Early Morning Vatican, Sistine, St. Peter's Semi or Private Tour
Description
Get early morning access into the Vatican Museums to admire countless works, and beautiful courtyards! Together with a truly small group of only 6 participants max, or in your very own private group, you will be able to avoid the big crowds and enjoy these wonderful masterpieces. The Vatican Museums is on everyone’s Rome itinerary so you can imagine it gets quite full, quite quickly. This tour guarantees the personalized and intimate feel that is only possible with our truly small group size, or in your very own private group. We believe that having an intimate experience makes ALL the difference! With your expert local guide, make your way through the vastness of the Museums, with the greatest highlights of the Papal art collection, the Raphael Rooms, the Gallery of Tapestries, the Pinecone Courtyard, and of course the exceptional Sistine Chapel. Finish with the incredible Saint Peter's Basilica.
Tour Options
Itinerary
With the luxury of our truly small group size of 6 people max, or in the personalized intimacy of your very own private group, you will be guaranteed to get the very most out of your Vatican experience. This way you can easily navigate through the countless masterpieces with an expert guide, ask all the questions you wish, and have the guarantee of a personalized experience. We trust this makes ALL the difference! Walk through the heavily decorated Gallery of the Candelabras and enjoy the trompe l’oeil in the Gallery of the Tapestries. After you learn about the impressive Gallery of the Maps, continue to the exquisite Raphael Rooms. With your professional expert tour guide, you will be sure to see all the highlights as well as hidden gems! You will not only learn the fantastic history of the powerful Popes but will also delight in the bits of gossip and other little-known stories about life in Vatican City.
The Papal art collection at its best in the Raphael Rooms
Enjoy a thorough explanation of the incredible masterpiece that is the Sistine Chapel and learn all about it from your professional expert guide before you actually enter the chapel. As it is a holy place, it is strictly forbidden to speak inside. That is why we guarantee you will learn all about it before you enter. Then, once inside, you will have time to take it all in and admire the breathtaking beauty of this world famous site in contemplative silence.
Your comprehensive Vatican tour concludes with VIP entrance directly into St. Peter’s Basilica without standing in the long lines. Walking through the Basilica, you will learn all about the secrets of the magnificent and ornate decorations, sculptures, altars and chapels. Visit Michelangelo’s Pieta and walk down the main nave to admire the dome he designed that sits on top of the largest Catholic church in the world.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Places of worship have strict dress code requirements for entry. All participants are required to have shoulders and knees covered (no tank tops or short dresses) to enter.
- Vatican management maintains the right to delay the opening of the Sistine Chapel for religious reasons, in this case the guide will modify the itinerary and extend your visit of the museums to ensure you make the most of your time before access to the Sistine Chapel is permitted.
- Photography is not allowed in the Sistine Chapel and all other artwork can only be photographed without flash.
- Please be aware that the Sistine Chapel is a Holy Place and talking during while inside the chapel is strictly forbidden. Therefore, your guide will provide a comprehensive overview of the Sistine Chapel before entering and will be able to answer more questions once you have left the space.
- St. Peter’s Basilica is an active church and can be closed unexpectedly for liturgical ceremonies. If closed, your guide will provide a revised itinerary including more of the Vatican Museums. No compensation is granted in these circumstances.
- Backpacks are not permitted in the Museum.
- Guests with wheelchair accessibility needs will find difficulty with this small group tour. To ensure a barrier-free tour with alternative routes, please book the private version of this tour.
- Everyone in your group, regardless of age, needs a government issued ID to enter the Vatican Museums.
- IMPORTANT: Please advise our team if you believe that a disability qualifies you for complimentary access to the Vatican
- Access to the Raphael Rooms is contingent upon crowd conditions, timing constraints, and guard-regulated routes. Including them may not always be feasible. In these cases, your tour guide will exercise discretion to adjust the itinerary, ensuring a comprehensive experience.
- Not recommended for travelers with mobility issues
Reviews(4,075)
Monica led our tour this morning. It was a nice group. Only 6 of us. There were quite a lot of people for so early, but we were able to get around and see things on the tour. I definitely learned a lot and was able to really take in, understand and appreciate what I was seeing on my tour. Monica is so sweet and did such a great job.
We booked this tour months in advance and I’m glad we did. We went as a family of 3, and were put with a family of 4 so a group of 7 together with our guide Enza Broccoli was a good size to personalize the experience for us. Enza was very knowledgeable and pointed out detail we never would have seen on our own. The family we were with had many questions which was interesting to hear. The collection of artefacts was really something to see, especially with our outstanding guide!
Our tour was an early entry small group tour of 7 people. It was billed as getting into the facilities early to avoid the crowds, but by the time we entered it was wall to wall people so paying extra for an early tour was not worth the money. This was a disappointment to us . But, that was not the main issue. Georgio was our guide and did an OK job up to this point. We toured the Museum first then stopped to use the bathrooms before going up to the Sistine. Chapel. He told us to go into the Chapel and meet him in the back at a certain time. We viewed the chapel and when we went to the back he was not there. We waited in the chapel for 20 minutes, but never saw him. He never looked for us and you can walk it in 30 seconds. There were only 7 people in the tour and he left 2 behind. We tried to hook up with 3 other tours just to go down the steps to the Basilica, but we were not part of their tour so it was a no. We had to exit the. Chapel and go outside instead of down the steps to the Basilica. We thought it would take forever to get in the general line, but somehow we hit it at the right time and it only took us 19 minutes to get into the Basilica. Very disappointed in Georgio!
We learned so much during our private tour with David! He was so knowledgeable and extremely courteous to both of us! He brought so much realism to the tour that it made us feel as if we were actually brought back in time to when everything we saw was being established. When we do any other private tour such as this in Rome we will always request David to do our tour for us. We would highly recommend you take this private tour and expand your real understanding of the history of Rome and the Catholic Church, etc.
Private tour with Guillem today. I highly recommend this tour. Pace was good and Guillem was extremely knowledgeable. He gave historical context throughout the tour which was so insightful and painted a wonderful picture. We really enjoyed this tour and would not change a thing.
This is the tour to take! Christina was so knowledgeable and accommodating my family and I had a wonderful time. We learned so much and saw so many hidden gems that Christina pointed out. I felt like I was in art school again! We can’t wait to come back and do it all again
We had an absolutely wonderful Vatican tour with our guide Daniele. He was exceptional, incredibly knowledgeable, engaging, kind, warm and genuinely passionate about the Vatican’s history, art and stories. Thank you Daniele for making it so special even for a teenager of 15 years, who enjoyed the whole tour!
It was very helpful to have a guide. I learned much more than touring on my own. The quality and knowledge of LivTour guides has been impressive. We've taken several tours with them.
Giovanni made the tour wonderful. we saw so much and appreciated all of the knowledge that he gave us. he made sure we saw all the important spots and getting to the areas where they were the lease crowds. He took our pictures and he was so funny. We definitely would recommend the tour.
A tour full of emotions that take your soul to the greatest feeling of love. I thank Selenia for her dedication, time, and for sharing her knowledge with us.
