St. Peter's Basilica, Square and Papal Grottoes Guided Tour

Rome, Italy

1 hour 30 minutes (approx.)
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

The highlights of Vatican City can be overwhelming to visit on your own. Cover St. Peter’s Square and Basilica with a guide who provides insight into their art and architecture. Learn about the history and design of the enormous square and church, plus head underground to admire the Papal Grottoes.

Visit St. Peter’s Basilica with a guide to better understand its history
Enjoy time to admire St. Peter’s Square before entering the church
Take in the tombs of past popes in the underground grottoes
A group tour of the Vatican highlights for a more affordable price

What's Included

Tour Guide

Lunch
Ticket for the Dome (if you want to, ask for indication to the Tour Guide at the end of the tour)
Skip-The-Line access to the Basilica

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Mondo Cattolico
Piazza Pio XII, 12 00193, 00193 Roma RM, Vatican City
Meet in front of the shop "Mondo Cattolico" in Piazza Pio XII n. 12, Roma (on the right side looking at the Basilica).

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Itinerary

St. Peter's Square

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

St. Peter's Basilica

50 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

The Vatican Grottoes

25 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking, unless booked within 18 hours of travel. In this case confirmation will be received as soon as possible, subject to availability
Not wheelchair accessible
Near public transportation
Not recommended for travelers with back problems
Not recommended for pregnant travelers
No heart problems or other serious medical conditions

Most travelers can participate
Wheelchair accessible (with the exception of the Papal Grottoes)
A strict Dresscode is applied inside the Basilica, therefore shoulders and knees should be covered
St. Peters Basilica has a mandatory Security Check that cannot be skipped, therefore a queue might form. The lenghth of this queue cannot be predicted. The Tour Guide will escort you during the queue sharing the history of St. Peter, to then continue into the Basilica
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 20 travelers

Supplied by

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Reviews

3.1

based on 13 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Sort by: Most insightful

Couldn’t understand the tour guide

Arthur_C, Jun 2024

The tour guide was not very clear. I understand there is a language barrier but I was barely able to understand her. I went on a few other tours in Italy and this was the only time I had this issue.

Response from Host, Jun 2024

Dear Arthur, We are very sorry that the experience didn't meet your expectations. Nevertheless, in this case, we are talking about a guide licensed and examined by the Italian Government in the English language, therefore we might think that the linguistic problem doesn't concern our Professional Guide but you. Anyway, we'll do our internal checks to make sure that nothing else like this will ever happen again. Best regards, 1 City Tour

St Peter’s Basilica

Fadia_F, Apr 2024

There were a line took us 35 mins to enter, guide was excellent, organized and respectful, he has excellent knowledge and explanation of the place

Response from Host, Apr 2024

Dear Fadia, Thank you for your kind review, we are really happy to hear that our organization and our guide satisfied you. The St. Peter's Basilica Tour is one of our best experiences because it mixes history, knowledge, art, and beauty using the time spent in the line. For this reason, having such brilliant guides like ours is fundamental to not be bored and to spend some quality time in Rome. We hope to welcome you back to Rome next time and to let you have some other beautiful experiences! Best regards, 1 City Tour

Very educational

Madelon_R, Oct 2023

We learned a lot! Our tour guide even made sure we were entertained by telling us about the basilisk while in line :))

Response from Host, Nov 2023

Dear Madelon, thank you very much for the beautiful review. We are really happy that you enjoyed the experience at St. Peter's Basilica and we are thrilled that our guide helped entertain you during the wait in the queue. We are always searching for new and better ways to make the experience here in Rome perfect for any client. We hope we'll welcome you on your future visits to Rome. Best regards, 1CityTour.

Worth seeing with a guide

Sylvie_L, Jul 2023

Highly recommend this tour to truly appreciate the history of the place and appreciate it’s magnificence. Our tour guide Carlos Pinto was very good and knowledgeable

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Dear Sylvie, Thank you so much for your lovely review. We are so happy you enjoyed your tour, and we hope to see you again soon! Kind Regards, 1CityTour

Lost in translation

John_H, Jul 2023

Very pleasant tour guide but not quite able to provide proper direction to the tour group. Also, on a 37C degree day in Rome the guide had us standing in the sun even though there were spots in the shade to stop.

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Dear John, Thank you for the nice review. It's pretty hard for the guide to move all the group ih the shade while waiting in line for the entrance but we'll make sure that next time we'll teach the guides to try ad stay in much shade as possible. Best regards, 1CityTour.

Avoid

Ian_W, Apr 2023

Two hours and twenty minutes queuing to get in, by which time the tour was over. Complete waste of money.

