VIP Guided Tour Rome Colosseum, Vatican Museums, lunch included
Description
Visiting Rome in one day may seem like an impossible mission. There is so much to see that it can be overwhelming deciding which sites are the most important. Not to mention all the time you can waste, navigating the public transport system and standing in line for the most famous attractions like the Colosseum and Vatican! With this private tour, you will maximize your time, focusing on Rome’s greatest hits: Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine, Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel. We will provide tickets for the access for all the sites, a gourmet Italian lunch, an expert private guide and a private luxury transfer to ensure your visit is interesting and time-efficient. Buy this tour and you will try the perfect mixture of the many layers of Rome in a day! All entrance tickets and reservations for the Colosseum Roman Forum, Palatine and Vatican Museums are included in total price in accordance with official procedures of the Parco archeologico del Colosseo and relevant museum authorities
Tour Options
Itinerary
After the pick-up at your accommodation, the driver will take you to the Colosseum where you will meet your private guide. Known as Flavian Amphitheatre, the Colosseum is one of the capital's most remarkable monument. It is an imposing construction that, with almost 2,000 years of history, will bring you back in time to discover the way of life in the Roman Empire. During that period, the Colosseum allowed more than 50,000 people to enjoy its finest spectacles. The exhibitions of exotic animals, the execution of prisoners, the recreations of battles and gladiator fights kept Roman people entertained for years. After the Colosseum, your time travel will continue with the spectacular ruins of the Roman Forum – the hub of ancient Rome. Here's where rousing political speeches were made, criminals were sentenced, goods were traded and where angry crowds assembled. The site, originally a marshy burial ground, was first developed in the 7th century BC, growing over time to become the social, political and commercial hub of the Roman empire. Signature sights include the Arch of Septimius Severus, the Curia, the Temple of Saturn and the Arch of Titus. At the end of this first part of the tour, you will reach the Palatine Hill, the most central of seven hills of Rome. In the Palatine Hill, you can see hundreds of ruins of the imposing buildings that were created for high Roman society in ancient. For a fresh perspective on Rome and its history, there’s no better place than the Palatine!
We continue with the Vatican Museums, the most beautiful museum complex in the world. They have one of the finest art collections on the planet, with priceless works from Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Etruscan antiquity. They house a valuable collection of paintings ranging from the 12th to the 19th century, with works by Raphael, Caravaggio and Leonardo da Vinci. The Museums include some beautifully frescoed rooms such as: Raphael's Stanze, four rooms decorated by Raphael; the picture gallery with paintings by Giotto, Leonardo, Caravaggio and Bellini, classical art sculptures and masterpieces by Bernini, tapestries and mosaics; the famous Sistine Chapel, (named after its founder, Pope Sixtus IV) which Michelangelo's extraordinary genius made one of the most celebrated artistic treasures in the world, visited by 20,000 visitors every day. The frescoes of the Creation and the Last Judgement are considered among the greatest and most intense masterpieces in the history of art.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
We also pick up on any central hotels/apartments/B&B in Rome. If it is not central (a ray of about 8 km from the Pantheon), let us know its location and we will ask a supplement for the extra distance. You can choose pickup location from Civitavecchia Port and Fiumicino Airport. In this case, please provide arrival and departure times to arrange the pick-up and drop off. Note: Kindly select the correct tour option where you will be pick up. If your accommodation is not mentioned, during the booking, please provide details regarding its location. If your accommodation has not been booked yet, you will modify the booking later by providing the data relating to it. Kindly add to your booking an email address you can check frequently. If you do not receive further messages, by mobile phone or by email, default pick up time is confirmed.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Remember to cover knees and shoulders before entering the Sistine Chapel
- The order of the visited sites could be reversed, especially for tours booked very close to the date of the experience
- This is a private customizable tour
- Please indicate the names and date of birth of all tour participants when booking.
- Please bring your identity document
- If children are present, please also indicate their age
- The tours may not be modified with regard to the places to be visited, except for the golden option, where the duration must still be respected
- Please, communicate if there are disabled people partecipating the tour
- Each traveler must present a valid ID card or document that matches the name provided at the time of booking for successful entry to the Colosseum and Roman Forum.
- Due to the Jubilee, some monuments may be under restoration. Please pay attention to any messages we may send regarding potential changes.
- As announced by the Directorate of Museums and Cultural Heritage, we would like to inform you that from 11 January 2026 to April 2026, Michelangelo's fresco of the Last Judgement, located in the Sistine Chapel, will not be visible to the public due to extraordinary maintenance work. Please note that the Sistine Chapel, with its vault decorated by Michelangelo, the Vatican Museums and Raphael's Rooms will remain open to the public throughout this period. However, the entire wall of the Last Judgement will be covered by scaffolding to allow for a complex and delicate restoration process.
