Vatican, Sistine Chapel Skip the Line Tour & Basilica Tour
Rome, Italy
- 2 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Bypass the aggravating lines at the Vatican Museums with handy skip-the-line entry and a guided tour. Explore the vast galleries and discover the Sistine Chapel, adorned with Michelangelo's incredible frescoes, including "The Creation of Adam" and "The Last Judgement". Learn about the artistic rivalry between Michelangelo and Raphael. To keep your exploration going, upgrade your tour to include St. Peter's Basilica, home to Michelangelo's Pietà and notable Baroque architecture.
- A small-group tour ensures personal attention from your guide
- Explore the Gallery of Maps, Raphael's Room, the Gallery of Tapestries, and more
- Visit the Sistine Chapel and view Michelangelo's masterpieces
- Skip-the-line access to the Basilica (if upgrade option selected) for ease
What's Included
- Licensed and professional guide with headsets
- Skip the line Entry - Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel
- Skip the line-Basilica ENTRY ONLY (if option selected)
- Staff available to assist you at the meeting point
- Free Wifi available at the meeting point
- St.Peter’s Basilica guided tour
- Gratuities
- Food and drinks
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Via Vespasiano, 28, 00192 Roma RM, Italy
The meeting point is at the local partner's office.By metro (Line A), get off at Ottaviano. The Ottaviano metro stop is only a 10-minute walk to the office. Please note that St. Peter's Square is not the meeting point.
End point
- Sistine Chapel00120, Vatican City
Itinerary
1
Vatican City
40 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Vatican Museums
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
3
Cortile della Pigna
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
4
Galleria Delle Carte Geografiche
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
5
Sistine Chapel
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
6
St. Peter's Basilica
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Near public transportation
- No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
- The Basilica of Saint Peter is closed on Wednesdays and during religious holidays.
- All guests must bring a valid ID for the security check.
- Please note that the Vatican Museums are very strict with entrance times. Latecomers cannot be guaranteed entry, and no refund will be provided if you arrive late or do not attend the tour.
- The Vatican Museums follow a mandatory dress code, be sure to cover shoulders and knees.
- Access to St. Peter’s Basilica may be limited or suspended without prior notice due to religious ceremonies, particularly throughout the Jubilee Year.
- Disabled visitors receive free entry to the Vatican Museums. To benefit from this, make sure you mention it at the time of booking so that the staff may handle your request.
- Please note that the time of the tour can change. Please notify your correct phone number and country code so we can reach out to you.
- All tours after 2:00 PM do not include access to the Basilica
- Please note that the Sistine Chapel may close without prior notice on rare occasions. Should this occur, your guide will provide a tour of other sections of the Vatican Museums.
- 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.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.1
based on 47 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
We purchased a skip the line Vatican and Basilica tour and were happy that we were able to skip both lines as they were super long! However I was disappointed to learn that we needed to go all the way back to the meeting point at a specific time to get the basilica tickets and go in a a specific time which was not made very clear by the tour guide. Only 1/2 our group made it back!
Our tour guide through the Vatican was very nice and informative however somewhat difficult to understand with her accent and the speed that she spoke. She also traveled so quickly through the Vatican and did not stop often to allow group members to find her and many of the group lost her and didn’t get the information she was sharing. We were so afraid to loose her that it took away from our experience in the Vatican. I realize it is super busy but I’d recommend she stop periodically so group members can catch up.
I would have liked it much more if we received the tickets to the basilica and given instructions on how to skip the line and if she was clearer and regrouped more.
Also the audio ear pieces would cut out if we were too far away from the guide and they kept falling off my husbands ear every time he looked up! We enjoyed using our AirPods and the tour on our phone in the Basilica more than the guided tour through the Vatican.
Organized. It is a walking tour that moves fairly fast. Guide was knowledgeable and friendly but she spoke very fast while walking. It is a lot to take in during
a relatively short time. Didn’t get the directions correct about entering the Basilica. That took a while to resolve. The artifacts and the grandeur of the Vatican is impressive.
Our guide was extremely knowledgeable which really enhanced our experience.
The time of our tour was pushed back by 45 minutes which meant we had only 15 minutes in St Peter's due to having booked another experience later in the day, which was very disappointing
Wonderful tour, excellent guide! Skip the line tour made it worthwhile. The Sistine Chapel was so beautiful!
To much time spent talking about the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel and not enough time spent see the Museum and Sistine Chapel. Additionally, the tour did not include St Peters Basilica even though it was included in tour description.
It was well organized and the guide was friendly and informative. She was passionate about the tour and topics. Great tour.
The tour said it includes the Basilica and it didn’t, they left us on our own. Also the guide in the Vatican Museums was very rude towards a person in a wheelchair that was in our group.
The tour guide was very knowledgeable, and ensured the group stayed together.
Be prepared the crowds of people can be overwhelming
We were with Antonio (who speaks Japanese) for the morning tour of Vatican City spots.
Antonio brought us to spots along the route and shared interesting and exciting information. He had great energy and also seemed very passionate about the work, taking the time to ensure that the whole group knew the policies/rules to be respectful in the holy place. Antonio would also assist other travellers in the museum and churches and it was nice to see his rapport with staff in VC.
