VIP Vatican, Sistine Chapel & Basilica Tour

Experience the Vatican Museums VIP Tour and skip the lines to see the breathtaking Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. Explore the extraordinary art collections with an expert guide for a personalized and immersive experience.

Duration: 3 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Maya Tours - Once you book, we organize everything. Just show up and check-in at the Maya Tours office (VIA GERMANICO, 16) at the correct time (Please arrive 10 minutes before your booked departure time) and your guide will escort you inside the Museums & provide you with your ticket.
  • Vatican Museums - Explore the Vatican Museums with an…
What's Included
  • Skip The Line St.Peter’s Basilica Entry (when possible)
  • Skip The Line Priority Access Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel Tickets
  • Small Group Tour Experience with Expert Official Licensed Vatican Guide
  • Introduction to the highlights of St.Peter’s Basilica with a guide
  • Free to explore in the Basilica and Papal tombs after the tour has finished
What's Not Included
  • Location Pick Up & Drop Off
  • Scavi / Necropolis
  • On Wednesday mornings St. Peter’s Basilica may be closed to the public due to the Papal Audience
  • St Peter’s Basilica is subject to last-minute closures for religious ceremonies, with no warning
Additional Information

Skip the line and immerse yourself in the Vatican’s treasures with an expert guide and priority entrance with a small group. This exclusive tour includes the awe-inspiring Sistine Chapel and direct entrance into St.Peter’s Basilica and the Papal tombs. Designed for those who wish to absorb the full splendour of the Vatican, this experience is an…

Location
Via Germanico, 16
Via Germanico
Once you book, we organize everything. Just show up and check-in at the Maya Tours office (VIA GERMANICO, 16) at the correct time (Please arrive 10 minutes before your booked departure time) and your guide will escort you inside the Museums & provide you with your ticket.
Cancellation Policy

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

Customer Ratings
4.8
(679 Ratings)
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Peter_e
Jan 5, 2025
Our tour guide Debra was... - Our tour guide Debra was terrific! Fun and informative. The skip the line tour is the only way to do the Vatican. We’d still be standing in line if we did the regular tour
Review provided by Viator
Liuaki_f
Jan 5, 2025
Guide was amazing - I wish I remembered our guides name - she was wonderful and knows how to work with a large group and manage large Vatican crowds. Very engaging and knowledgable. Would recommend this skip-the-line tour as it gets very busy. Thanks for a great day!
Review provided by Viator
Irwin_a
Jan 4, 2025
Christina the Great - Christina was our tour guide and she was fabulous! She was not only extremely knowledgeable but she was engaging, warm, funny, and energetic. She understood our needs from our perspective making sure to place our group of 10 in the right place.
Review provided by Viator
Brenda_o
Jan 2, 2025
Vatican tour with Christina - Fantastic tour with host Christina. She was outrageously knowledgeable and a joy to listen to !! Loved every minute of it.
Review provided by Viator
Tiffany_m
Jan 1, 2025
Excellent experience! - Christina was a wonderful guide. She took the time to preview everything we would see on the tour and it made the experience even more enjoyable. Excellent tour!
Review provided by Viator
Grant_m
Dec 31, 2024
Fantastic - Our tour guide Maggie was super efficient with our time. She was very kind as well and made our whole group feel included. Would recommend the VIP small group tour. We learned so much about the history, and even got to see the grotto below the basilica!
Review provided by Viator
Jesher10
Jan 2, 2025
No time to truly appreciate what we were seeing. - Everything felt very, very rushed. I realize the Vatican is immense & they’ve got tours stacked on tours, but there was no real time to appreciate anything we did get to see. I’m not religious - I can only imagine that a devout Catholic would feel even more rushed. Our guide did a good job of keeping the group together, and paying a premium to skip the lines was worth it.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Julia_v
Dec 31, 2024
Good Guide. Good Tour. - Our tour guide was very good. She clearly knows her stuff about art and art history, generally kept a decent pace, and gave clear directions. Personally I would have liked a bit more of the social and political history mixed in, but that’s a matter of personal taste I suppose. The meeting point was easy to get to (especially since we took a taxi right there) and there was a little bit of waiting space where you could buy postcards and drinks and use the restroom before setting off. My only complaints are nothing the tour company can control… it can get crazy busy in the museum so people are constantly bumping into you and you may not actually be able to see things on both sides due to crowds. And, when I came to the Vatican 20 years ago, there were spots to sit in the basilica. At the end of 2.5 hours of essentially milling, which can be hard on the feet, it would be nice to be able to sit and just take in St Peter’s for a bit.
Review provided by Viator
Anna_g
Jan 1, 2025
Lost the tour guide - Lost the tour guide from the beginning and could t find her but overall she explained really good about the art but I couldn’t attend skip the lines so I had to walk away all the way to the exit …
Review provided by Viator
Austin
Jan 4, 2025
You Should Probably Rent An Audioguide Instead - My wife and I went on this tour during our 3-week vacation across Europe. Over the course of the 3 weeks, we went on about 8-10 tours. All of them, except for this one, were both extremely informative and thoughtful. Unfortunately, this one was pretty underwhelming.  Our tour guide spent a lot of time making jokes and talking about herself. At first, it was funny and engaging; however, after it continued throughout the tour, it felt like she was practicing a stand-up comedy routine. Don’t get me wrong, I love comedy, but when we’re cramming in a short tour of the Vatican Museum, which is HUGE, I’d like to learn as much as possible. Also, some of her jokes came off as though she had PTSD from going to Catholic school growing up. I’m sure this would make for a great comedy skit, but given the Vatican is probably the most holy place for the Catholic Church, this probably isn’t the right venue for that. Also, the information quality of the tour was pretty high level. We learned the basics of the art, but our tour guide did not appear to be an expert or highly knowledgeable. We ended up leaving the tour early, and we're happy we did because the rest of the tour group missed The School of Athens, which is probably one of the museum's most famous pieces of artwork. All that said, to be fair, I do think some people would enjoy this tour. If you’re primarily interested in quickly checking out the Vatican Museum and would be happy if you see a few of the major highlights and learn a thing or two, then this tour is probably great.  However, if you’d like an expert guide who has a deep understanding of the art, tries to teach you as much as possible in the short tour, and can answer questions, perhaps another tour would be better. If we were to do it again, we’d rent an audioguide.
Review provided by Viator
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up to 10 guests
1 Adult
January 2025
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