Rome: Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter's Basilica Tour
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Rome, Italy
- 3 hours (approx.)
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Discover the priceless treasures in the Vatican Museum’s art collection—and visit Vatican City's most important landmarks—on this introductory tour. Upon arrival, skip the long lines and head right inside the Vatican Museums. See Michelangelo’s world-famous Sistine Chapel, venture to the Tapestries Gallery, and uncover other museum highlights. Headsets are included so you can hear your guide’s commentary clearly as you explore.
- Enjoy an introduction to the Vatican Museums with insight from your guide
- Save time when you skip the long lines and head right inside
- Discover Michelangelo’s iconic Sistine Chapel
- Small group ensures personalized attention from your guide
What's Included
- Vatican Museums skip-the-line entry ticket
- Sistine Chapel skip-the-line entry ticket
- St. Peter's Basilica skip-the-line entry ticket
- Sistine Chapel illustrated factsheet
- Official Vatican headsets
- Free Wi-Fi at the meeting point
- Free device charging station at the meeting point
- Hotel pick up and drop off
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- BrastoursVia Santamaura, 28, 00192 Roma RM, Italy
Brastours Office. 15 minutes prior the departure time. No refunds will be issued to customers who are late and miss the tour.
End point
- Mondo CattolicoPiazza Pio XII, 12 00193, 00193 Roma RM, Vatican City
Itinerary
Vatican City (Pass By)
1
Vatican Museums
1 hour • Admission Ticket Included
2
Museo Pio Clementino
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
3
Sphere within a Sphere
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
4
Galleria Delle Carte Geografiche
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
5
Sistine Chapel
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
6
St. Peter's Basilica
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
7
St. Peter's Square
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
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
- It is forbidden to bring metal objects, big bags and animals (assistance dogs allowed).
- It is not permitted to wear shorts, miniskirts and have uncovered shoulders.
- Tour not suitable for guests with wheelchairs or with impaired mobility.
- As per the new security provisions, an ID may be required.
- Should St. Peter’s Basilica be closed or not accessible within the scheduled time, the tour will include the Raphael's Rooms or the explanation of the Basilica from outside.
- The Raphael's Rooms are usually not included in the tour and are visited only when the Vatican makes the internal itinerary mandatory.
- The Basilica is not included on Wednesday morning due to the Papal Audience. It is included in July, August and when the audience is held indoors.
- No refunds will be issued to customers who are late and miss the tour.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4,5
based on 740 reviews
Sort by: Most recent
The tour of St Peter’s basilica was removed from the itinerary a couple of days prior to the tour date when it was obvious that the tour operator would have known that the Basillica was not open to the public along time before. Had 3 hours instead in the Vatican museums which was way too long
The guide, Maximus, was outstanding
The tour covered a lot, but did not nearly give the full details
Great bundle of entry tickets, an engaging and knowledgeable guide, and a somewhat customizable experience (we had to leave a little early) and our guide gave us a path to make that happen without shortening the experience for the whole group.
Guide was terrific
Very crowded so I would recommend a breakfast tour
Really loved the tour despite the crowd
The pace was good
I was very glad that I had a tour guide for this trip. The Vatican city is chaotic and it was wonderful having someone along to guide us, highlight things, and show us where to go. Highly recommended.
I was frustrated and confused because you book through Viator but the tour name is different. The address is hard to find. There are groups everywhere and it’s kind of overwhelming. I was relieved that they did not leave without us when we were 5 minutes late.
Don’t expect a taxi to drop you right in front of the tour place.
Once we actually did the tour/ our guide was very informative and thoughtful.
Daniela was an excellent guide, but though my friends and I all signed up individually for the 10:00 tour, they were all changed to a 9 o clock tour, and I was not, and was told that unless I had contacted Brastours in advance to say we wanted to be kept together as a group there was “nothing they could do”. Nothing on their site said that was a risk or necessary and it meant I had to go an hour early for my tour and my friends had to wait for me for an hour after they were done. Bad customer service. I’d rate it lower if Daniela hadn’t been such a great tour guide.
The tour was overall pleasant. The tour guide was knowledgeable and gave us good information along the way. The Vatican museum was extremely crowded on a Monday, I felt that we had rush through it. The Sistine Chapel was packed like sardines when we entered, taking away some of the enjoyment in viewing it. The visit to St. Peter's Basilica was more pleasant since it is massive, so people have more room to move around and enjoy a slower pace to view the place. The meeting point was at the tour operator office close to the Vatican museum, the office as small and there were way too many people cramped into the small space waiting to meet the tour guide and receive headset equipment.
Daniella was an amazing guide!! The earpiece left A LOT to be desired tho. They kept falling off your ear.
It was an amazing time... there was so much artsy stuff that just kept blowing my mind. Nicoletta was such a lovely and amazing guide. I’m not a big history person, but I was still really interested in everything she had to say.
The Vatican Museums are a long journey, but if you’re into art, you definitely won’t be disappointed. And then there was the Sistine Chapel... it was gorgeous. I honestly just wanted to stay in the chapel for a while and take all of it in.
When we entered St. Peter’s Basilica, I was shocked by how massive it was. Overall, it was a great experience, and I 100% recommend it.
Guide was pleasant, patient (I have some issues with walking), she was very informative & considerate
The tour guide was excellent. She looked after the group taking into account individuals needs and physical limitations. Her narrative throughout the tour was informative as well as entertaining.
Amazing country to visit. taking a tour will save you so much time getting into the city and the information really adds value to the visit.
My visit was September and you should expect heavy crowds and slow crowded walking through the museum and chapel. The basilica was breathtaking and the tour guide really helped put the size into perspective. Daniela was an amazing guide with so much interesting information.
