Guided Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel Skip The Line Tour

Our guide, Vincenzo, was very passionate and had a great way of giving us interesting information. It was very clear he knew what he was saying. Very pleasant!

Our guide Enzo was fenomenal, high level of knowledge

Must see! The museum is huge. Lots of walking and stairs!! To get to the Sistine chapel you must walk a "flow of traffic" through the entire museum. My husband was told of a shorter route but still had to walk through much of the museum. Our guide moved very quickly even though I told him I had a knee injury, was rude, and didn't answer questions. Half way through the tour I, along with 3 others, lost the guide who was not at all trying to make sure his group was still with him. I missed much of what I paid to see and learn about. I should have done the self audio guide and I would not have missed anything or been rushed through! There are so many statues, paintings, tapestries, mosaics, historical displays, I was at awe.

Enzo was a phenomenal guide and made the tour significantly better than it would have been otherwise. The sistine chapel is obviously the highlight, there are amazing roman sculptures and mosaic floors on the way there. What i wasn't expecting was a fairly extensive collection of modern art right before you arrive at the sistine chapel ... Sketches & vestments by matisse, paintings by Picasso, Dali etc.

First of all, ridiculously expensive. Once inside the Vatican our Tour Guide rattled off 'facts' like a machine gun. No option to stop and look at exhibits, sometimes taking a photo was difficult. Knowledgable but often seemed like a race. Over the ear headset was a 'joke', spent more time off than on. Came away really disappointed, this was to be the highlight of our tours, ended up the worst, by a long way!

Our guide was very knowledgeable and I would have liked to do a small group tour with her. No complaints whatsoever with her. My issues were with how the tour was presented and the "skip-the-line" billing by Viator. We didn't skip the line and waited outside in pouring rain for 20-25 minutes. While other groups were in longer lines, we didn't "skip-the-line". We were also disappointed that it didn't seem that we got the comprehensive look at the museum as advertised. We were hustled through the museum pretty quickly. For example, one of the big draws for us was the Stanza della Segnatura and the opportunity to see the School of Athens and the surrounding frescos. We were told that was not on the itinerary and we had to split off from the group to see it. For the price we paid for this tour, this shouldn't have happened. I'm not sure that I'd recommend this tour to others, but would recommend the guide.

I booked a Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel & Basilica: Skip The Line Entry + Guided Tour more than a month before arriving in Rome. Two days before the scheduled tour, the company apparently tried to call me — but of course we were already traveling internationally. The next day they finally reached me and informed me they had canceled the tour because the guide had been injured in an auto accident. First, I sincerely hope the guide is okay. But from a customer service standpoint, I asked what many people would ask: in a city like Rome, with countless tour guides, was there really no backup option available? No answer. No alternative guide. No replacement tour. Just cancellation. To make matters worse, I even booked a hotel specifically down the block from the meeting location for this tour company so we could easily make the tour without transportation issues. This wasn't simply a canceled activity — decisions and expenses were made around their commitment. When people plan international travel, they often build entire days, reservations, and lodging arrangements around prepaid tours. Companies taking bookings months in advance need contingency plans when unexpected situations happen. They say a refund is coming, and I’ll keep everyone posted on whether that actually happens. Travelers deserve better planning, better communication, and better customer service.

We arrived at the tour office early to ask whether there would be a restroom stop during the tour as it was said to be 3 hours. Was told we would have a chance to go at the beginning once inside. Several others asked this when they arrived. Tour began and there is still a substantial line to get inside even with a “skip the line” ticket. While waiting, our guide (Mariel?), asked who needed to use restroom, and we raised our hands. We got inside, and through a chaotic security process. Warning: don’t put anything small through scanner or you’ll never see it again. She then shuffled us outside to start the tour. I had to ask for the chance to use the restroom before we started as we had just walked past them and she was quite put out by the request. Didn’t appreciate that. The tour itself was about 2 1/2 hours with the Sistine Chapel at the end. There were a lot of rude people who disregarded both the dress code and rules against photographs. Guards didn’t care. Overall, a bit of a disappointment.

