Private Vatican Tour: Museums, Sistine Chapel, & St. Peter's
Description
**This tour will be conducted in English unless you request a Spanish or Portuguese-speaking guide when booking.** Avoid the crowds, spend more time in the Sistine Chapel, and enjoy a truly special Vatican tour! Our private guide gets you into the Vatican Museums ahead of the line, where you’ll explore masterpieces like Raphael’s Transfiguration, the Belgian Tapestries, and Da Vinci’s St. Jerome. Admire the Papal Carriages and stand in awe of the Sistine Chapel before accessing St. Peter’s Basilica through an exclusive passage used by very few tours. You’ll descend the Scala Regia, pass by the Pope’s office and the Swiss Guards — a route rarely offered, making this experience truly unique!
Tour Options
Itinerary
Start your tour at the renowned Vatican Museums. Aside from being the home of the Pope, Vatican city is also home to the Vatican Museums, the world’s largest collection of art with 9 miles of art that could wrap around the Vatican walls 4 ½ times! It contains 54 museums, 1400 rooms, chapels, and galleries. Aside from the renowned Sistine Chapel, the museums also display the only work of Leonardo Da Vinci in Rome, St. Jerome, the Raphael Rooms, and the Pinoteca, which contains collections of the Popes, all dating back to the middle ages and are set in chronological order.
Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel is possibly the most well known masterpiece in modern day, with over 5 million visitors per year. It was a project the artist took on reluctantly because his focus was sculptures, and he would complain about the physical toll it took on his body. It is said that the design of the chapel from Pope Sixtus IV, is modeled after Solomon’s temple from the Old Testament, measuring at just larger than a professional basketball court! There are many more frescoes to admire here from other artists, including: Domenico Ghirlandaio, Pietro Perugino, Cosimo Roselli and Sandro Botticelli.
You will head through a secret entry into our last stop on the tour, St. Peter's Basilica: the largest basilica in the world, with markings inside the church to ensure every other basilica would fit inside. The curious visitor is treated to Michelangelo’s Pieta at the front, 150 mosaics, and Bernini’s baldacchino, which stands at 96 feet tall and 100,000 pounds of bronze! Surprisingly, there is only one actual painting in the basilica, and it can be spotted hanging above the Pieta. Many popes are buried in the church or are on display, but most of the popes are buried underneath the basilica including St. Peter, the first pope.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- The tour itinerary is 2.3 km long on hard marble. Hence wear comfortable sneakers or shoes with orthopedic inner soles.
- The tour ends in front of the Basilica. You can spend more time inside the Basilica but you cannot go back to the Sistine Chapel nor the Museum.
- Photography is permitted in most rooms but without flash. Photography inside the Sistine Chapel is prohibited.
- There is a dress code for entry into the Sistine Chapel and the Basilica. No shorts or sleeveless tops allowed. Knees and shoulders MUST be covered for both men and women. You will be refused entry if you fail to comply with these dress requirements.
- If it is raining carry umbrellas that are compact and can be folded and not ones that have sharp pokey end. The long one give by your hotels will have to be checked into the cloakroom of the museum and involves a 1 km walk to get it back again.
- Do mention your preferred start time for the tour & we will accommodate it depending on the availability of the tickets & guides.
- Not recommended for clients who cannot climb and decend stairs
Reviews(160)
The tour to the Vatican, St Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel was thorough, well planned and worth every penny. The sheer size of the square and St Peter's could be overwhelming without an experience guide. We had a very a passionate and experienced guide named Oreste and I highly recommned you request him if that is an option. There is so much to see and do that you really need a guide unless you plan on your own but you then need the tour to help shorten the lines and naviage to all 3 places.
This was an absolutely fabulous private tour with Serena as our guide. She did an excellent job explaining things to our group of five and was sensitive to the needs of my father who needed to use the elevator instead of the stairs. I highly recommend this tour!
We had an amazing day and learned so much! It was wonderful having a private tour and would highly recommend this company and our spectacular tour guide.
This was a fabulous tour with Serena as our guide. She was professional, enthusiastic and explained things clearly. The Vatican grounds, Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s Basilica were absolutely stunning. Highly recommend doing this private tour!
We had the most wonderful tour of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel! Not only was Rahul an incredibly knowledgeable and entertaining guide for our intergenerational family (teens and grandparent!), but also extremely kind and attentive. He took extra measures to ensure that my mother was comfortable and returned the wheelchair for her! We had the absolute best time and would highly recommend booking with Rahul!
Great tour!!!! Learned a lot!!!! Thank you Elisa for a wonderful tour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Had a great time with Amedeo, who was knowledgeable and enthusiastic about his subject matter. He knew just how to navigate the crowds with ease and got us to the places we needed to be without any trouble! We learned a lot, would love to return for more!
Max was great. Really enjoyed the tour.
They went above and beyond to help my clients coordinate their short one day in Rome. The tour guides were fantastic and the company was incredible to work with especially given all the moving parts they had in their schedule. Would highly recommend!
Excellent private tour with Elisa. We had two young children with us so we wanted to go with a private guide. The cost was a little high, but we would do it again.
