Vatican Tour: Skip-the-Line Museums & Sistine Chapel

Experience the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel like never before with our guided skip-the-line tour. Enjoy privileged access, expert guides, and personalized service.

Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Cortile della Pigna - The Courtyard of the Pine Cone in the Vatican Museums. If you have never been to the Vatican Museums, consider not only the Sistine Chapel but also other spaces, such as the Courtyard of the Pine Cone. It is one of the first stops you will make on your visit, a large open space of 300 square metres adjacent to the corridors and halls of the museum. If the weather is fine, enjoy the whole extent of the courtyard at leisure and pay attention to the various works of art here.
  • Museo Pio Clementino - Commissioned by Popes Clement XIV (1769-1774) and Pius VI (1775-1799), this museum was intended to house Greek and Roman masterpieces from the Vatican.
    In the centre of the museum is the octagonal courtyard with the most famous statues: the Apollo of the Belvedere, a 2nd century A.D. Roman copy of the Greek bronze original, located in the Agora in Athens, the famous Laocoon group, a 1st century A.D. Roman copy, Perseus with the head of Medusa, by Canova (early 19th century), the Hermes Pius-Clementine, a copy of a 4th century B.C. Greek statue.
  • Gallery of Maps - One of the most beautiful and impressive parts of the Vatican Museums is certainly the long corridor, 120 metres long and six metres wide, leading to the Sistine Chapel adorned with maps.

The Gallery of Maps, commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII, was created between 1580 and 1585. The frescoes were painted by Italian and Flemish artists under the direction of Ignazio Danti, mathematician, astronomer and cosmographer.

The walls of the gallery are covered with forty maps of the various Italian regions, with maps of the main cities. On the ceiling adjacent to each region are representations of the main religious events that took place there.

  • Sistine Chapel - The Sistine Chapel is located inside the Vatican Museums in Rome and is visited by millions of tourists from all over the world every year. The Sistine Chapel is decorated by Michelangelo’s splendid frescoes. His splendid works cover the vault and the back wall (with the Last Judgement) above the altar. Inside the Chapel, the conclave, baptism and other official ceremonies of the Pope are held.
  • St. Peter’s Basilica - From the Sistine Chapel there is direct access to St Peter’s Basilica where visitors will then have free time to visit on their own
What's Included
  • Groups of maximum 20 persons
  • Skip the line entrance
  • Use of toilets at our meeting point
  • Radio headphone sets
  • Licensed and certified guide with language explanation
  • Free Wi-Fi at the meeting point
What's Not Included
  • Snacks
  • Gratuities
Additional Information

With this guided tour to the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel with Skip-the-line entrance, you will have one of our guides at your disposal, who will take you on a beautiful journey through the world’s most famous works of art: a true space-time journey, during which you will immerse yourself in a sea of history and culture. Groups consist of no more than 20 people, so that you can fully enjoy the explanation of our certified and Vatican State-licensed guide. It will be the guide who will take you on a journey that plunges through priceless artistic treasures. Once you have finished the visit inside the Sistine Chapel, you can go directly to St. Peter’s Basilica where you will then have free time to visit it on your own. However, we would like to remind you that the passage leading to the Basilica is normally open, but that the opening and closing of this passage is always at the discretion of the Vatican

Location
Piazza Pio XII, 5
Piazza Pio XII
The meeting point is just in front of the St.Peter's Basilica, inside Capriotti Store
Cancellation Policy

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

Customer Ratings
4.7
(241 Ratings)
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Oana_v
Aug 4, 2024
great tour - the Guide was giving us many details, we heard many interesting things and everything in Vatican is amazing
Review provided by Viator
Yvonne_c
Jul 2, 2024
Great ecperience - We had a great time with a wonderful tour guide! He knew exactly where to go in order to stay moving, but still see everything! Highly recommend
Review provided by Viator
Barbara_m
Jun 24, 2024
Amazing highlights! - Thomas was the best driver and very knowledgeable about the city and history. Spoke great English, answered questions along our journey. Tour was worth the cost! Gratz’s!
Review provided by Viator
Jeannesp3660vi
May 23, 2024
A memorable tour of the Vatican - We were very pleased with the tour we booked. Vincent was knowledgeable, accommodating and engaging. He provided insightful commentary on the history, art and culture of the Vatican City.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jerilynn_k
May 22, 2024
Prepare yourself to be amazed. - The stories, the museums, and the Sistine Chapel. Wow!! It was all jaw dropping! Natalia was an awesome tour guide and great storyteller. She also made sure we stuck together and didn’t lose anyone. Best tip of the day: Be sure to use the toilets before you meet the group or you might end up holding up the entire group for a long while due to the line. However, if you must go, wait until you get to the courtyard that has the sphere and Sistine chapel story boards. You’ll have enough time to go and come back before the group needs to move on.
Review provided by Viator
Markbe513lr
Jun 12, 2024
Have a good ride - Competent and passionate guide named Pietro. It's not easy to interest the group in the crowd but he succeeded. Well recommended
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Regina_k
May 24, 2024
B+ tour because too many other tours at same time - The upside: experiencing this monumental site; downside: being one of many dozens of small-group tours going through at the same time. Little time to really take in what we were seeing, esp the Sistine ceiling. Our guide, Natalia, was great. Best part: on our own in St Peter's Basilica after the guided tour ended. A must-see.
Review provided by Viator
Elena_c
Aug 17, 2024
Knowledgeable guide but not a great tour. - Our tour guide was knowledgeable but very difficult to follow. She didn’t introduce herself, so I don’t know her name, but she had a hard time keeping the group together, which made it very difficult to know what she was talking about at times. She knew her history, but it just wasn’t a great tour experience.
Review provided by Viator
Cara_a
Aug 19, 2024
Don’t do it. Rude, pushy, non educated and poor English speaking guide. - They obviously try and fill them to 20 because we specifically tried to book at 9am since it would be cooler in August and they switched it to 11. Thinking they knew what they were doing we went with it. It was horrible, no breaks on the shade, no chance to stop for water, tour guide was a mean and terribly grumpy individual who acted more annoyed at our group than anything else. She snapped at a few people actually. Nothing was explained and her favorite thing to say was “very old, very important”. It got to the point where half our group was saying it aloud prior to when she could get it out. Now, I’ll take one or two things going off the rails or not being perfect, but for the amount paid I actually thought we would get a tour guide that spoke decent English and was not a terrible grump who pushed us through like we were idiots. Never ever again Viator. I expect better vetting.
Review provided by Viator
Robert_s
Aug 16, 2024
Shambolic. Do not book if you want to go on the tour you actually booked! - We had booked on this tour for 9am given the heat in the Rome and the Vatican during August. Once the organisers of the trip eventually turned up, we were told that despite booking the trip three weeks ago, Viator or the organiser had not booked us on the trip. Obviously we were unhappy but the lady on the counter said we could attend the 11am tour. Since we were unhappy we couldn't go on the tour we had booked on, we asked if we could receive a partial refund and the lady said to call Viator. After a call with Viator, we were told that the Viator representative would enquire about us getting a partial refund. However, this was clearly miscommunicated as when we returned to the office to join the tour at 11am, we were rudely greeted and told that we were no longer on the trip since Viator had requested a full refund (not what we asked for). We eventually were put on the trip at 11am but this completely ruined our visit to the Vatican. DO NOT BOOK IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY YOUR VISIT TO THE VATICAN
Review provided by Viator
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up to 15 guests
1 Adult
September 2024
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