Rome
Top activities in Rome

Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel Small Group Tour with Basilica

Badge of ExcellenceRoma, Italy
Likely to Sell Out

From $77.12

Select Date and Travelers

Free cancellation
Up to 24 hours in advance.
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Kid-Friendly
Likely To Sell Out
Unique Experiences
  • 3 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
  • Offered in: English

Overview

Avoid wasting time during your Vatican visit on this Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica tour at the no-wait access entrance. Join a knowledgeable guide to pass right by the long entrance queues and start touring the massive museums. See the incomparable Raphael's Rooms, Michelangelo's stunning Sistine Chapel, as well as other museum highlights like the Maps Gallery and Tapestries Gallery. Then visit the impressive St. Peter's Basilica next door.
  • Tour of Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica via no-wait access entrance
  • Enjoy privileged access to the Vatican Museums with your guide
  • See the Pinecone Courtyard, Maps Gallery, Tapestries Gallery, Raphael's Rooms, Sistine Chapel and more
  • Visit St. Peter's Basilica after the museums to see Michelangelo's 'La Pieta'

Why Travelers Choose This Tour

Get a comprehensive Vatican experience with no-wait entry and an archeologist or art historian guide.

What's Included

  • Professional and informative guide
  • Skip the line access to Vatican Museums
  • All Entrance fees
  • Head sets when needed
  • Children 5 and younger are complimentary
  • Small group of 18 people or fewer
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off
  • Wednesday mornings St. Peter's Basilica may be closed due to weekly Papal Audience.
  • Basilica might be closed on religious holidays. In this case you will get extended tour of museums.

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

  • Viale Giulio Cesare, 243
    Viale Giulio Cesare, 243, 00192 Roma RM, Italy

    Meeting point is on the corner of Viale Giulio Cesare and Via Leone IV next to the flower stand (viale Giulio Cesare 243). Please arrive 15 minutes before the tour starts. Please look for a tour leader with "Rome Your Way" sign.

End point

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

    The tour will conclude at St. Peter's Basilica.

What To Expect

Vatican Museums

2 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Stanze di Raffaello

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking
  • Not wheelchair accessible
  • Stroller accessible
  • Service animals allowed
  • Near public transportation
  • Most travelers can participate
  • This tour/activity will have a maximum of 18 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

