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Sistine Chapel (Cappella Sistina)

Sistine Chapel (Cappella Sistina) Tours

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Skip the line & tour: Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel & Raphael Rooms

Roma, Italy

From $67.40

Select Date and Travelers

Reserve Now & Pay Later
Secure your spot while staying flexible
Free cancellation
Up to 24 hours in advance.
Rome Tours
All Rome Tours
Audio Guides
Kid-Friendly
Likely To Sell Out
Unique Experiences
  • 2 hours (approx.)
  • Hotel pickup offered
  • Mobile ticket
  • Offered in: English

Overview

Experience some of Rome’s most important artistic and spiritual attractions with a 3-hour guided tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s Basilica. Beat the crowds with priority access and see highlights of the Vatican Museum’s immense collection while your guide shares the legends behind the masterpieces. Stand beneath Michelangelo’s famed frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, and skip the long lines to enter the heart of the papacy at St Peter’s Basilica.
  • Beat the long queues with priority access
  • See the most important and beautiful pieces in the Vatican Museums
  • Admire the awe-inspiring frescoes of the Sistine Chapel
  • Skip the long lines to enter the magnificent St Peter’s Basilica

What's Included

  • Guaranteed to skip the long lines
  • Professional guide
  • English speaking guide
  • Gratuities
  • drop off

Meeting And Pickup

You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup

Meeting point

  • Viale Vaticano, 100
    Viale Vaticano, 100, 00192 Roma RM, Italy

    The meeting point is at the entrance of the Vatican Museums, in front of the door with two big statues on top and "MUSEI VATICANI" writing. Please be at the meeting point 15 minutes prior the departure of the tour.

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Pickup details

If you have chosen the tour option with the pick up, please enter the name of your hotel or the address of your apartment. Please note that the pick up is available from centrally located hotels and apartments. The pick up is available only for costumers who booked the pick up option. Please check if your have booked the pick up option (the title of the tour you booked says "Vatican tour with pick up")

What To Expect

Additional Info

  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking
  • Not wheelchair accessible
  • Children must be accompanied by an adult
  • A dress code is required to enter places of worship and selected museums. No shorts or sleeveless tops allowed. Knees and shoulders MUST be covered for both men and women. You may risk refused entry if you fail to comply with these dress requirements
  • Stroller accessible
  • Near public transportation
  • Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
  • This tour/activity will have a maximum of 20 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

  • For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
  • If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
  • Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
  • Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
  • This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.

about cancellations.

