Early Morning Vatican, Sistine, St. Peter's Semi or Private Tour

Experience exclusive early access to the Vatican Museums and avoid the crowds. Explore the masterpieces with a small group or in a private tour, led by an expert local guide.

Duration: 3 hours, 30 minutes
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Vatican Museums - With the luxury of our truly small group size of 6 people max, or in the personalized intimacy of your very own private group, you will be guaranteed to get the very most out of your Vatican experience. This way you can easily navigate through the countless masterpieces with an expert guide, ask all the questions you wish, and have the guarantee of a personalized experience. We trust this makes ALL the difference!

Walk through the heavily decorated Gallery of the Candelabras and enjoy the trompe l’oeil in the Gallery of the Tapestries. After you learn about the impressive Gallery of the Maps, continue to the exquisite Raphael Rooms. With your professional expert tour guide, you will be sure to see all the highlights as well as hidden gems! You will not only learn the fantastic history of the powerful Popes but will also delight in the bits of gossip and other little-known stories about life in Vatican City.

  • Stanze di Raffaello - The Papal art collection at its best in the Raphael Rooms

  • Sistine Chapel - Enjoy a thorough explanation of the incredible masterpiece that is the Sistine Chapel and learn all about it from your professional expert guide before you actually enter the chapel. As it is a holy place, it is strictly forbidden to speak inside. That is why we guarantee you will learn all about it before you enter. Then, once inside, you will have time to take it all in and admire the breathtaking beauty of this world famous site in contemplative silence.

  • St. Peter’s Basilica - Your comprehensive Vatican tour concludes with VIP entrance directly into St. Peter’s Basilica without standing in the long lines. Walking through the Basilica, you will learn all about the secrets of the magnificent and ornate decorations, sculptures, altars and chapels. Visit Michelangelo’s Pieta and walk down the main nave to admire the dome he designed that sits on top of the largest Catholic church in the world.

What's Included
  • Skip the long ticket lines
  • Private Option of this tour is Available!
  • Tour in a Safe and Semi Private Group of 6 people
  • Learn from a Professional Local Expert Guide
  • Enjoy Early Morning Entrance to the Vatican Museums for a quieter experience
What's Not Included
  • Food and drinks
  • Gratuities (optional)
Additional Information

Get early morning access into the Vatican Museums to admire countless works, and beautiful courtyards! Together with a truly small group of only 6 participants max, or in your very own private group, you will be able to avoid the big crowds and quietly enjoy these wonderful masterpieces. The Vatican Museums is on everyone’s Rome itinerary so you can imagine it gets quite full, quite quickly. This tour guarantees the personalized and intimate feel that is only possible with our truly small group size, or in your very own private group. We believe that having an intimate experience makes ALL the difference! With your expert local guide, make your way through the vastness of the Museums, with the greatest highlights of the Papal art collection, the Raphael Rooms, the Gallery of Tapestries, the Pinecone Courtyard, and of course the exceptional Sistine Chapel. Finish with the incredible Saint Peter’s Basilica.