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Traveler Tips

Despite the name; skip the line; you do not skip lines.
The tour is 4 hours long, with a whole lot of steps up and down, so you need to be prepared to be on your feet for a long time.
I would highly recommend this tour company and tour, but if you don't like crowds and the heat, I would go during the off season.
Reviews
4.5
354 reviews
Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews
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Reviews by Viator travelers.
Showing 1-10 of 354 reviews
Luca was an amazing guide...
Sylvie_M, Mar 2023
Luca was an amazing guide who really put in the effort to make his group feel comfortable and welcome before beginning the tour! Moreover, he was extremely knowledgable and engaging with the artwork, making the tour excited about everything we were seeing and exposing a newfound appreciation for the amazing works surrounding us. It was a great and extremely enjoyable experience that i would recommend to anybody coming to Rome!
Excellent tour
roberta_z, Mar 2023
The Vatican is very impressive especially the Sistine chapel. Ivy was a very good tour guide and mentioned everything in detail . We covered everything thouroughly. Highly recommended tour
Response from Host, Mar 2023
hallo thanks a lot for your positive review. hope to see you again in our tours
Awesome tour!
Candace_C, Mar 2023
Our guide was very knowledgeable and we really enjoyed her expertise. The tour guide was kind and friendly. We would use your guide service again.
Response from Host, Mar 2023
hallo thanks a lot for your positive review. hope to see you again in our tours
Vatican museum with Sistine chapel
Adrian_H, Mar 2023
Great visit to the Vatican museum tour. The items collected by the Vatican across the centuries is fascinating along with the museum buildings themselves. The Sistine chapel is of course the highlight of the tour. Francesca was really engaging with our small party of seven people. Her knowledge of the museum collection and how these items linked to both church and wider Italian (and Roman) history was a real bonus to the enjoyment of the tour. We were contacted a few days prior to the tour due to a guide being ill and needing to change from the 11:45 tour to the 8:45 start. Getting across Rome by metro made the change in time easy to manage. Of course being the Vatican museum, it is busy with many people. Whilst you miss the non-booked visitor queue (a good 1 to 2 hour saving); there are internal queues and busy sections of passageways to work through. This does not detract from where you are visiting.
Response from Host, Mar 2023
hallo thanks a lot for your positive review. hope to see you again in our tours
Best way to do the Vatican
Daniel_B, Feb 2023
We booked a small group tour but were the only ones on it - great credit to the operators for not cancelling. Diane was a lovely guide, very informative and helpful .
Response from Host, Feb 2023
hallo thanks a lot for your positive review. when is possible we prefer to do our clienrs happy so i hope to see you next time in ours tours. thanks
Our guide was very...
Karen_H, Nov 2022
Our guide was very knowledgeable and paced the tour to our interests. She was able to answer all our questions. Definitely a great experience.
Response from Host, Nov 2022
hi thanks a lot for your positive review , hope to see you again in another our tour.
Highly recommend
Ross_K, Oct 2022
I was recently with my bestfriend in Rome for a few days and we decided to go on a tour to the Vatican City . I would recommend to book in advance because it’s sooooo busy there . We manage to get a tour a few days before ( we were really lucky) . The majority of the English tours were all booked up. We had the lovely tour guide Iger and she was incredible . Very knowledgable and also super friendly . The tour was amazing and worth every penny spent ! Highly recommend 🫶🏻
Response from Host, Oct 2022
hallo , thanks for your positive review
Great experience
Asher_B, Oct 2022
Our tour guide was very accommodating and sweet. She did a great job with our group. Would recommend .
Response from Host, Oct 2022
trhanks a lot we spent a lot of many in the research of guide to give ourclients the best
Amazing well worth it
Amy_L, Oct 2022
Amazing! We absolutely loved the tour- the guide was very knowledgeable and I would 100% do it again
Response from Host, Oct 2022
hi, thanks a lot for your positive review.
I hate covid
Christel_F, Oct 2022
Because the tour guide got Covid it screwed up my tight schedule. My phone breaking made it tough for them to contact me but we managed through the Viator site. My tour was cancelled and the first alternative time offered conflicted with other scheduled events so they finally gave me a tour on Friday which was listed at 1:45 then changed to 4:15 so I had to catch an earlier train from Naples to get to Rome for the tour. Had to pay for extra transportation to and from the Vatican and the train station and had to pay 44 euros to store the bags during the tour. Then we decided to take a taxi to the hotel since it was after 8pm and we worried they might not keep our room. So in all that the tour was too expensive. The tour itself was great. Guide Alfredo was knowledgeable.
Response from Host, Oct 2022