I found it very hard to enjoy due to our tour guides anti-Catholic rhetoric. She may have been an archaeologist but she most definitely is not a theologian. I do not recommend this tour.

Altough I had already visited the Vaticans, I wanted to go again and this was an amazing tour! Jeb, our guide was able to keep the attention high through the whole lenght of the tour, with his stories about the artists that worked here, the Popes, their personalities, the techniques and many other nice and educational stories! Highly reccomended!

Amazing and passionate tour guide can’t recommend enough! Gave me so much appreciation and seemed so enthusiastic and genuine about sharing her knowledge. 10/10.

This is our first time to Italy and of course you have to see the Vatican just cause. Our tour guide was great and very informative. We learned a lot about the artwork and history of the Vatican and the church, of course; each of the buildings are there for a different purpose, and the Sistine chapel is truly worth seeing; the artwork and detail is really unbelievable and hard to believe a human could actually paint with such precision and detail. If you’ve never been, it’s worth going at least once and this was a great tour. Definitely wear comfortable shoes. It’s a lot of walking as it’s a huge place. Thankfully, we did the after hours tour and it was still crowded. I could not imagine going earlier in the day. Carry light as you don’t want to be carrying a lot of stuff and you do need to go through security Interestingly enough, this is a Jubilee year and we were concerned it would be excessively crowded but every tour guide has told us that people are staying away because they were worried about the crowds this year. So if you’re thinking about making a last-minute trip do it ….it’s just not that crowded

Our guide was brilliant. He distilled the Vatican Museums into a manageable, yet powerful presentation and then focused on people's questions and interests. He had the knowledge to answer every question in depth. Very impressive.

We chose last tour of day to minimize crowds. Unfortunately the museums were closed unexpectedly that morning due to Vatican visitor to the new Pope . So crowds were significant which impacted our tour. Our guide, Marta, was knowledgeable, flexible, friendly, she engaged the children in our group also with her questions & information. Much as 3 hour tour was long, it provided a wealth of information. Very enjoyable & well worth the cost. I would definitely recommend it to others.

Roberta was great! She was very knowledgeable. Also, we wanted to mail our postcards from the Vatican and, even though there wasn’t really time allocated for that, she made that work for us, I REALLY appreciated her for that.

The tour guide was very knowledgeable and nice. Gave great explanations of the various art and period they were created.

Our tour guide Alessia was simply wonderful! She guided my wife and I through the Vatican Museums, full of information and insights into everything we saw. And she was an absolutely delightful individual, so professional, but more importantly, so very friendly. She made my wife and I feel so at ease as we toured these beautiful museums. We could not have asked for a better experience. She helped to provide us with a wonderful memory of our trip to Rome.

This was an excellent tour and our guide Claudia was superb. We'd booked because our trip to Rome was a last-minute one and the Vatican was otherwise sold out and so although we worried about how expensive it was, the money was absolutely worth it. Claudia proved her worth right from the outset by dealing with two issues firmly and efficiently and then proceeded to engage the whole group really effectively. Everybody on the tour was an adult aside from my 9-year old niece and so Claudia immediately made her feel special by inviting her to lead the group. This ensured that my niece was captivated for the entire duration and everything Claudia told us was interesting and engaging. She also ran the tour very well indeed, ensuring that everybody had time to see what they wanted, reassuring everybody that despite the crowds they wouldn't be left behind and also being very clear about where she intended to pause and for how long. She also realised that none of us on the tour had managed to see St Peter's basilica because of the queues so she led us to it via a back entrance, ensuring that we skipped the 3-hour wait. Overall, superb.

We had a lovely experience at the Vatican with this tour. The museum was breathtaking, and Apollo is back on display! The Sistine Chapel was beautiful. I would not have enjoyed it as much without the tour to help fill in the details and better understand just how amazing the collection in the museum was!