I highly recommend going to the Dome (not included in our tour package). You can take the elevator up to the dome but to go to the very top it requires stairs that could be challenging for some. Buy Dome tickets online to avoid waiting in line.
Donatella was a great tour guide. She was very knowledgeable about each area we visited. And she was very sweet.
If you’re traveling as a group and everyone buys their own ticket in advance online your group could be separated even with the same time/date selected. . People separated into groups once a ticket is purchased. Our group was separated and one other group separated. No accommodation made to keep groups together.
Our guide, Brunhilda(?) was Very knowledgeable and answered any questions asked. She was very thorough with information, history and presentation.
A must see to Rome. Great guide, very well organized. Head sets were difficult- clumsy device over top of ears which doesn’t fit all ear types, thus difficult to clearly hear guide. a new system would be recommended
Brunella was a good guide. My wife and I recommend the program. It is much easier to navigate the grounds with a guide.
We thoroughly enjoyed our tour! We met at 8:30 and finished just before noon. Our guide was wonderful and led us through the controlled chaos very efficiently. She explained everything we saw and was engaging.
Our original schedule was changed from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm, which was not ideal given the 94-degree weather. I booked the morning on purpose, so went into the tour a little upset. Luckily, our guide Alex turned it into an amazing experience. Ours was his first group as a guide and he told us he practiced the route 3 times before taking us! It showed because he did a great job explaining everything and answering questions. He was so enthusiastic about the area as a local and gave us great advice, too. Our small group even went out to get gelato with him after the tour at a place he recommended. It was yummy!! Highly recommend Alex and Uncle Sam Tours.
We had a great Vatican tour experience. Our guide was knowledgable and patient and was happy to answer questions.
Gabbie was an amazing guide! She is so smart and funny. The company is very professional and gets you out of lines. I loved this experience.
Tour guide was very knowledgeable. She was great. I would suggest they use earbud headphones rather than the kind that wrap around your ear. Saw many of us struggling as they would fall out and we would miss key points on our tour. For that reason 4 star with a 5 star to our guide
Our guide was very knowledgable but we had a few pieces of feedback.
1) our earpieces needed to be ear buds. The over the ear was constantly muffled and falling off while looking up at all the beauty.
2) our guide knew a lot but was constantly walking away from us while talking and not interactive with the group. This made it tougher to hear/understand. He had a lot of knowledge but we also took our ear buds off and listened to other guides around us multiple times to get more insight which we found more valuable than our guide we paid for.
3) there was no personal interaction. We did a Coloseum tour and other stuff before and it was very interactive and talkative. Maps and pictures etc. we got 1 map over an hour before the Sistine chapel to go over it. We could have done it in the stairwell right before with pointers on what to watch for. There was nothing else providing a deeper level of insight.
I don't want to beat our guide up, seemed nice, seemed smart, but not the best for our personal preference. It reminded me of catholic mass...very dull and monotone.
This was the 3rd tour of the Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel for half our group and first for the other half. We all found the tour amazing. Our tour guide, Max, was exceptionally knowledgeable. He didn't just tell us facts, but asked us questions about historical events that related to the paintings, statues, tapestries, etc in the museum making the tour very interactive. He explained how the art was gathered by various Pope's and why.
We did the tour in August, when the temp outside was near 100°, so it was very hot inside the un-AC'd museum. He kept a good pace too allow us time to cool off in rooms with fans or breezes.
The Sistine Chapel can be very overwhelming, especially as tour guides are not allowed to speak inside. Before engering, he pointed out certain parts to focus on. We then proceeded to St. Peter's Bascilica. He pointed out, not only the known statues and mosaics and their significance, but also showed us little things that others might not notice first.
We concluded with a walk through St Peter's Square, and time at the Vatican gift shop.
I highly recommend this tour company and Max as a tour guide.
Skip the line was great and necessary to be able to get into the museum, Chapel and basilica efficiently. Tour guide seemed a bit disengaged and was not very informative.
Guide was hard to understand. Some of the museums felt rushed. Felt we would have probably done better on our own.
It's worth to pay to join a tour to go through these 3 important sites. The tour not only includes skip the line tickets, the tour guide knows how to navigate these 3 very crowded sites. Our guide was very knowledgeable & explained things very clearly.
The tour covered everything we wanted to see, and our guide was awesome at explaining everything in detail. We learned so much. We walked away with a treasure. But be prepared to to walk up and down lots of stairs and be on your feet the whole time. But our guide walked slow for everyone and didn’t rush us, which was important because I’ve waited 30 years to see the inside of the Sistine Chapel. I felt like I was standing inside the Bible.
I booked this tour online to start at 10AM but the start time got rescheduled to 8:45AM by the tour company, which was OK because it worked for us and they communicated the change well in advance. The office is easy to find, it's right next to the Vatican. As stated in the listing, we didn't have to wait long to get into the Museum, Sistine Chapel nor St. Peter's Basilica.
Why it was not a 5 star experience: the specific tour guide was OK; I felt like there was more information she could have provided about the art or history but because it was so crowded we spent alot of time rounding up our the tour group. Understandably it's because it's so crowded at the Vatican and you can easily lose your tour group. The other reason I took off a star was because at the end of the tour, rather than leaving us at the official Vatican gift shop, she took us down the street to a 3rd party gift shop and showed us specific items to buy for a "discount." This felt very sales-y and a push for commission.
All this being said, I doubt our experience is unique and I'm sure many other tour groups and companies also operate this way. If you want just the highlights of the Vatican from an established company, this tour is not a bad option.
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US$124,75
per personWas US$131,31(-5%)
up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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