hallo, we are sorry for what is happened but we tried to do our best, in case of covid normally the tour is cancelled but we understand that once you are in rome you have to see the vatican. so we did our best.the guide was excellent we know, and about luggage and transport , well to reach the hotel subway is for sure less expensive , but that is a choise you made . happy to know that the tour in itself was good. thanks
Great tour on a hot day!
Carol_R, Aug 2022
We had a great experience. There were only 4 in our tour and it was very crowded in the Vatican Museums. Alfredo our guide was fabulous guiding us through the crowds and other tours! He had a wealth of knowledge and shared it with us!
Response from Host, Aug 2022
hallo , thanks a lot for your positive review , we hope to see you next time in rome
I enjoyed it, but I could...
thebish007, Jul 2022
I enjoyed it, but I could not understand the tour guide, because his accent was very heavy. He told us where to meet him, but because of his accent, I did not understand him and I got lost for the 2 half of the trip. He was a nice person, however, the Language Barrier was a problem for me.
Response from Host, Aug 2022
hallo , thanks for your review,
Fantastic morning for us
Carleton_C, Jul 2022
Hilaria was a great tour guide. She kept to the schedule and was very knowledgeable about all aspects. Highly recommend this tour.
Response from Host, Aug 2022
hallo, thanks a lot for your positive review
Good
Else_E, Jul 2022
He had good knowledge. He showed us funnet details. He had adifferent approach. He was on time. He was funny.
Response from Host, Aug 2022
thanks a lot , we always try to choose the best guides for our tours
Unreal visit to the Vatican
Chris_C, Jul 2022
Our tour guide was amazing. The Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel are amazing sites to see but add our tour guide who was knowledgeable and personable made the trip that much better. Thank you for making this so fantastic!!.
Response from Host, Aug 2022
Hi! Thank you for joining our Vatican Museums No-Wait Access Tour with Raphael Rooms and Sistine Chapel. The Vatican Museums are indeed huge collection of art and with an experienced tour guide you will get much more off the tour as the tour guide will take you to see all the must see places at the Vatican. Many places you might simply miss if you visit the museums on your own. I am glad you enjoyd the tour! Best regards, Rome Your Way Tours
Fantastic!
JoAnne_M, Jul 2022
I appreciated the text that the tour was going to be delayed until the afternoon. Our guide was fantastic and so knowledgeable. Learned a lot.
Response from Host, Aug 2022
Good morning, Thank you so much for you kind review and it is nice to know that you had wondeful time visiting the Vatican Museums with us. Best regards, Rome Your Way Tours
Do not use this place - will take your money and say you’re late
Anthony_C, Jun 2022
Arrived 3 minutes late to location due to airline losing our luggage upon arrival, still dealing with luggage. Tour guide was incredibly rude, would not allow for another tour, took our money, and wouldn’t make exception for later tour or following day. They just took our money. Was told multiple times not my problem. Disappointing. It’s clear they just want you to pay and not show up.
Response from Host, Aug 2022
hallo, so sorry to read your negative review.we always ask to the clients to arrive 10 minutes before at the meeting point just to avoid this situation. the tour has to start at the right time because the tickets have a time who expiry , and normally our guide wait other 5 minutes before live the meeting point. you should understand that in a group there are other persons who arrived before the timre indicated and the guide cannot loose the entrance for all the group . thanks again
Hot day at the Vatican
Natasha_R, Jun 2022
Very interesting tour with a very well informed & knowledgeable tour guide. Unfortunately, group was larger than we expected, around 20. Little bit of trouble hearing the guide due to number of people but she was very accommodating when asked to repeat or answer questions.
Response from Host, Aug 2022
thanks a lot for your positive review
Not a good experience
soccerslave726, Jun 2022
We never met up with tour. Meeting location was moved with no prior notice & we will be seeking a refund. It was a total chaos. We ended up scrambling to get another tour. Needless to say we were very disappointed in our Viator experience.
Response from Host, Aug 2022
hallo, we are so sad to hear this from your experience. Our meeting point is changed but many month ago , anyway we normally ask to leave a telephone number when you booked, because is our habitudes call the clients when they don't arrive at the meeting point , for this reason we specify to arrive almost 10 minutes before the tour starts.
Too long
Justin_C, Jun 2022
Was a very long tour and guide did not give an interesting tour. It was drawn out too long and information provided was not great. Need to bring pictures of her own instead of relying on museums and explaining in her own words.
Response from Host, Aug 2022
Hello ! The Vatican Tours takes almost three hours , time that for other clients is not enough to enjoy all the beauty into the Vatican Museum . The tour you booked includes Vatican Museums , Sistine Chapel and Raphael's Rooms , to end into the St.Peter's Church . Best regards, Rome Your Way Tours
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