First things first - don't believe any tour that says "without the crowds." There are ALWAYS crowds, this one was no exception. Second - use the bathroom before you get to the meeting spot/tour, as the cafe was not open. And the line for the bathroom inside the museum was very long, and the few people that "had to go" took about 20 minutes to get back to our group, keeping us all waiting to start the tour. We did get to skip the line for our tour, which was nice. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the museums. We spent a lot of time outside viewing posters of what we would see inside, with our guide explaining them. But it did help explain some of the history behind the art we were about to experience. We ended at the Sistine Chapel, where I had heard they pack you in - they do. But it was still an amazing sight to see. Overall, we felt very rushed through the museums. To be fair, it looked like all of the other tours (and there were so many tours!) were doing the same. It might be worth it to get there earlier and stand on line for tickets, so you can go at your own pace. But if you just want a very topline view of all the art and gaudiness, this is good for you.

Very informative! Great understanding of art history! Saw all the highlights of the Vatican museum and didn’t have to wait in any lines!!

Sev was the best tour guide we had. He engaged everyone including the kids, we learned a ton and a lot of fun! Thank you Sev!

This was an amazing tour, Marco C our guide was very knowledgeable and ensured we got a good understanding of the background to the important highlights of the tour. Amazing artwork, well worth it.

Excellent, knowledgeable guide Michael delivered the information so well and with a sense of humour when appropriate. Well worth the price.

Our tour was not worth the time or effort. We moved quickly through the Vatican Museums to have extra time in the Sistine Chapel. The chapel itself was a nightmare - way overcrowded and guards constantly screaming for visitors to be quiet, stop taking pictures and push closer together. It was impossible to appreciate the chapel and its remarkable artwork. We were VERY disappointed. The guide was fine and did what he could but the overall tour was a terrible experience. I would NOT recommend a tour of the Sistine Chapel. Much more to see at St Peter’s and the crowds handled much professionally.

Our guide Enzo began the closing time tour with excellent explanations of the work of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately she was slow in moving through the galleries giving long explanations of her favourite pieces whilst many other tour groups passed us by. Consequently we had little chance to soak in and appreciate one of the world’s most significant pieces of art in the Sistine Chapel.

Avoid like the plague an absolute cattle market experience and it was so busy we lost our guide! Intimate experience is a complete misnomer as you are in with everyone else... biggestbwaste of money i have ever had

I was initially excited to take this tour with reduced crowds. It didn’t happen. Our guide was wonderful and she was also very upset at the crowds. It was mayhem. I’ve been on this tour twice before at peak times and this was no different. It was my husbands first experience and we were disappointed because the name of the tour set our expectation.

The "Closing Time Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel Without the Crowds" tour was absolutely phenomenal. Kylie's deep knowledge of history, combined with her passionate love for the subject, brought the entire experience to life in a way that far exceeded our expectations. Her enthusiasm and insights made this tour the best we've ever had!

So much more relaxing & so few people at the end of the day. The peace you enjoy in seeing the art & especially the Sistine Chapel.

As advertised, we took the "closing time" tour of Vatican City since it was supposed to be less crowded. Well, it was absolutely mobbed. It is September afterall, which is no longer a shoulder season for tourism in Europe. Despite it, we had just 14 in our group, and our tour guide Jeb was outstanding. He navigated the throngs really well, was courteous and respectful of his fellow guides. His knowledge was vast and deep, and he took pleasure in relating his knowledge to us, his is not a rout reciting of the facts.

Don’t be fooled! You will NOT miss the crowds on this tour. Our guide was pleasant and knowledgeable but she often lost some of us during the tour because there were SO MANY other groups. She didn’t have a clue. Other guides were also inconsiderate and several times broke our group up. Because this is the last tour of the day everything felt very rushed. The crowd was insane. I can’t imagine what it’s like during the day with even more people. Ugh.

Our tour guide was amazing. She took very good care of us in a very crowded place. She was very knowledgeable and encouraged us to ask questions.

Great tour from Massimo - he was funny, engaging and very informative. Thoroughly enjoyed it although it was still crowded, especially in the Sistine Chapel. Thanks Massimo for all your insight into the history and background - it really made it come to life.

