Vatican Tour: No-Wait Access to Museums & Sistine Chapel

Explore the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica on a guided tour. Skip the lines and immerse yourself in the rich history and magnificent artwork of the Vatican in just three hours.

Duration: 3 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Vatican City - Vatican Museums tours with skip-the-line access are popular, yet even fast-track lines can be lengthy. This exclusive experience provides admission through a dedicated entrance, ensuring a queue-free visit.
What's Included
  • Audio headsets for clear guide communication
  • Small group size (20 people or less)
  • Guided visit of St. Peter’s Basilica (except Wednesday morning)
  • Reserved Priority Access to the Vatican Museums
  • Access to the Sistine Chapel
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
Additional Information

Enjoy more indoor time with immediate entry to the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica through an official partner entrance of the Vatican. In this extensive guided tour, you will get the chance to explore the highlights of the Vatican within just three hours, encompassing the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica and more. Wander…

Location
Via Tunisi, 4
Via Tunisi
Meeting point: At the bottom of the steps across the street from the Entrance of the Vatican Museums. The steps are located right next to Caffè Vaticano on the corner of Viale Vaticano and Via Tunisi. The closest Metro stop is Line A (Ottaviano – Musei Vaticani).
Cancellation Policy

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

Customer Ratings
4.5
(34938 Ratings)
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Anna_n
Jun 22, 2024
Long awaited trip to Sistine Chapel - From initial booking to the end of the tour, couldn't fault the organisation. Meeting point easily identified, a lot of reps around to assist. Our tour guide Giuseppe was very knowledgeable, friendly and interesting. Went at a good pace to allow us to enjoy items of interest and photo opportunities. We would both recommend. Pity not everyone adheres to the rules in the Sistine Chapel.
Review provided by Viator
Sasha
Jun 10, 2024
Incredible experience - Please do this tour. This was worth every penny and the guide was fantastic with her dry humour along the way. We waited just outside the entrance for the Vatican City, then once the guide arrived we bypassed the queue and entered. Inside was truly beautiful. Throughout viewing the museum, there were places they requested no photographs, though some people on the tour were really disrespectful and chose to ignore the signs and advice. The artwork and statues were insane with so much detail. The Sistine Chapel was awe inspiring. Highly recommend a visit here to see all the history. This was finished off with the St Peter’s Basilica. I am not personally religious but this was very interesting to hear about and the detail taken with everything inside was crazy. The letters around the ceiling were 6ft in height and made with gold…that blows my mind.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Enoreggir
Aug 24, 2024
Vatican museum. Where whatever you want. Don’t listen to anybody else or the websites. Been there done that. - Do not listen to anything they tell you on the website or Google. We went back to our room changed into long, heavy pants long dresses that didn’t show shoulders or knees. We get to the Vatican and there’s Hoochie mamas everywhere. Short Daisy Duke shorts tops. So go whatever where you wanna go. Also the cooling system in there sucks! Bring extra water so you’re not paying six euros a bottle.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Grant_o
Sep 7, 2024
Avoid!! Please organise a different semi-private tour. - We booked this tour as a treat for our elderly parents for a special occasion and were extremely disappointed with the experience. Not only was the tour incredibly expensive (vs official Vatican tour website prices - check the website!!), but when the time came for our scheduled tour, no tour guide showed up!! No replacement was organised nor early communication of this! We were left to fend for ourselves, standing around 1 hour in the blistering heat with no alternative backup offered or communication from the company. It was a complete waste of money and a huge disappointment!! I would not recommend this company to anyone looking for a Vatican tour. Save your money and book with a more reputable and professional company. We are now awaiting a full refund. Let’s see the excuses….
Review provided by Viator
Nicholas_p
Aug 31, 2024
Horrible Vatican Tour - This was the worst tour we experienced on our vacation. The guide was not personable, didn’t interact with the group and was extremely hard to understand. To the best of my knowledge she talked the whole tour and never took time out for questions. We did not enjoy this tour at all
Review provided by Viator
Filippa_k
Jul 23, 2024
I have this a terrible... - I have this a terrible rating because it never happened!! Showed up with my family in the 95+ degree weather. Had my confirmation email from a week prior AND my tickets but when I checked in with the tour guide, they couldn’t find my reservation. I had the confirmation and booking number. Was told that they tried to contact me via email a week prior (never got the email btw!) and didn’t hear from me so they cancelled my reservation. I received NO email or call (they had my phone #) that my reservation was cancelled. I literally watched 30 other people who we booked for the same tour walk into the Vatican as my family and I sat there and I was repeatedly told there was nothing they could do. I never received a refund until I contacted Viator later that night. Interestingly they told me that a refund had been submitted the week prior and it would take a few days but got a refund to my bank account that night which had only clearly been submitted that same day because I complained. I checked all my junk and spam emails for the weeks prior after the fact again and I never got an email from Viator. My family was so disappointed and upset to miss the tour which obviously could not be rescheduled in the remaining days that I was going to be in Rome. DO NOT SCHEDULE THIS TOUR IF CITY WONDERS IS THE COMPANY RUNNING IT. The Support number was not helpful and just kept saying that they sent an email which I kept saying I never received. Why didn’t they call if the didn’t hear from me via email? They had my phone number. There is no excuse for this and I literally had my tickets and confirmation email in hand for the tour guide and they continue to refuse my family for the tour guide. Still not over it!!
Review provided by Viator
Jared_o
Jul 7, 2024
Tour Guide Never Showed Up - Tour was canceled with no warning, because the tour guide never showed up. They refused to find a replacement tour guide.
Review provided by Viator
Victoria_m
Jul 3, 2024
Ruined trip - Our guide did not show up and no one else from the tour company covered them. We were just pointed in the direction of the entrance and told to show our tickets along with a thousand other people.
Review provided by Viator
Jennifer_b
Jun 15, 2024
Book directly with tour guide company, not Viator - Very disappointed, we got to the meeting place for the tour and were told there is no guide, and they didn’t have any information as to why. We were offered two options, either full refund or partial refund with a ticket into the Vatican, but touring on our own.
Review provided by Viator
Haibin_w
Jun 2, 2024
I have to give the worst review on City Wonders this time - I don't want to be mean, but this time I have to leave a bad review and believe City Wonders deserves it. I have used so many tour services from Viator with great experience, but this one was an absolute disaster. My family of 4 had 2 days in Rome (May 30 and May31), and I booked 8:30am tour on May 30. In that morning, at the last minute, our group (about 12-15 people) were informed that the tour guide didn't show up, therefore we were given 3 options: 1) got our tickets back and finished the tour on ourselves, and the company will partially refund the tour guide part; 2) reschedule; and 3) full refund. My family traveled all the way from Pennsylvania and had a fixed schedule, and reschedule or full refund wouldn't make any sense, therefore, almost everyone from this group chose the first option. Without a tour guide, in such a big museum, we didn't know what we were seeing. We missed the famous Adam's hand in Sistine Chapel, and even worse, we used a wrong exit and didn't even tour the inside of St. Peter's Basilica. This was absolutely the worst experience I have had. I understand sometimes unexpected situation happens, but as a legitimate company, having plan B should be a must. Apparently City Wonders doesn't have any back up plan. They should understand, most foreign visitors cannot have the luxury of rescheduling the tour, and most of them only come to visit Vatican once in their life. Neither blindly touring the museum nor missing St. Peter's Basilica was acceptable. I am City Wonders runs many good tours, but unfortunately it dropped the ball on us.
Review provided by Viator
From $64
up to 15 guests
1 Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).