The best way to experience Vatican City highlights on a approx 3-hour tour with skip the Vatican line priority access.
You will visit, together with our licensed tour guide of Rome, the most beautiful collection of art in the Vatican Museums, which houses one of the most extensive collections in the world.
Enjoying an extended stay in Rome? Browse our Multi-Day Rome Tours and Experiences.
The tour begins with a visit to the Vatican, including the Gallery of Maps, the Pio-Clementino Museum, and the Sistine Chapel, renowned for Michelangelo’s Last Judgment and other official papal ceremonies. In St. Peter’s Basilica, we’ll see Michelangelo’s dome, Bernini’s canopy, the bronze statue of St. Peter, the tomb of John Paul II, and Michelangelo’s Pietà. The tour concludes in Saint Peter’s Square.
With our skip-the-line tickets, you’ll avoid long waits at the Vatican Museums. The tour starts at the Pigna Courtyard, named after the giant bronze pinecone from the Roman Baths of Agrippa. Next, we explore the 120-meter Gallery of Maps, a stunning corridor featuring maps that represent Italy’s unification. In the Gallery of Tapestries, you’ll see tapestries woven in Brussels, depicting significant religious events.
We’ll visit the Museo Pio-Clementino, home to important Greek-Roman sculptures, including the sarcophagus of Lucius Cornelius Scipio, Apollo Belvedere, Laocoön, and the statue of Venus Felix.
The Sistine Chapel, a cultural treasure, is next, with Michelangelo’s “Last Judgement” as the highlight. The tour ends in Saint Peter’s Square, where Bernini’s majestic colonnade creates an optical illusion of a single row of columns from specific vantage points.
IMPORTANT: The tour inside the Basilica is not included. After the tour, you’ll have the option to enter the Basilica. Please note the strict dress code (shoulders and knees covered) and the requirement to check in bags and bulky items. The Basilica may close unexpectedly for religious ceremonies.
(Planning on visiting other Italian cities and regions? Explore our full selection of Day Tours in Italy and Multi-Day Italian Tours.)