Reviews(5)
Great day. Our guide Massimo and driver Andrew where great! Taking us through the sites Massimo gave us a wealth of information and brought to many special points which gave the best views for photos. This is a great tour and you get very personalized service.
Dear George, Having satisfied customers is our greatest pride. A sincere thank you for choosing us. We hope to see you again soon! Thank you very much!
This was by far the worst tour we had in Europe. Do not book this tour. So many bad things I don’t have room here for them all. The guide was not equipped to answer questions. She promised things and didn’t follow through. Our driver did driver jobs between our stops so wasn’t available to us. We couldn’t leave things in the car. I think we entered the Vatican with some crazy brokered tickets. The guide wouldn’t allow us to get audio guides. When I asked her if we could step into the shade and remarked that we are “weak” she said “yes, you are”. The lunch included in the tour was disgusting. We had no ability to order our own food. We paid a lot of money for the tour and did not get what we paid for. We did not have skip the line tickets to get inside the Colosseum despite it being promised in the viator description. The tickets for the Vatican were very shady. We had to wait for some sort of broker to arrive. Then we were told not to identify our guide as a guide inside and she kept farting away from us. Finally, we were supposed to have 8 on our tour but luckily only had 7. No way the transportation would have comfortably held 8 adults. I can’t say enough bad things about this tour.
Dear Ms France Thank you for your review. Regarding your comments, we would like to point out the following: We apologise that the guide did not meet your expectations, we could never have imagined that such an experienced guide, could make such mistakes. -As you can see from TripAdvisor, the above is an isolated incident. Our agency enjoys excellent reviews for its services and was awarded a certificate of excellence during 2018. Nevertheless, we apologise for the incident. -The car was an 8 seater Mono DeLuxe + driver, had it been a 7 seater, the guide would not have been able to board with you. It was available for pick up and drop off at the port of Civitavecchia and for transfer from site to site as specified on the website. For safety reasons, no personal items could be left in the car. -Unfortunately, on combined tours, for reasons of time, lunch is a set menu, a first course, a second course and a side dish, water. We also took care of the drinks you consumed extra, which were not included. The restaurant is a typical Roman eatery and usually no one complains but we will take note of it anyway. - We had had a conversation via whatsapp messages at the time of booking, in which we warned you that the Colosseum skip-the-line entrance tickets had run out and that you could buy them on the day of the tour by standing in line, you agreed. Unfortunately, due to the large influx of visitors that morning, there were no more available, but we still managed to buy tickets for the Forum and Palatine. You write, that some of you needed shade, unfortunately the Roman Forum is outdoors. For the entrance to the Vatican Museums, you were informed that you would enter as a group but with a personal guide inside and you accepted. The one you call 'Broker' is the same colleague of ours who gave you the money back at the restaurant for the extras and she was the one who had the entrance tickets, in fact, that morning we had several groups entering at the same time and she was there to co-ordinate the entries. The tickets were absolutely in order, subject to very strict controls by means of barcode scanners. For this inconvenience, we offered you, at the time of booking, an overview of the most beautiful squares and fountains in Rome by car, even if you then decided to only see the Trevi Fountain because you were too tired. -We will still make a partial refund for these reasons. We hope to have the opportunity, in the future, to prove to you that our tours remain among the most popular with customers in the city of Rome. Carlo
Our tour guide was kind and efficient. They provided 2 Benz vans for private transportation. I would recommend this company!
Dear Monica, thank you for your excellent review, every day we strive to give our best and offer quality services, seeing the appreciation of our customers is our greatest satisfaction. Best Regards Carlo
Most amazing tour! Unforgettable! Our guide, Massimo, was very knowledgeable and incredibly kind! Spent time answering all of our questions and gave a comprehensive overview of Rome! Lunch was very good. Spend the extra! Worth every penny! Highly recommend!
Dear Pamela, we are extremely grateful for your review. We believe there is no better compliment than the one you gave with the word "unforgettable". This is because our goal is to offer tours that can leave an indelible experience in the minds and hearts of all our customers. We are waiting for you again in Rome to discover with us the other beauties of the Eternal City!
Tour was grest, guide was excellent and we covered all the important sights in Rome. We skipped the long lines and enjoyed every moment of the tour.
Dear Mr Mumtaz thank you for review. It is a pleasure and an honor for our agency to read your wonderful words which we also report to our guide. Without a doubt. they repay us for the work done. We look forward to seeing you soon in Rome to find further wonders that the Eternal City can reserve for you. Best regards Carlo