Response from Host, May 2023

Dear Customer, We understand that you are upset about the long line, unfortunately, this is out of our control, since the line is managed by the Basilica, and it is mandatory for anyone who visits this famous Church. Furthermore, you forgot to mention, how during the entirety of the line, our Professional Tour Guide shared with you precious information and knowledge gathered through years of study and experience to help you discover the beauty and origins of this magnificent holy place. The tour then finished inside the Basilica, which gave you plenty of time to revisit points in the church you would have wanted to see more. That is why we do not understand your negative review, when your principal complaint, was something that everyone had to go through, and that was out of our control. Nonetheless, we continue to be confident in the service we provided as everything is written before hand on our booking page. Best Regards, 1 City Tour

waste of money and a VERY long que that hurt my back due to standing for sooooooooo long

MacDara_J, Apr 2023

We q'ed for 1 hour and then we were rushed inside the Basilica then we didn't get to see the papal grottos.....all in all the experience was terrible. I'll make sure I tell everyone

Response from Host, May 2023

Dear Customer, The queue to the Basilica of St. Peter is mandatory and not predictable, especially during peak season. Furthermore, time spent in the queue is included in the Tour, considering the Tour guide was at your disposal during the entirety of the experience, and explained the history of the Square and the Basilica to the best of their knowledge and ability with the help of the professional radios and microphone we provided at the meeting point. Describing this experience as a waste of money undervalues the efforts and years of experience that the Guide put into preparing the knowledge they shared with you during your experience, not to mention the hard work of our team in providing a solution to enjoy an experience despite a mandatory queue. We are sorry to hear about your back problems. We value our customers' satisfaction, therefore we remain at your disposal through our e-mail to better outline your experience: info@1citytour.com Best Regards, 1 City Tour

Interesting tour despite not having the possibility to skip the entrance queue

Iva_K, Apr 2023

We thought this would be the skip the queue guided tour and were initially disappointed having to wait to enter the Basilica. It was the Easter week and we waited for two hours during which time Stefano told us countless interesting stories and stayed with us a bit over originally scheduled time. He is very knowledgeable, insightful, patient and organized, highly recommended tour if you are in Vatican!

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Dear Iva, Thank you so much for your lovely review. We are so happy you enjoyed your tour, and we hope to see you again soon! Kind Regards, 1CityTour

Lange in Schlange anstehen

Thomas_O, Jul 2024

Mich hat gestört dass wir keine VIP Tickets bekommen haben und wie die anderen in der Schlange in der Sonne lange anstehen mussten. Das wurde so nicht kommuniziert. Schade für die Zeit. Ohne Guide ist der Besuch der Grotten nicht möglich, deshalb ist man wohl oder übel auf solche Touren angewiesen.

Response from Host, Jul 2024

Dear Thomas, Thanks for your kind review, but you clearly didn't read the description of the product you bought. The product states that the line is mandatory for everybody at the Basilica since this is the church with the world's highest levels of security check control. In St. Peter's Basilica, even politicians must attend the line and a skip-the-line doesn't exist. For your information, we have one of the most competitive prices in the market for this kind of group tour. It is easy, fast and with some of the best guides in Rome, therefore our price is one of a kind for the level of service provided. Furthermore, a VIP tour costs 400 €, if you are really interested. Best regards, Valerio

Pésima experiencia

esther_c, Dec 2023

La guía muy amable y muy buena , es ridículo el tiempo de espera para entrar, debería de haber una fila especial para skip the line, el tiempo de el tour empieza desde que haces la fila así que solo dura muy poquito adentro y es todo muy apresurado

Response from Host, Jan 2024

Dear Esther, We already received your review on Google, sharing the same content, and we are very sorry that you titled the review "pésima experiencia". We think this title is misleading for other people choosing this experience. Please kindly note that this is a Church and not a Museum, therefore it is impossible to have a Skip-The-Line (as clearly mentioned in the product description). This experience provides a Tour with a lot of information using the time spent in the line. This is a very smart idea to have a complete visit to St. Peter Square, Basilica, and Papal Grottoes. In fact, our experience is usually very loved by people because of his smart nature. We invite you to consider that you choose a date around Christmas Time. During this period, Rome is packed with people. Basilicas like St Peter are very loaded with pilgrims due to the importance of this religious moment. In this situation, sometimes, some exceptional issues can occur and we do our best to manage them to give you an unforgettable experience anyway. Regards, 1 City Tour Staff

Esperienza fantastica,...

Tecla_R, Jun 2022

Esperienza fantastica, Eravamo gli unici due a fare il tour con la nostra guida , è stato un tour privato meraviglioso

Response from Host, Jun 2022

Grazie mille della bellissima Review! Siamo davvero contenti che il tour vi sia piaciuto e che abbiate vissuto questa meravigliosa esperienza. Speriamo di rivedervi presto!

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