Radio headphones (depends on party size)
IMPORTANT: you can directly book this tour if you are booking at least 60 days in advance. Please, contact us to book for an earlier date because we must check if admission tickets for the Vatican Museums are still available.
The Vatican tour is a comprehensive tour that will show you the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and the St Peter’s Basilica.
You will meet your guide at the meeting point, at the entrance of the Vatican Museums, join the privileged line with your skip-the-line tickets and get inside one of the most famous places in the world.
Your expert guide will explain you the history of the Vatican while reaching the Vatican Galleries.
You will go through the rooms that get you to the Papal apartments, where you will visit the Raphael’s Rooms, decorated with frescoes by Raphael Sanzio, including the famous fresco representing the School of Athens.
After the Gallery of the Maps, you will finally reach the stunning Sistine Chapel, to admire the huge frescoes by Michelangelo decorating the ceiling, highlighted by the Creation of Adam, and the colorful Last Judgement.
The tour will end with the visit of St Peter’s Basilica, the largest church of Christianity, designed by the greatest architects of the Renaissance. You will admire Michelangelo’s Pietà, and the huge Bernini’s Baldacchino!
This tour has a duration of four hours. Here is the itinerary of the tour:
- Vatican Museums
- Gallery of the Maps
- Raphael’s Rooms
- Sistine Chapel
- St Peter’s Basilica
Meeting point: in front of the Vatican Museums entrance
Hotel pick-up: not available. We can organize your private transfer by car/van (one way or round trip)
Drop-off: Piazza San Pietro, Vatican City
Participants under 18 must have an Identity Document to obtain ticket reduction. Failing to have documents will result in having to pay the entire price of the ticket again.
The itinerary is indicative and can be changed in case some rooms are inaccessible for restoration.
Your jackets and bags will be scanned by a metal detector at the Vatican Museums. Knifes, cutters, multipurpose tools and any sharp object that might represent a danger for the works of art will be seized at the sole discretion of the museum personnel. Large backpacks, tripods, and long umbrellas will have to be left at the entrance and be collected at the exit (this service is free of charge, but we suggest not to bring with you these objects).
The St Peter’s Basilica can be closed for religious events without notice and the Vatican reserves the right to change the opening schedule at any time. If the Basilica is closed, the guide will provide a more detailed tour of the Vatican Museums (more info).
Entrance to the Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica and any other religious place is subject to restrictions: your clothing must be appropriate and cover your shoulders and knees.
Pictures and videos are not allowed inside the Sistine Chapel.
- 3-hour private tour with an expert licensed tour guide of Rome
- skip-the-line tickets
- radio headphones (depends on group size)
Exclusions:
- gratuities
- any other personal expense
Here are some important things to know in order to ensure you have the best possible experience with your tour:
- having a camera with you is your choice. Someone prefers to immerse in beauty not being distracted by taking pictures/making videos, someone else prefers to build printable memories of his trip. It’s really up to you. Inside the museums included in this tour, pictures and videos are allowed (except for the Sistine Chapel), but the use of a flash or selfie-sticks is prohibited
- even with skip-the-line tickets, expect to wait in line for some minutes to enter the Vatican Museums, especially during high season, because of the security checks
Your entrance tickets for this tour are bought immediately to avoid availability issues, and they are not refundable. If you cancel this tour at least 8 days in advance, there is a cancellation fee of € 40/person. There is no refund in case of late cancellations (in the final 7 days).
wharrison1 –
Tour Date: Thursday, April 26, 2018
Tour Time: 10:30 am to 1:00 pm (2.5 hours)
Booking: We booked Guidaly’s minimum, 3 hour tour for two persons.
This was my wife’s first time to visit the Vatican. We had a very busy day planned and a very small window of time available (2.5 hours) to tour the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Basilica.
I’ve been to both before on private tours so I asked the Guidaly tour planner (Andrea), and our guide (Maddalena), to take us only to the Sistine Chapel in the Museum, and then directly to the Pieta in the Basilica. That’s realistic, given our time constraint and the size and complexity of these massive structures and crowds.
What we got was much, much more. We were able to tour three major Vatican plaza areas, six large museum rooms, the hallway of maps, candlesticks, and tapestries, plus five major Basilica areas – all in detail – in addition to all the time my wife desired inside the Sistine Chapel and viewing the Pieta. We started and finished on-time and on-schedule, and experienced far far more than we could have on our own (and much more than guides I’ve had from a different service).
Maddalena accomplished a mission impossible. How? She apparently has a GPS-like mental app running in her head, constantly re-calculating and updating the optimal route through the maze of Vatican halls, staircases and niches. That, and her ability to intuitively predict which direction the other guides would move their group, enabled us to flow expeditiously from place to place. She also tactfully maneuvered us into the best possible viewing positions. To be frank, this may have been more possible because there were only two of us.
