Availability: Monday – Saturday

Group Size: Semi Private Tour (Max 13)

Meeting Point: Via Leone IV, close to Vatican Museums entrance (full details sent with confirmation email)

Departure Time: 9:00am & 3:00pm

Check In: 15 minutes prior to departure time

Duration: 3 Hours

What’s Included: Skip the line early entry tickets to the Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel, expert guide who speaks fluent English, headsets that enable you to explore your surroundings without missing anything

• This tour of the Vatican gives you an easygoing, yet entertaining glimpse into the world’s most fascinating array of historical treasures
• During your Vatican excursion, you’ll get to admire the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo’s frescoes.
• Avoid the infamous Vatican lines with skip the line access at the Vatican Museums
• Enjoy the intimacy of a semi-private tour (max. 13 participants)

Semi-Private Tour: Maximum 13 people. Average 10 people.

* Ages refer to on the day of the tour, and all participants must have a photographic ID to present upon request (photocopies and electronic devices are accepted

Waste No Time with a Vatican Skip-The-Lines Tour

The Vatican has stood as the center of the Catholic Church since the early decades of Christianity when it was a place of martyrdom and the place where St Peter is believed to have been crucified upside down. So much history sits inside the Vatican museum complex that as little time as possible should be spent waiting on the outside.

As the most visited place in Rome, the Vatican serves 4.2 million people a year. The lines, as you can imagine, can be long, sometimes hours long, and exhausting for anyone who has to wait in them. Keep your energy for the good parts, the Vatican museum, Sistine Chapel, and St Peter’s Basilica. With a Vatican Skip-The-Lines Tour, you get to go in a small group through a special museum entrance. Once inside your guide will take you a journey of the best known and some of the obscure parts of a place that contains some of the world’s most important historical treasures.

In the Vatican Museum, your guide will take you on a highlights tour of the most interesting artifacts, sculptures and artwork that have great stories and scandals behind them.

During the Vatican Museums portion of the tour, you’ll get to visit the picturesque Vatican garden, Cortile della Pigna. Your local guide will take you to the most interesting galleries within the museums – the Rotunda, Gallery of Tapestries and Gallery of Maps.

Each of these rooms contain ornate ceilings with the walls decorated with ancient statues, frescoes and tapestries. Your guide will point out a few tricks used by the artists,which will enhance your appreciation of their works of art, as well as their sense of humor.

Of course, the greatest gem of the Vatican collection is not a painting on any wall, but an entire ceiling and wall completely frescoed by the greatest genius of the Renaissance period – Michelangelo Buonarotti.

From the Creation of Adam to the Last Judgement, Michelangelo dedicated some of his greatest years to the Sistine Chapel, working day and night – even sleeping in the chapel – to satisfy the popes of Rome.

He also expressed his frustration with his employers with jokes hidden in his work, which only he would understand – today these have been uncovered and understood and your guide will explain these to you so you too can share in Michelangelo’s private jokes.

This tour is perfectly suited to those who want to see the best highlights of the Vatican without too much walking or too many in-depth art discussions.

Unfortunately, due to unavoidable steep stairways in the Vatican Museums, we cannot accommodate guests with mobility impairments or strollers on this tour. Please send us an email and we will work with you to find a suitable alternative.