Traveler Photos

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Traveler Tips

We forget how huge the Vatican complex is..,.and this tour covers a lot of it, so make sure to wear good shoes.
Vatican Museum is so big if you have limited time then this tour will definitely recommended so that you can have a quick glance.
She allowed us to customize our tour based on what we wanted to see, and knew lots of good information about everything we viewed.
Reviews
4.5
125 reviews
Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews
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Reviews by Viator travelers.
Showing 1-10 of 125 reviews
Great experience!
David_H, Oct 2022
Our guide was very Informative and knowledgeable. She did a great job! The entire tour was a wonderfully memorable experience.
Response from Host, Oct 2022
Dear David, thank you very much for your review. We are very glad you joined our tour and that our service met your expectations! Hopefully, we will have a chance to meet in Italy again! Happy travels!
Skip the line and a great guide!
Veronica_F, Oct 2022
We were very lucky to have Guiseppe as our guide. He was a wealth of knowledge and suggested we take the tour at night which was a GREAT idea. We liked the depth of knowledge and kindness and would highly recommend the tour.
Very unorganized and frustrating
Mark_a, Aug 2022
Very disorganized the tour started more than an hour late there was no tour guide for our group so we had to wait. And we ended up waiting in the line where everyone else entered the museums Who did not have skip the line tickets... Once inside very hard to understand our tour guide as her English was not very good. Overall not a good experience. We would’ve been better off buying our own tickets and doing our own self guided tour.
Response from Host, Sep 2022
Dear Mark, we are very sorry for the experience on Aug 13th. We have tried to do our best, but on this particular day, before a big religious holiday and before 2 days of closure of the Vatican Museums, a lot of travelers booked a last-minute visit at the Vatican Museums, therefore the security check took longer than expected. The days around the 15th of August and around Christmas and Easter are the busiest days at the Vatican, therefore we deeply apologize for the experience that wasn't like you expected even if we did everything that was in our power. We hope we will be able to host you again, during a different time of the year, when we can run tours according to our standards, and when there are no inconveniences like during the religious holidays at the Vatican. We thank you for your understanding.
Great experience
Justine_O, Jul 2022
We really enjoyed learning about all the art in the Vatican museum, Rafael rooms, and Sistine chapel. Our guide was very knowledgeable and nice, and she even had a background in art history! Fair warning: it is VERY hot in the summer if you're visiting and only some rooms have air conditioning.
Amazing. 4 1/2 stars from me.
Natasha_N, Jun 2022
The booking agency was more than helpful. Sean was easy to reach when in doubt. Even helped store my lugage as we checked out of the hotel in the morning. Very friendly staff all way around. The vatican guide was amazing, very good english, super friendly and smiling. The vatican is amazingly beautiful. The only reason its not 5 stars solid is because the desciption of the tour says included entrace to the basilika. But we had to go there ourselfs. (Even then Sean Called someone at the basilika to see how long the line was, so we could go when shortest) I would book a tour here any day.
Wonderful!
Denine_C, May 2022
Wonderful tour! I highly recommend this tour! Exceeded my expectations! Your guide took the extra time to tour extra places!
Slow and bad tour guide
Derek_C, Apr 2022
The tour it's self is very good,lots to see and amazing experience. The issue I had ,was the tour guide,the lady was so slow,stopping and explaining sometimes for 10 minutes,the tour was ment to be 2.30hours,,the first thing we got to look at was 80min later,after another 20 mim we finally got in to the first museum ,the tour guide was very knowledgeable but instead of short explanation she would go on and on,after another 20min we had only mover 100m ,so my wife and I left the group and explored on our own, what we saw was amazing,but as for the tour group and that tour guide NEVER AGAIN
Response from Host, Apr 2022
Dear Derek_C Thank you for taking some time to leave the review, even if it was written with the only aim to criticize everybody’s work. We doubt you’d have left a review if everything has been as you imagined it should have been. Probably you don’t know that by accessing the Vatican Museums, you enter another country, and the introduction to the tour, security check, and the green pass check are still in place. Also, we gave you a short tour of the St Peter’s Basilica, the biggest church in the World, before entering the Vatican Museum. Therefore, we wanted to give a small extra tour to our guests – and all of the participants appreciated it. If you took the tour just to skip the line at the entrance and to take pictures inside, probably this type of activity is not for you. You say the guide was very knowledgeable (even if the title of the review says the contrary - it would be nice to have precise info regarding this aspect of our tour too) and we are very glad you appreciated that. However, the groups have an arranged itinerary and timing inside the Vatican Museums and we really are sorry you didn’t like the pace of the tour. We believe that once you left the group in the Vatican Museums you “have seen…amazing” things, but you didn’t have an idea of what you have been “seeing”. Looking and seeing aren’t the same thing. Guided tours are for people who are interested in learning. Nowadays, with all the advertising we are surrounded by, joining a tour became a kind of a trend. Also, we understand that not everybody has the same expectations. Sipping a drink at the beach in Santa Ponza, for example, and visiting Vatican Museums, are two different activities. Not everything that's advertised on travel platforms is a "must". Everybody should choose the activities according to their interests. Therefore, don't give up on tours, but chose what suits you the most in terms of your time and interests Happy travels!
Trip to Rome
michael_m, Apr 2022
Great tour, guide was very knowledgeable and the tour was well paced. Busy because it was easter weekend but overall good value for money
Awesome experience
Derek_D, Dec 2021
I booked a trip to Rome from Florence to visit the Vatican Museums, and my luck we book with an awesome tour guide - City Lights Tours. Sean was very helpful and informative, and our actual tour guide Diana was amazing. Diana was super informed on the art of the Vatican, she truly knows her history and is a great story teller. The price for this tour is a bit higher but well worth it.
We were Scammed.
Debbie B, Dec 2019
