Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel VIP Tour

This was a horrible experience! I was told from friends to use Viator and I am very disappointed. I booked a tour to see the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel on April 6th, 2026. I payed $ 232.00 for the tour and never had the tour I was called that day telling me it was cancelled because the Vatican was closed for Easter Monday and I would receive a full refund which I never received. They will not take my calls as this was for a past booking. If they read this they should do the right thing and give the refund, if not, lesson learned people do not use this group! There answer to this will be there testament to how this company does business… waiting a response…

SCAM! Do no book. This is a bait and switch scam operation. Not VIP, NOT skip the line. We arrived early to the area to do some sightseeing around Vatican City area. When arriving, we headed to the location given to pick up our tickets. When arriving to grab our tickets as instructed, we were given a different start time by the local team that was an hour before our scheduled start. We were told to arrive at 4:15 when tour purchased was 5:30. There was nothing "VIP" about the experience, we had to wait in line for about an hour even thought the description of this tour was skip the notorious lines. The description of my purchased tour was "Avoid the famously long lines at the Vatican Museums on this 2.5-hour, skip-the-line tour." The tour coordinators were defensive, argumentative, and told us that we were obviously incorrect on what we purchased. After waiting in line, the tour coordinator bought our tickets on site and passed us off to a guide. She was fine, but the tour lasted only slightly longer than an hour when advertised as 2.5 hour tour through the museum. She dumped us off at the Sistine Chapel and did not follow us in there to continue the tour. The tour was given to about 20 individuals, with each party purchasing through various sites - all bait and switched with a skip the line advertisement. Absolutely ridiculous and a horrible experience. Do not purchase this experience and I will not be purchasing through Viator in the future.

Stay away from booking a Vatican tour here! Especially if you’re looking to find last minute tickets. We were completely gouged on the price (paid almost 10x what the price is at the Vatican itself) and then they ended up not having a tour guide available for us that would have gotten us through the museums and Sistine Chapel before it closed. We ended up doing a self-guided tour. Thankfully, one of the tour operators at least paid the €16 for the self-guided listening device. On top of that it was disorganized. It was like one of the operators didn’t even know where to go or how to get in. She handed us off to another tour guide from their organization. Just a bad and very expensive experience over all.

Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel were incredible. Guide ditched us part way through. Which was okay - she was so so.

Worst experience ever!! We paid over $170 a piece for a VIP tour skip the line tour. The normal entry ticket is 20 Euro. We were supposed to leave at 5:30 pm. When we arrived at 5:15 pm as directed, part of the tour already left. Rushed to catch up and then stood in line for over 45 minutes outside in 93 degree heat, before waiting inside another 15 minutes. The tour was to be approximately 2 1/2 hours long and it ended up being less than 90minutes and we literally jogged through the museum. We barely entered the Sistine Chapel when we were told it is closing and we have to leave. We are in our sixties and my husband is in remission from Cancer,so he spent the entire next day in bed. Not at all what we paid for. I hope you will be issuing USA refund or credit or this experience will be shared on the internet. We have been using you for many years and never have had a worse experience. Very disappointed customer, Maris Lehman

A little confusing at the beginning because the time was changed to an earlier time (30 minutes). Then when we got to the meeting location, they took us to a different tour guide location. Then we sat there until the original departure time. Also, while we were waiting in the lobby for our tour to depart, they were selling tours for drastically less than what we paid which didn’t really inspire confidence. Next time I would just go to a company and book directly for a better price. But, The tour was still good and the tour guide was great.

The guide Roberta Was really good. But the price I payed I believe too expensive. Apart from that everything very beautiful.

Our tour guide, Fred (Federico with the star wars shirt) was incredible! Although the heat was brutal, our tour group waited only 10mins for entry. Visiting this museum via your is much better than an average entry ticket because the average line wait is 3hrs+. Fred explained more than what was expected and his sense of humor made for a great time. Large crowds were inconvenient but he took us to sections in the museum where there were windows or fans to cool down a bit while he elaborated on specific art, statues, paintings...etc.

Guide was really good. She explained in detail and with passion. Highly recommend and will do it again.