Bottom Line: I will use Guidaly again – with full confidence. Andrea (the Guidaly tour planner) is an ultimate professional, who quickly and thoroughly responded to my every inquiry. Maddalena (our private guide) is exceptionally knowledgeable, personable, and capable – and her English is impeccable. (The fact that she rides a scooter to work adds to the charm).
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Hattie Graves –
We had a trip of Europe, and had many group tours. In Rome we opted for a private tour of the Vatican, and I must say it was worth every penny. Our guide was full of attentions, gave us just enough information to make the tour detailed but not boring. We left the Vatican feeling like we know a lot about it. The same can’t be said for the places where we joined shared tours. We plan to come back to Italy and have more private tours with this company.
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Patrick Vaughan –
The organization was impeccable. We skipped the line and passed the security checks in just a few minutes, assisted by our guide Maddalena. She put us on the fast track to see the Sistine Chapel, that was the only thing we really wanted to see.
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Blanche Rogers –
Guidaly made my dreams of going Vatican possible! Thanks to this agency and to Alice, our lovely tour guide. My family and I had a really good time with your awesome private tour. We would definitely get in touch with you for our Rome tour, hopefully within this year too.
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Allison –
It was a memorable tour. Thanks!
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Annie Shapiro –
My friends and I have been planning this trip to Rome for a few years now and we thought we had everything planned out perfectly for the time we had… that is until the tour of the Vatican we had scheduled with another tour company was cancelled and we were incredibly disappointed. That is until we found this incredible tour! It was wonderful, we saw even more than we would have originally, and our tour guide Fabiana was lovely.
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Angela Madison –
I’ve always been fascinated with the Vatican so when we were in Rome on our honeymoon it was a must see; and it doesn’t get any better than a private tour, especially this private tour. Our tour guide was wonderful and we highly recommend her!
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Anna Smithson –
Alice, our guide, arrived at our hotel on time and took us in a cab to the Vatican. Her historical knowledge made our visit so much more enjoyable. We waited in no lines and she knew right where to go in order to make the most of our time. Completely worth the money!
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Sonja Sorensen –
We had been at the Vatican Museum years ago, opting for an audio guide, and we were not impressed. This time, our friends suggested us to go with a personal guide, and we went with Maddalena. A private tour IS expensive, but it’s worth every penny. For me, it was like visiting a different place: Maddalena did a great job and we felt like all the pieces were falling in place. She selected the highlights to show us and the pace was correct. We were still fully engaged after four hours, and we plan to come back to Rome and use her services again. Thank you!
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Carolyne –
Our Vatican tour was memorable. We opted for a private tour because we wanted to have more flexibility, and that’s what we got. We agreed in advance with the tour guide (Maddalena) to have a 4 hours tour, because we wanted to include the St Jerome painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, which is generally ignored by standard vatican tours. She led us through the collection of paintings before showing us the Papal Apartments. It’s a crescendo, that culminates with the Sisitne Chapel. The Chapel is crowded and the people guarding it are quite rude, but the ceiling is worth the long wait. Great tour.
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Tina –
Our Vatican tour was excellent! Our guide was waiting for us when we arrived.
The entry process was smooth even if the hall was so crowded, The lines are crazy to get into the Vatican and tickets sell out quick.
Our tour guide took us in the building!
She was knowledgeable, at the same time fun and entertained us with nice anecdotes.
We heard so many interesting stories and artifacts that she pointed out to us .
The tour without her would have had less value, we would have walked right past to many points fo attraction without even knowing!
I would highly recommend this tour for a full Vatican experience!!!
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Joe Johnson –
We were in Rome on a Wednesday, and we didn’t find any time slot available before 2 pm. After inquiring Guidaly, they told us that on Wednesday morning the St. Peter’s Basilica is closed. We decided to book the tour in the morning anyway, and our guide arranged for a longer stay in the Vatican Museums. We were so amazed at the beauty inside that we asked for an extension of the tour. In the end, we stayed in the Museum until 2pm and we could visit St Peter’s Basilica too!!
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Maria Tszarek –
We would recommend this tour for the amazing works by Michelangelo, Raphael and Bernini. The Vatican Museum is overwhelming, but the tour guide Fabianna did a good job at selecting the highlights and giving us just enough information.
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Jeff –
It was a very good experience, but it takes a lot of time to reach the Sistine Chapel, which is the main reason why we opted for this tour. The chapel is extremely crowded and the personnel doesn’t stop screaming at people who tries to take pictures. The guide, by the way, was terrific and spoke English very well.
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Lavinia Summers –
We had been on a Vatican tour years ago, but this one was so much better. The guide was very knowledgeable and answered any kind of questions. we really enjoyed this tour.
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John –
It was the best tour we had in Italy! Thank you!
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