My group of 5 booked this tour including pickup/drop off. Our tour guide could only provide text book art history answers of art, but no real detail of the property. Then, at the end of the tour they said we don't have a return transfer. The poor young man who I was dealing with at the gift shop was trying to help - saying the ticket is confussing because it says pick up and drop off, but they stopped the return to your hotel a year ago. Basically we paid $120 extra dollars for 5 of us to be picked up and dropped off for a $30 uber ride. Such BS. The manager Sean was rude and no help. Statingn we booked last minute - I guess that means you don't honor what you sold? I made the bone head move of no screenshotting everything - because by the time we returned to our hotel the description had been changed. I was warned in the gift shop that this could happen by a woman working there. (Supposedly these guys are known to take advantage of tourist).
Incredible!
Leonard_L, Dec 2019
Our guide was Marco. Marco was very knowledgeable and friendly. He took the time to answer all of our questions and was very patient guiding us through the tour. My girlfriend and I booked a few tours while visiting Rome and this was my favorite one. Thanks again Marco!
Be prepared to walk! A lot!
Karen L, Nov 2019
We forget how huge the Vatican complex is..,.and this tour covers a lot of it....so make sure to wear good shoes. Leader was very knowledgeable but moves fast.
Herding Cattle through the Sistine
Suzanne_H, Oct 2019
This tour was very underwhelming. We had to go through three different pass-offs between groups, taking over 1 hour to even get started. Our tour guide Margherita was visibly exhausted before we even began, and made it feel like she was doing us a favor by taking us on the tour. She did tell us some really neat facts about the plaza of the Basilica. Once inside, it was absolute chaos though. We joined with yet another group, resulting in there being around 25 of us. There were so many people inside, which should be known for October, everyone had a hard time trying to keep up with our guide, couldn't hear or understand her... it was possibly the worst tour I have ever been on. Having been to the Vatican before, I kept filling my husband in on facts that weren't being discussed. Some of these factors have nothing to do with the tour; they can't change how busy it was. But the group was way too large and unorganized from the beginning.
Tour of the Vatican
Tour55248436776, Sep 2019
Edward was a great guide!! Very nice tour !! I would definitely recommend this tour to others . We thought Edward ( Eduardo ) kept us informed and was a lot of fun ! Can’t wait to come back!
Fantastic Tour, Well-Informed Guide
Margaret_D, Sep 2019
I enjoyed a fantastic early morning tour with just two other guests and a fantastic guide. She allowed us to customize our tour based on what we wanted to see, and knew lots of good information about everything we viewed. The tour was informative and I would take it again in a heartbeat!
Great tour!
emilyruney, Aug 2019
Claudia our tour guide was lovely! It was a hot day and she made it a breeze while still being enjoyable. Would book again in a heartbeat! Thank you!
Amazing tour with Erik
Ralf_R, Jul 2019
Erik was a great tour guide and with his PhD in ancient Roman history he was able to provide a wealth of information about the Vatican which was both fun and educational. Our entire family enjoyed the tour and highly recommend it.
Skip the line Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, St Peter's Basilica
Lynne D, Jun 2019
The guy that escorted us to the venue and got us instant access was great, avoiding long queues outside. Not so good on the inside as our tour guide didn't turn up as she was still on an earlier tour. We went from a small group of 10 to merge with another group, making it a large group of 25. The tour guide seemed to be in a rush to get us through the tour in order for us to gain access to St Peter's Basilica before it closed. We were unable to stop and take photos due to the speed we were moving and missed a lot of the artifacts as a result. He was very abrupt and rude to one of the couples, threatening to remove their microphones as they were standing in front of him instead of behind. It was embarrassing to say the least seeing as the entire group could hear what was being said. The attractions themselves were superb and well worth the visit.
Response from Host, Jun 2019
Dear Lynne, Thank you very much for your review. We are very sorry that you happened to visit the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel on the day when the Sistine Chapel closed for 3 hours during the usual opening hours. When this happens, a couple of times a year, everybody visiting the Vatican Museums encounter several problems related to crowds, security check delays, some Museums’ sections get congested by too many visitors… On that day we have been trying to do our best for our clients, as we wanted all of you to avoid any kind of stressful moments due to the crowds gathering inside the Museums and waiting for the Sistine Chapel to open. Due to these exceptional circumstances, our guide, due to too many visitors, got stuck inside the Vatican Galleries and couldn’t make her way to the starting point of the tour. We still didn’t want to let you down and the very last minute we found a solution for you to have a guide for the promised itinerary. Also if you carefully read the description of your tour, you will notice that you booked a group tour (24 participants max) and not a semi private option (10 participants max). We decided to keep the group size small on that day due to the unexpected changes of the opening hours of the Sistine Chapel and due to the crowds and chaos that these changes would create. That’s why initially we were 10. We apologize anyway for the exceeding numbers of people (1), as your originally booked tour was max 24 participants. As for the guide, you might be probably right, as the gentleman who led the tour wasn’t one of our guides and he was almost certainly stressed and agitated because of the demanding conditions he was working in. So we deeply apologize for the experience that hasn’t been as you expected and it wasn’t how we are used to run our tours. At the end, we are wondering if you would have left a review in case everything went as planned and if you would have mentioned that instead of 24 we have kept the group small and you were 10 participants in the group and that the guide was informative etc… Nowadays, it just seems that people write reviews only if they have to complain. We are sure this is not your case and we apologize again for the experience in circumstances that were completely out of our control. However, we will be glad if you contact us again during your next visit to Rome and if you do, we will find the best solution and make it up for the experience you didn’t enjoy. Happy travels!
Rome in June
Global32491859074, Jun 2019
Didn’t know what to expect during our Vatican tour. We knew there would be a crowd but never imagined the thousands of people in one place. Best decision we made was to book skip the line tour of the Vatican. We went right thru in a matter of minutes. The museum is crowed none the less but the overall experience was very good. We would recommend 100%. Skip the line is a must and very well worth the extra expense.
Worth every penny
Carlos_C, Jun 2019
Very crowded and hot day but a must see while in Rome. Couldn’t imagine waiting in line so long. We skipped every line and went right in. Highly recommend it
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Product code: 7599P3

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