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Skip the Line Vatican, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter's Tour | Small Group & Private

Badge of ExcellenceRoma, Italy

From USD 118.48

Price varies by group size

Select Date and Travellers

Free cancellation
Up to 24 hours in advance.
Rome Tours
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Audio Guides
Kid-Friendly
Likely To Sell Out
Unique Experiences
  • 3 hours (approx.)
  • Offered in: English

Overview

See the best of Vatican City on this small-group tour of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica. Skip the long lines at the Vatican and go straight to the remarkable art and architecture, including galleries, the Julius II apartments, the Raphael Rooms, and Sistine Chapel. This intimate Vatican tour is limited to six people for a personal experience and individual service from the guide, and includes all entrance fees.
  • Visit the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica
  • See galleries, courtyards, and papal apartments
  • Take in the Sistine Chapel
  • Interior access to St. Peter's Basilica
  • All entrance fees included
  • Skip the line
  • Small group limited to six people

What's Included

  • Tour in a Safe and Semi Private group of MAX 6 people GUARANTEED
  • Enjoy Skip the Line Access
  • Professional, Local, Expert Guide
  • Private Option available!
  • Food and drinks
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off
  • Gratuities

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

  • Viale Vaticano, 100
    Viale Vaticano, 100, 00192 Roma RM, Italy

    in front of Caffé Vaticano, on viale Vaticano 100, just across the street from the Museum entrance. Your guide will be holding a LIvTours sign.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Meet a guide at a central location near the Vatican at the pre-arranged time, then skip the line to get into the Vatican Museums to see the highlights of the vast collection. Exploring the museums with a small group, you are able to maneuver the crowded galleries at a comfortable pace, with plenty of time to ask questions.

Pass through a series of gardens and terraces, where you find early Renaissance architecture and an exquisite modern art piece, then see the collection of Roman and Greek artifacts in the Octagonal Courtyard.

Visit the Muses Room, the Round Room, and the Greek Cross Room, then take in the maps and tapestries in the galleries on your way to the Julius II apartments and the Raphael Rooms, part of the papal apartments.

Enter the Sistine Chapel through a tiny door, with time to take in the brilliant frescoes that the ceiling and walls. From the Sistine Chapel, continue to St. Peter’s Basilica through an interior passageway—this allows you to skip the exterior line—and finish the tour in the enormous Catholic shrine, which contains masterpieces of design, sculpture, and artwork.

Vatican Museums

2 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Sistine Chapel

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

St. Peter's Basilica

30 minutes • 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
  • Occasionally the basilica may be closed due to last minute private events outside of the tour operators control and often without notice. In these uncommon circumstances the tour will operate as usual and the time spent inside the basilica will be made up elsewhere on the tour
  • Please note that tours selected on Wednesday mornings at 10 am can be periodically effected by the closure of St Peter's Basilica due to last minute decisions by the Vatican. Please be insured the lost time will be compensated with other areas of the museums.
  • Near public transportation
  • Most travellers can participate
  • This tour/activity will have a maximum of 6 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.

Traveller Photos

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Traveller Tips

I highly recommend this tour and would suggest that without a guide you would need a whole day to try to navigate through this massive facility.
We were on the 10 AM tour and I recommend the earlier, the better for the crowds in late September.
It was hard to hear at times due to the immense crowds but I guess that can be expected when you’re touring such an amazing place as the Vatican.