I would recommend this tour for an easy way to explore VC - quick entries, great highlights and fun guide.
It was advertised that the tour was 2.5 hours, which would mean it would end at 10:30. It didn’t end until 11:30 which forced us to rush through St Peter’s Basilica and get to our next tour across town. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and friendly but spent a little too much time time on one thing.
Breathtaking experience! Your tour start may be delayed up to an hour because of the sheer volume of people being there but it's definitely worth it!
The tickets used to “skip the line” wasn’t really skipping the line because while we were in the electronic tickets line, we still had to wait 20 minutes. Yes, 20 minutes is better than hours but not ideal if the ticket clearly says you’re going to skip the line. Also, once inside, our tour guide Maria Elena, was not very engaging and super monotone. Ultimately, we ended up blocking her out and simply just moving with the group since we had their audio box.
Wouldn’t attempt entry without a guide! Chaos. Our guide navigated us through crowds with good insights into the art history of the chapel.
Had such an excellent experience and a fantastic guide, Laura Antonucci!! Laura has great depth of knowledge and shared some very unique facts on our tour that otherwise we would’ve never known. 100% recommend.
Lots of walking. Amazing experience. Local guide was very knowledgeable. Smooth and organized check-in.
The Vatican is very crowded. Office for start of tour not very recognizable from the front. Confusing to find
It was my first with Viator. I did not get what I book… they offer only part of trip.. hardley response to my complain. They did not offer any compensation .. I booked with other company later and paid myself again
We chose the tour because it was shorter at two hours than most tours. We wanted to see the Basilica and Sistine Chapel. However this tour spent two hours before we even got to Sistine Chapel, then ended and sent us to see the Basilica on our own. We did not follow the itinerary. We most of the time hearing about the artwork. We got no information about Vatican City itself.
Also our tour guide spoke English with a very thick accent. Between that and the not great speakers for our ears given to us in the museum, we couldn’t hear very well. Our teenagers lost interest from the start.
The guide was hilarious and made the trip into a stage play with all the Roman characters. Great tour
Emailed your company that my date was booked wrong no response and would not rebook my trip . When I arrived they would not give me a different tour and stated I had to contact Viator . Basically stole my 200 hundred dollars . Will never book again I paid for a tour and received zero tour beware .
Lucy was very knowledgeable and nice at the same time!
She took us everywhere as promised!
The price was good value for the money!
We visited the Varican Museum & Sistine Chapel. Our guide was very friendly, had a lot of knowledge, however the information we recieved seemed a bit disorganized. Be careful what tiem you book the tour for as by the time we finished we missed the entrance to the Basilica.
A passionate guide who knows her subject very well!!! Experience a bit wasted by the world and other groups
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Completely wonderful, the Vatican Museums are totally worth it, I recommend going with a guide because there is really a lot to see. The guide was super nice and gave us lots of information without being boring
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We had reservation for Vatican museums and after the queue we are told that we have to go 2 blocks down to withdraw the ticket.
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Guided tour very informative and complete with the Palatine tour. Without a guide, several elements of history elude us.
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Puntualità e professionalità. Danilo, la guida, molto preparato e pieno di aneddoti che ti rendono le tre ore e più ancora più piacevoli. Tutto perfettoe da consigliare
Response from Host, Dec 2023
grazie, we are happy to hear that
Positiv war, dass wir die Warteschlange großteils überspringen konnten, und eine nette, engagierte Führerin hatten.
Negativ war:
- dass wir wie Vieh auf dem Weg zur Schlachtbank durch Vatikanische Museen und Sixtinische Kapelle durchgeschleust wurden, was sowohl den Gebäuden bzw. Kunstwerken als auch uns gegenüber unwürdig war.
- dass viel zu viele Besucher zeitgleich eingelassen wurden, was sich nur durch Geldgier seitens des Vatikan erklären lässt, und man nur hoffen kann, dass nie eine Massenpanik ausbricht.
- dass die Angestellten des Museums einen permanent angeschriehen haben (auch in der Sixitinischen Kapelle), z. B. "Weitergehen", "Nicht stehen bleiben", "Keine Fotos" etc.
- dass der meiste Teil der Führung durch die Museen dafür draufging, den zugewiesenen Zeitslot für den Eintritt zur Sixtinischen Kapelle zu erreichen.
- dass man in den Museen quasi nichts gesehen bzw. erfahren hat, da es nur ein Geschiebe und Gedränge war.
- dass wir willkürlich durch einen Seitenarm des Museums geleitet wurden und die Stanzen des Raffael aufgrund Zeitmangel dadurch nicht gesehen haben.
- dass die Führung leider auf Englisch statt auf Deutsch stattgefunden hat, da der deutsche Guide kfr. erkrankt war und wir dadurch umgebucht wurden.
Zusammenfassend kann man sagen, dass man die Vatikanischen Museen und die Sixtinische Kapelle nur mit einer kleineren privaten Tour außerhalb der Öffnungszeiten besuchen sollte, falls möglich.
Le guide était très bien et très compétent; par contre la qualité audio était déplorable lors de la visite ; je n'ai pu entendre toutes ses explications. quand on paye pour une visite guidée c'est un peu ennuyeux quand même
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