankar_B, May 2023

We met outside the st peter's square, got our headsets. first activity is to climb the dome, then we went through the basilica. Our guide was talking non-stop for approx 2 hrs. Then we took a break for 45 mins, and then the second part of the tour started. We went through the vatican museums with the tour ending in sistine chapel. That took another 90 mins or so. Lot of ground to cover and lot of history. The guide did a fantastic job, talking about so much in so little time. Highly recommended.

Amazing history and art

Jeanette_B, May 2023

Amazing history and art with a knowledgeable guide. Needed more time in the Vatican museum. Less information and more time to look around would work better for me

Don’t Miss

LaureenS, May 2023

The guide, Chiara Antonelli, was absolutely amazing. We’ve gone in hundreds of tours and this was the best ever.

Great tour

Jula_V, May 2023

Georgia was a great tour guide. She was very knowledgeable and friendly, and she went out of her way to make sure our group was happy.

Great summary of the Vatican and museum

Lucinda_O, May 2023

An excellent tour with Sandra an art historian with a lot of passion for St. Peter's, the museum, and chapel. She prepared us well to identify the most famous aspects of the art works. We got an excellent over view of the museum rooms and visit to the dome.

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