The group was small which was good but our guide sped through a lot and seemed not overly interested in engaging with the group and just powered on ahead at times. We appreciate there is a lot to see and you can't cover it all but this guide just seemed to be going through the motions.

Our guide was friendly and knowledgeable. There was a lot to see. I loved the explanation of the art works previous to the Sistine Chapel but, maybe too long as felt a bit rushed through the museum. Having said that would still recommend 🙂

The Vatican Museum is huge so for our first time we loved having a guide show us the highlights and give her insight into these pieces! Our tour guide (Valentina, I believe) was so great, she was a fountain of knowledge while navigating us through the museum and into the chapel. While this tour does not include St. Peter’s Basilica because of how close to closing time it starts, being able to walking through the museum without the wall to wall crowds was well worth it! We were even able to see the floor of the Sistine Chapel that’s how less crowded it was from the day times. Highly recommend!

Good tour guide, would recommend if you want to learn more about the history of the Vatican and want to make the most of your visit

Good way to see the Vatican, a little crowded but that is to be expected. Easy to meet up with the guides at meeting place.

Our guide (Rosanna, I believe) was excellent and knowledgable, and patient when dealing with a bored child. She explained everything in detail and was able to get us in the back door of St. Peter’s Basillica. The museum was massive, but she seemed to know about every piece. The Sistine Chapel seems to be somewhere you go to say you went. It was chock full of people milling around and taking pictures when they shouldn’t have been.

The tour was good and small. It was later so not as crowded. The guide Gigu was extremely knowledgeable and smart. He had a PhD from UCLA and knew the history of EVERYTHING. That being said the tour felt a little rushed; and he spoke extremely quickly. I think he had another tour to get to after us. I think he did the best he could with the timeframe. I wish we would’ve be able to go with him to St. Peter’s basilica. Nice guy, but I wish they would not have given the allotted time as we ended only after 1:40, not the advertised 2-3 hours. I would recommend this if it’s late in the day, you want to see the Vatican, want to skip the line, and it’s last minute. Otherwise I would go with another tour.

Because of flight cancellations we had to cancel our tour. Even though this was out of our control, Viator refused a refund.

fantastic tour with guide Sev would highly recommend.. informative, interesting with so much to see great for families, metro only 10mins walk away.

We had a great tour with our guide Sev. Sev was extremely knowledgeable and the information he imparted was very interesting and just flowed for the whole tour. Can’t speak highly enough of Sev and the tour through the Vatican Museum and the Sistene Chapel. Very enjoyable.

Franco was a great tour guide. Provided paper references and taught us about the Sistine Chapel before we headed out from the meeting spot as he lets you wander on your own once you reach the chapel. Very knowledgeable as he led us through Vatican museum.

I have been to the Vatican Museums quite a few times but took the tour to have my guest start to know it in a concise but extensive enough way. Jeb our guide did a great job of explaining and taking us to the historical highlights and also explains Sistene Chapel

This was a thorough tour of the Vatican museum and the Sistine chapels. Our tour guide was Hillary and she provided a good overview of both sites. At times, I felt that the tour was rushed, but that was mainly because of the museum staff, not the tour guide.

Booked this as a way to see the Vatican Museum during our honeymoon. We were very disappointed in the tour - you would be better off doing the museum on your own. The tour consisted only of the statues and ancient marbles, tapestries and the Sistine Chapel - that’s it. While our guide was knowledgeable, the tour didn’t start for almost an hour past the meeting time, which dramatically cut into our time in the museum. Because we had to wait so long for bathroom breaks of others on the tour, most places in the museum were open only for a short time once we got in. The tour guide completely skipped the Raphael Rooms with no mention (which is listed on the tour as a site visited). What we saw was so limited compared to what is in the museum and we had no time to see other sites within the museum. Had I known I would’ve skipped the tour entirely and gone on our own thru the museum since there is so much we will now not see during our stay in Rome.

For the price I was expecting a tour guide with more insights to share. More then “In that room there are many important works of art of great importance” . He told a few stories but I was expecting more. And not reading information right out of the pamphlet word for word!!! Come on!!!