Rome in a Day: Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and Colosseum

Rome, Italy

5 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
Offered in: English

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Overview

Travelers short on time in Rome will enjoy having their time streamlined on this easy one-day highlights tour. Spending time at the various attractions in the Vatican City, as well as the Colosseum, this easy tour makes the most of a day. Enjoy the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum, and learn about Rome's centuries of history from your guide.

An easy way to fit a lot into a single day
Ideal for first-time visitors to Rome seeking an overview
Small group means more attention from your guide
Check out some of the most popular spots in Rome

What's Included

Vatican Museums & Colosseum tour
Colosseum entrance ticket (valued at €18 per person)
Colosseum reservation fee (valued at €2 per person)
Please note: Colosseum fees as above. The remaining cost of the experience covers other services.

No transportation between Vatican & Colosseum is included

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Via Santamaura, 21, 00192 Roma RM, Italy
10:30 AM for your Vatican Museums tour, Meetingpoint; , via Santamaura 21 , 00192 Rome Metrostop: CIPRO 3PM for Colosseum tour Meetingpoint: Via del Monte Oppio 10, 00184 Rome Metrostop:COLOSSEO

End points

This activity ends in a different location. See details below:

Operating hours
.10:30 am

Itinerary

Colosseum

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Vatican Museums

2 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Sistine Chapel

30 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
Please provide the full names of all travelers when booking. Failure to present a voucher with all travelers' full names at the ticket office prior to entry may result in denied entry to the Colosseum and Roman Forum.
Each traveler must present a valid passport or ID document that matches the name provided at the time of booking for successful entry to the Colosseum and Roman Forum.
Pls note you need to show up at meetingpoints 15 minutes before tourstart otherwise you will loose your tour
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 20 travelers

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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.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Reviews

3.9

based on 11 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Sketchy meeting place and condescending guide

Niki_S, Jul 2024

There was nothing on this booking that indicated it was 2 separate tours. The meeting location for the second one was what appeared to be an abandoned shop and the guide showed up just minutes before the tour was to start. The guide was knowledgeable but condescending and his jokes were completely inappropriate for our small group.

Don't Combine Vatican & Colosseum in 1-Day

Sherill_T, Jul 2024

Since this was my 3rd time to Rome and have seen the Vatican and Colosseum in the past, I wanted my 37-year-old daughter to experience those places herself. I bought a 2-day extension on our Viking cruise to see Rome and bought a tour package to see the Vatican and Colosseum. Our tour of the Vatican started at 11:00 am and my booking information stated it would take only two hours. By 1:05 pm our tour guide was only a little more than a 1/2 done with the tour and we hadn't even gotten to the Sistine Chapel by then. Our second tour (albeit through a different tour company) of the Colosseum was to begin at 3:00 pm and we had to be at the meeting location at 2:45 pm. Our Viator customer service representative suggested these two tours and I "assumed" there would be enough time to do both tours; we were on our own to get transportation from the Vatican to the Colosseum. We felt the Vatican tour guide took much longer to explain all the frescos inside the Vatican as we watched other tour guides/groups pass us by. Because our tour of the Vatican wasn't done in time, we decided to leave the Vatican and briskly walked through the rest of the gallerias inside to scramble toward the exit and hailed a cab to the Colosseum meeting point. Because this was high peak season, I would highly not recommend doing both the Vatican and Colosseum in both days or allow at least 4 hours in between tours or do on two separate days. I understand every tour guide is different and some are more experienced with getting people through the time allowed for the tour, which was supposed to be 2 hours. And I don't think the Viator customer service representative understood how tight of a squeeze it was to fit both of these tours in together in one-day...and shame on them. I believe I was taken advantage of by the Viator representative to suggest doing both of these tours in one-day.

Vatican City 101

Michelle_M, Nov 2023

Our tour guide was excellent. She went at a comfortable pace and REALLY knew so much about everything that had to do with Vatican city. We highly recommend!