Reviews

5.0
1,447 reviews
Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews
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Reviews by Viator travellers.
Showing 1-10 of 1,447 reviews
Magic
Fredrik_S, June 2023
Veronica from LivTours was a brilliant guide making the magic Vatican even better. She brought the best out of what you can expect during three hours.
Worth it!
Tanner_G, June 2023
Small group was totally worth it. 6 people, which meant in the crazy busy Vatican, it was easy to keep the group together. Alessia was our guide and she was wonderful!! This tour saved us hours and hours in line.
Great experience
Melanie_C, June 2023
Overall our experience was fantastic! Our guide Sergio was very informative and had extensive knowledge about the Vatican. The crowds were huge so you didn’t get to see some of the artwork due to everyone needing to move through but this is no fault of the tour operator. At the beginning our guide didn’t turn up but the other tour guides placed us into their groups without any issues and we had a wonderful experience. I would use Liv Tours again.
Great Guide
Becky_A, June 2023
This tour is small which is exactly what we were looking for…our guide was excellent. She was very knowledgeable and friendly. I would chose this tour again and strongly recommend it.
Tour guide was great but...
Patricia_H, June 2023
Tour guide was great but we got kicked out of the Sistine Chapel before exiting to the Basilica. We then had to walk through the entire tour again on our own to make our way back to the chapel.
Amazing personalized tour
Elena_H, June 2023
Our guide, Claudia, was kind, knowledgeable, interesting and funny. She brought history to life and made the experience for us. Thank you!
Did not get the small group that I paid for was a large group
Emily_K, June 2023
Paid For a small group tour which was supposed to be 4 to 6 people we had 14 it was horrible. I would’ve never done a big group which is why I paid extra for the small group.
Nothing is 'Guaranteed' when you book with Viator
terence_a, June 2023
On arrival to the meeting point, we discovered that the semi-private tour, a maximum of 6 people 'guaranteed', was now going to be a group tour of 12 persons due to a sickness absence. We were offered the 'Hobson's Choice' of a full refund if we didn't want to proceed or a 50% refund if we wanted to go ahead in a larger group. Our Livtours guide joked, that we could have a full refund but 'look at the queues guys.' Nobody found this very amusing. The tour was perfectly fine until we entered the Sistine Chapel and we were waiting entry to Saint Peter's Basilica. Where our guide got into a heated exchange with a Vatican official and we were all asked to leave and refused entry into Saint Peter's Basilica. We were directed back to the main entrance, where our guide departed and left us to queue for an hour and 45 minutes to gain entry to Saint Peter's Basilica which of course is not to be missed.
Wonderful Guide
Ronald_D, June 2023
Luisa was a wonderful, entertaining and knowledgeable guide. We have been to the Sistine Chapel and museums before with a guide and she provided new information. Thank you
Vatican through the lens of history
STACY_G, May 2023
Our tour guide was wonderful. He was very knowledgeable about the history of Rome and created a wonderful experience.
Outstanding Tour and Guide
Cheryl_T, May 2023
We learned so much, from a very funny, personable Italian guide, Max! He was great, and seemed to really love what he does. And, what we saw was absolutely amazing!
Our guide Sylvia was...
Karen_M, May 2023
Our guide Sylvia was wonderful, so knowledgeable, and fun! Skip the line is definitely the way to go!
Claudia is awesome.
Lori_W, May 2023
Claudia was an excellent guide. She was so knowledgeable and helped us see the best parts of the tour from the best spots. I can tell she really loves her job.
Highlight for Rome
Jeffrey_S, May 2023
Our tour guide was Luisa. She was knowledgeable and fun. There is so much to see and talk about, but she focused on the key highlights to enable us to make good use of our time. This tour was the highlight for our time in Rome. Skipping the line was a must. We walked right in..
Excellent Job, Roberta!
Melanie_C, May 2023
I brought 5 friends for a private tour of the Skip the Line Vatican, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter's excursion. The tour was scheduled on our arrival day in Rome and we made sure to book it hours in advance of when our flight was to land. Our flight ended up being delayed and by the time we landed, we had very little time to get to our tour and we almost didn't make it. Roberta was our wonderful guide and knowing our circumstances, she was so accommodating and made sure we were comfortable and rested if we needed to. We were all extremely happy with Roberta and the excellent tour she gave us...she was knowledgeable, funny, witty and made the tour very interesting. This was a wonderful tour and I highly recommend it!
Gorgeous vatican visit
Leslie_G, May 2023
Sergio, our guide, was fantastic. Very knowledgeable and funny, and was an excellent tour guide throughout the entire experience. The Vatican museum was extremely crowded, so would suggest the early morning tour before it opens to the general public
Amazing guide
Jovana_D, May 2023
Our guid was amazing. Very knowledgeable, with a lot of fun facts, and it was pleasant to interact with her. We had enough time for all the major sights, and stayed in the Basilica as much as we wanted.
Awesome at Vatican
Debbie_S, May 2023
Our guide Rebecca was awesome. . Made tour wonderful . So mu h ro see. Learned alot. Would recommend to all going there. Nice small group.
Religious Rome tour
Henry_A, May 2023
Our guide was extremely friendly and outgoing. Gave our small group a nice welcoming feeling, spoke to all of us directly, left no one out. He definitely knew the history. Where the trip fell a little short, was on time. Based on trip description, it should have been closer to 3 hours but we ended up finishing with 2 hr and maybe 15 mins. Luckily we didn’t leave St Peter’s Basilica and we were able to walk through and see what was either glanced over or never shown to us. As for the Vatican, kind of the same thing - touched upon a few key points and rushed through. It was nice as he would give us background to things before seeing the displays as the crowds were out of control / busy. Overall a good tour to take but will recommend staying behind in the Basilica to see it all. It was amazing to see. FYI. We were able to partake in the 5pm mass in the Basilica.
Best Choice
Jackie_R, May 2023
Worth every penny Fabulous private tour- only 4 of us so able to dove the big queues & crowds Guide was very knowledgeable & really helped us understand the background to the paintings, esp in Sistine Chapel
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Skip the Line Vatican, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter's Tour | Small Group & Private
1,443
3 hours
Free Cancellation
From
USD 118.48

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