Complete Vatican: Museums, Sistine Chapel & St Peters Basilica
Description
Our Complete Vatican Tour gives you the best of the museum's collections and an in-depth understanding of the art, architecture, and history contained within the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. The specially curated itinerary ensures that you see the most famous attractions as well as lesser-known gems in just over 3 hours. With skip-the-line tickets to both the Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica there is no quicker or more accessible way to see the best of the Vatican. Prefer a laid-back afternoon experience? Book the Vatican Express Tour with Sistine Chapel for a relaxed visit after the crowds have left for the day (St. Peter's Basilica not included).
Tour Options
Itinerary
Enjoy our specially designed route showing you all the famous works along with our favorite lesser-known sights.
Entering the peaceful Pinecone Courtyard, you'll pass a large bronze statue symbolizing the emergence of the new world from the old designed for the Vatican by well-known Italian artist Arnaldo Pomodoro.
Your stops include the Belvedere Courtyard with Apollo Belvedere & Laocoön & His Sons, the Pinecone Courtyard, the Gallery of the Candelabra, the Gallery of the Maps, and the Gallery of the Tapestries and amazing views of St Peter's Basilica all in one incredibly planned itinerary.
Visit the Raphael Rooms, widely considered to be among the most beautifully-frescoed interiors on earth.
Guided tour & Photo Stop
Step inside the Sistine Chapel to marvel at Michelangelo’s frescoes. Your guide can’t speak inside, but before they take you in they’ll tell you what to look for and give you the surprisingly acrimonious story behind the famous room. Soak up the little details like Michelangelo’s self-portrait and hidden insults in the Last Judgement.
Skip-the-line into St. Peter's using a special, group-only door. Listen to your guide explain the story behind the church's 120-year construction and learn about the precious art and treasures inside. Please Note: Access to the Basilica is not included in the Vatican Express option.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Unfortunately due to the nature of this tour it is not suitable for guests with mobility impairments or with wheelchairs, or strollers.
- The special access passage between the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica is closed on Wednesday mornings. It is subject to other closures during special celebrations/festivities, including the Easter ceremonies. On such days we will instead explore more of the Vatican Museums' galleries.
- All guests (including children) must bring ID on the day of their tour.
- The full names of all participants must be provided at the time of booking and must match the names on the ID/Passport. Name changes are not permitted.
- Walks Tours is an Accredited Tour Operator with an official ticketing agreement with the Vatican Museums.
Reviews(428)
Really good guided tour. We avoided the big entry queues which helped. Elisabetta was an excellent guide - extremely knowledgeable but didn't overwhelm us with too much information. We packed a lot in but there was no feeling of being rushed through. Felt as though I'd seen all the important items/rooms/pictures and was pleasantly surprised at the time allotted for the Sistine Chapel. A very worthwhile guided tour.
The tour was very good. The guide was fantastic with a lot of historical information. However for some reason it felt it was stopped abruptly before the Sistine chapel. However it did not take anything away from the experience. Great company and great guide
Our guide Julia was extremely knowledgeable and entertaining with her information. She kept us moving through the crowds and stopping where less busy. Very informative and the experience was great.
Highly recommend. Would have missed out on a lot if we didn’t have our tour guide. Definitely necessary to book a tour for this otherwise you’ll wait in line forever and may not get in. This ticket skips the lines. Length of time was perfect
It involves a bit of walking and many steps in an extremely crowded place but the guide was very good and informative. We were very satisfied with our guide and the tour.
Sev was an amazing tour guide. He was knowledgeable and shared great insights that we would have missed without a guide. Sev knew exactly where to take us to limit time waiting in line and the St Peter’s bypass is definitely worth the price. If you take a taxi, the driver might drop you off at the wrong spot among the other tours by a cafe even if you give them the correct address, just walk up the hill from the cafe to the meeting point.
Our guide Carolina was awesome. She explained so much about the beautiful things we were seeing. Our group was small and enjoyable
We did the Vatican museums and St. Peter’s Basilica tour with Antonietta with a group of 16. She guided us through the various queues to enter the museum and provided lots of information on the building and various pieces of art. The tour moved at a decent pace to allow us time to take in the artwork and beautiful Sistine Chapel. This tour allowed us to access St. Peter’s Basilica without having to exit and line up. The Basilica was stunning and we were able to remain after the tour ended to take a more detailed look at certain areas. Antonietta was excellent and the tour allowed us to skip lines. Would recommend.
Finding the tour guide was very easy and as expected with the directions provided. Our tour guide was excellent. He was very knowledgeable and attentive to make sure we all stayed together. There was a lot to see and our guide was helpful in focusing our attention on certain details and explaining what we were looking at. A tour is definitely the way to go when visiting Vatican City for the first time.
Our guide Massimo was amazing! Friendly, fun, had a lot of knowledge, he simply made our day better!😀
