Vatican
3 hours
Varies
15

Highlights

  • Experience a peaceful visit to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel after the daytime crowds have left.
  • Hear fascinating stories of Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel to prepare you for your visit.
  • Bypass the long lines at the Vatican Museums to spend more time exploring.
  • Marvel at legendary masterpieces such as the "Laocoön and His Son" and Gallery of the Maps.

Tour description

See the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel without crowds.

Experience the Sistine Chapel and the highlights of the Vatican Museums at one of its quieter moments of the day. With afternoon entry three hours before closing time, you’ll enjoy a relaxing visit and avoid the large crowds that typically fill the halls in peak daytime hours.

Following a specially curated route, you'll see some of the most beautiful and fascinating works of art and architecture in the world on this afternoon Vatican tour. Not only does this tour cover the must-sees at the Vatican Museums, it also gives you an insider's perspective on the bigger picture: power and politics in Vatican City.

Enjoy skip-the-line access to the Vatican Museums.

In order to make the most of every moment on your afternoon Vatican tour, you'll have privileged entrance at the Vatican Museums. This means you'll skip the notoriously long general access line—which, during high season, often stretches for hours. Throughout your tour, your expert guide will bring the Vatican’s dramatic past to life. From the Pinecone Courtyard to the statue galleries and the unmissable Sistine Chapel, you'll see the best the Museums have to offer without jostling for space and while hearing the stories and context behind the art from your expert guide.

Small groups of 15 or fewer keep your Vatican tour casual and engaging.

Smaller and more intimate than many similar tours on the market, you'll have fantastic access to your expert guide to ask them all your burning questions with ease. All of our guides are knowledgeable, passionate storytellers who are specially trained to give you a real sense of the drama and power that has played out in these very halls.

This small group afternoon Vatican tour ensures that you avoid the crowds with strategically timed afternoon entry and eliminates waiting in line to see all the highlights of the Vatican, including the Sistine Chapel.

Please note that this description is an example and your experience may vary depending on the season, day of the week, and group size. Regardless of where your tour goes, you always have an excellent experience.

Sites visited

  • Vatican Museums
  • Sistine Chapel
  • Pinecone Courtyard
  • Belvedere Courtyard with Ancient Greek & Roman sculptures
  • Gallery of the Candelabra
  • Gallery of the Maps
  • Gallery of the Tapestries

Included

Verified guest reviews

4.4 / 5
1357 Customer Reviews
  1. Excellent

    886

  2. Great

    293

  3. Good

    97

  4. Average

    46

  5. Poor

    35

Danielle

Jul 25, 2024

While it seemed that Ricardo has an extreme amount of knowledge about the art and in particular, the Sistine Chapel, he was very hard to understand in English. He was very nice and seemed to want people to enjoy. However, we spent a tremendous amount of time standing in front of pictures of the Sistine Chapel, where Ricardo explained in great detail each painting. The tour also seemed to end much sooner than it was supposed to, but my family and I were kind of happy because it was so hard to understand him.

Rabecca

Jul 13, 2024

This was such a great tour! The headphones made it so awesome to hear our tour guide clearly without missing anything. Our tour guide Maria Theresa was phenomenal. Her knowledge and stories brought us back in time! Highly recommend!

Robert

Jul 07, 2024

Great tour for Vatican and Sistine Chael. It was supposed to be 3 hours but ended up being two so that was surprising however we did get into St Peter’s Basilica which was unexpected and nice. I recommend this tour.

Pamela

Jul 02, 2024

Our guide Sev was amazing. Great stories that made the tour of the chapel and museum so much better to understand.

Jane

Jun 30, 2024

Not worth the money - tour was shortened from 3 h to 1 h actual tour time, limited access to museum due to rush to get to Sistine Chapel.

Know before you book

From $101
Free Cancellation