We learned nothing from our guide, despite asking questions

James_L, Oct 2023

Why two stars? Well it would have been 1-star if they haven't turned up, but they did so an extra star. Well done. Six of us had a single day in Rome, we wanted to make the most of it. I kept in touch with the tour operator for several days before confirming details of our party and to set out expectations as the description is vague. The afternoon before I got a call to say they cannot show us around the Colosseum as the venue had ran out of tour guide tickets. Not a great start but we can work around that. We met at the agreed location with 3 other tourists on time then were escorted to a second location to pick up another 4 tourists on the tour and to be passed to another guide. This guide from another operator took us up to the Vatican queue and passed us to another guide. Don't be thinking if you book a large group, it's only for you! It seems like there are several operators and guides all merging each taking a cut. When we got into the Vatican we got our headsets but we struggled to understand our guide, not just our group of 6 but the entire group of 12 or so. The guides English was very good but she spoke with a very heavy Italian accent and at very fast and mumbled pace. Our guide seemed to get into many disagreements with other tour guides and seemed to be very knowledgeable on sistine chapel paintings but none of us picked anything up. Our group caught insightful pieces of information from other tour operators, I wish I had asked them who they were so I could recommend. As we were rushed at pace through the museum the group had no time to top and look and if you did stop for just a minute the radio was out of range and was useless. Some of the group were just frustrated and wanted to just explore at more there own pace and learn from the descriptions so they dropped behind. Our guide kept saying "Why are none of you asking questions?". Our group asked 3 questions, each time she said "I don't know". I was slightly out of radio range due to the crowds when we got to a large red stone bowl. I asked what it was and our guide said "we don't know. It was just a piece of furniture in the emperor's home". I later looked it up and it was called Nero's Bath, a significant piece of the museum. Two of the group decided to wonder off themselves as they were frustrated with the tour which lead to us hanging around for 15 minutes to wait for them in the only place of the museum there was nothing to look at. We decided to stick with the tour and perhaps after the tour was finished we could circle back and look at our leisure. However right after the Sistine Chapel the tour exists you right outside with no re-entry. This was not the fault of the tour operator, but I think next time we will book with a different operator at our own leisure. At the end of the tour, I asked our group "each say one thing they have learned?". A look of blank and bemused faces was hilarious until I told them how much they owed me for this "quality tour". A couple of days later I fed back to the tour operator these details via the WhatsApp conversation I had with them but never received a response. I requested via Viator the tour guide part of it be refunded. Our group received a small reimbursement which was better than nothing but no apology or indication our feedback would be taken onboard.

Coliseum 2023

Mitch_A, Oct 2023

My trip was wonderful. It left on time. It was better than expected. The knowledge and professionalism of my tour guide made it a great experience!

My Rome in a day

Lisa_R, Aug 2023

We had a fantastic day and I mean all day. I was able to see so much of 3 places I never thought I would and the guide were great. They had so much information and you could ask any questions you wanted and always received and answer. I would do this again

Great tour

luz_s, May 2023

The best part was Roberto in our tour in the coliseum. We were with our children and he make sure the kids understand and were able to see themselves back in time. Everything was on time no delay and no long lines to do will Highly recommend for someone with short time to explore Rome.

Excellent tour of the Coliseum

Leah_M, Sep 2022

Excellent tour to avoid the lines and hear interesting information. Tour company and meeting point is on a side street above Colosseum- not far from metro stop or easy by taxi. Includes listening devices so you can hear the guide well. Daniella is great. It’s a very good overview of the Colosseum with some historical context.

Beautiful

Lindsey_W, Feb 2020

Irene was knowledgeable and friendly! We enjoyed touring the Vatican with her! The coliseum was cool and a must do!

Mala organización, perdí dinero

Erika_N, Aug 2023

Viator mando la información equivocada sobre el lugar de recogida y nos fuimos a otro lugar. El tour recién había salido y nos colocaron en uno más tarde pero se todo lo que prometía el tour básicamente solo tuvimos entrada más o menos rápida, muy desorganizado y perdimos la mitad del tour. Muchas filas, calor y mucha gente. La mayoría de los que iban en el tour a la mitad del recorrido del Vaticano se fueron. Nosotros tampoco terminamos con la guía de turistas, era buena persona pero no nos captó lo suficientemente para quedarnos.