  • Occasionally the Basilica may be closed due to last minute private events outside of the tour operators control and often without notice. In these uncommon circumstances the tour will operate as usual and the time spent inside the basilica will be made up elsewhere on the tour. No refunds will be granted in the event the Basilica is closed
  • Starting in 2024, the Vatican Museums will discontinue early access for ALL tour providers, instead opening to the public at 8AM. This tour will then be offered as a first entrance experience, which we recommend for a less crowded, more personalized, and fully guided experience.
  • Vatican management maintains the right to delay the opening of the Sistine Chapel for religious reasons, in this case the guide will modify the itinerary and extend your visit of the museums to ensure you make the most of your time before access to the Sistine Chapel is permitted.
  • Please note St Peter’s Basilica is closed on most Wednesday’s. If you book during a day in which the Basilica is closed, your tour of the Vatican Museums will be extended to compensate the closure
  • Not recommended for travelers with mobility issues
Location
Viale Vaticano, 100
Viale Vaticano
In front of Cafè Vaticano, right across the street from the Vatican Museum's Entrance. Your guide will be holding a LivTours sign
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.9
(2945 Ratings)
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1 star
729aliviat
Jul 26, 2024
Laura the great tour guide of the Vatican - Laura was extremely knowledgeable and a calm tour guide amidst the chaos at the Vatican. She was very thorough and funny! Laura made sure sure we left with no questions about history or art or the daily activities of the Vatican!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Andrewso210ny
Jul 24, 2024
Great tour of Vatican! - We met our guide early on a Friday morning out side the Vatican Museum entrance. This was two weeks ago so I can’t recall her name at the moment but she was very nice, friendly, told good stories to keep our kids engaged (18-25). We chose this particularly because we wanted our kids to get something out of the tour. We got to see everything we wanted to see, learned a ton, and really enjoyed our tour guide. She was great!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Erena_s
Jul 23, 2024
Great experience - The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and guided us through Vatican history. We really appreciate it.
Review provided by Viator
Eric_m
Jul 23, 2024
Get up early for this tour! - Great tour! Best way to see the Vatican is to get up early to beat the rush, which this tour does, and Patricizia was so knowledgeable and engaging. Must do!
Review provided by Viator
Joseph_p
Jul 23, 2024
Excellent experience! - Serena was our guide and she was excellent. Very knowledgable, friendly and professional. Would highly recommend her and Viator. Joe P Dublin, OH
Review provided by Viator
Bruce_n
Jul 23, 2024
Fantastic! - We had a fantastic tour and Tania our guide was amazing. We were able to truly experience the Vatican museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's. We couldn't have asked for a better guide.
Review provided by Viator
Melissa_s
Jul 21, 2024
Incredible tour - If you plan to visit the Vatican. This is the tour to choose. It was great having early access to the Sistine Chapel, Giovanni was so knowledgeable and you could still feel his excitement of sharing his experience. Amazing to see.
Review provided by Viator
Aymesue
Jul 20, 2024
We loved our time at the Vatican with our guide, Vera - We really enjoyed this early morning private tour. Vera was our guide and she was so friendly and knowledgeable. A private tour is the way to go to skip the long lines and learn more than you can on your own. Plus, going first thing in the morning there are less crowds.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Andrea_s
Jul 19, 2024
Amazing! - Our tour guide Massimo was a superstar! He has worked as a guide for over 30 years and knew all of the guards and other tour guides there which made our transitions from room to room and building to building run smoothly. His explanations were informative and entertaining. We took the small group tour of six people and he constantly addressed each of us by name, joking around with us to keep things interesting. I learned so much! I highly recommend this tour, especially with Massimo.
Review provided by Viator
Melissa_s
Jul 26, 2024
Disappointing - Good tour but not exactly what I expected. For one, it was advertised as entering before general public but the Vatican no longer allows this so we entered at 8 with general public. Still less crowded but not as private as expected. We were told tour started at 730 and to be there at 715. We got there early and had to stand in heat outside until 8. Second, tour guide was nice but not as knowledgeable as I’d hope for a private tour guide. My husband and I visited many years ago and took a Vatican/Sistine/basicilica tour and got much more info and detail. This trip we had our teenage children with us and I feel we skipped alot of things I remember and details and info was left out. For example, this guide pointed out the Pieta but left out how it was the only work of art Michelangelo signed and why. We also seemed to fly through the museum and skipped Bramantes staircase. During the visit to the Sistine chapel she left us for 20 mins and talked with other tour guides, even when it was obvious all 6 of our group was done. We then moved on to the basilica where she told us to go inside and she’d meet us. We were left standing for 10-15 mins and she came back carrying a gift shop bag. My kids said they had an ok time but I was sad for what I knew they missed. I feel like we spent too much time standing around waiting. This tour was expensive and I had high expectations and was a bit disappointed.
Review provided by Viator
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up to 15 guests
1 Adult
September 2024
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