Sistine Chapel With St. Peter's Basilica & Dome Climb Guided Tour

Our guide, Rafa, was fantastic! Very knowledgeable and helped us get the most out of our tour!

Our guide was wonderful! Very knowledgeable, personal, friendly and took very good care of us during the entire 5 hour tour. She explained everything and was a wealth of knowledge.

The tour was wonderful. There is a lot to see and do and truly only worth it with a guide! Our guide was so nice and knowledgeable. It was like talking with a friend. She kept the tour interesting.

Great tour, great shortcuts! Well worth it. Tour Guy is great and such a wealth of knowledge. Definitely do NOT try the Vatican on your own!

Absolutely the perfect tour. Early start helped beat the crowds. Knowledgable guide who was actually an employee of the Vatican. We loved the dome climb, basilica, and Sistine chapel!

We did a private tour with Raffa. She was so knowledgeable and passionate in her explanation. I highly suggest booking the 7am tour. The crowds crazy and she navigated us beautifully throughout our tour.

5hr tour was very informative and upbeat. Our tour guide was had great energy, was patient and well organized. You see a lot. Would definitely recommend this tour.

A wonderful experience. The advanced reservation and knowledgeable guide saved us a lot of time and frustrations if we had tried it on our own. Marco was a very knowledgeable guide and also very personable.

Raffa was amazing! She found us, because we were not sure we were in the correct meeting place. She was so knowledgeable and kind. She was great with children and made sure we had amble breaks (water, bathroom, sitting). She made our visit to the Vatican the highlight of our trip!

We spent five hours at the Vatican with Enza , our incredible guide! We climbed the dome, toured the plaza, toured the basilica, the museum and finally the Sistine Chapel. Enza “took us to school!” She was so knowledgeable about so many things. Telling us facts that we’d never imagine. AND she made it all fun!! She always asked if we needed a break for coffee or the toilet, so we were never stressed. I can’t say enough great things about her and this tour. It was all wonderful!

Engagement Brocolli was awesome guide! Very knowledgeable and related it to us clearly. Could not ask for more.

Francesco made the tour very easy and interesting, sharing a lot of important facts and details about each of the places visited. It was a very enjoyable experience altogether. Thanks!

Knowledgeable guide and fantastic tour. Bring your walking shoes and be prepared for the climb up the dome.

RAFFA was the best guide in all of Rome! We have been in Italy for well over a week and have done many tours - RAFFA FROM ROME is the best of the best! Give that girl a raise

Gillingham was brilliant, his knowledge was exception, the pace of the tour was very good also.

There is a lot of walking, be sure to eat well first or bring a snack. Our guide gave a lot of information and was very thorough and well informed. The tour was very informative and interesting, I learned a lot.

Excellent tour guide Mary, very knowledgeable and patient. We really enjoyed the whole tour however it was very long being around 5 hours so by the end we were struggling a little with the amount of walking and little rest. It was extremely hot on our visit so we did appreciate the early start time before the crowds arrived.

Lots a great information about what we were seeing and the history of it

Raffa was amazing! Fantastic private tour!

Great to see the Vatican and basilica but the museums felt abit rushed but was great to get through quickly. Unfortunately it was hot on the day and it was alittle busy also.

Fabrico was so knowledgeable and fun. The time flew by and we learned so much.

Tour was very fun, saw everything. Amazing experience

Our tour guide did a phenomenal job leading us around the Vatican in a tour filled with amazing information and quick humor.

Paola M was so knowledgeable and kind. She made a big difference

This tour was totally worth every minute of the 5 hours. It is long but our guide was excellent. She gave so much history and detail. Finding rhe meeting location was challenging but that was the hardest part. Everything else was taken care of by the guide. We loved climbing the dome. There is a cafe on top! The museums were worth the time and the Sistine chapel is worth seeing once but it was very crowded. All in all a great experience.

Our tour was fabulous mostly due to the amazing tour guide we had. She was exceptionally knowledgeable and great at dealing with the crowd. We went in July and it was very hot and the crowds were thick, would recommend trying to visit this at a less busy time of year or definitely do it in the morning if you are here during peak season. The crowds were loud and made it hard to have an intimate experience in the Sistine Chapel.

Rafa was an amazing tour guide and so knowledgeable about everything.

Raffa was wonderful! Very knowledgeable and kind

Raffa was an incredibly knowledgeable and entertaining guide.

Marco was an excellent tour guide. He was extremely knowledgeable. I would definitely go on this tour if you have the opportunity. It’s 100% completely worth it.!!

Valentina was an amazing guide! She's so knowledgeable about history, and it made the tour so much better. This was my friend's first time in Italy, and I haven't been here since I was in college, so I don't remember a lot of the historical facts. Remember to bring an electric fan; it's so hot and stuffy in a lot of these parts of the Vatican, it's always crowded, and we can'twear tank tops or shorts. I kind of wish that we had brought wet wipes to clean ourselves up after the tower climb, too (at least we brought deodorant). The tower climb is grueling, but view is phenomenal from up there! Save your energy and take the elevator up to the terrace. I know the tour is 5 hours and starts at 7am on your vacation, but there's absolutely no doubt that this tour is worth it!

I was so looking forward to seeing the Sistine Chapel. But we stood in line for 2.5 hours waiting to take a lift to the dome. I kept asking out guide if we could just take the stairs, but he insisted we wait for the lift. After waiting for 2.5 hours, we ended up taking the stairs anyway. By the time we got to the museum, I only had 20 minutes to the scheduled time for the tour to end. I had to literally run through the museum to see the Sistine Chapel. I was only able to walk through and see it for 2 minutes. The Sistine Chapel was the main reason to book this tour, climbing the dome and seeing St Peter’s was only secondary. I now need to come to Rome again and only book the museum and Sistine Chapel. So disappointing!!!!

Raffa was fantastic, friendly, and accommodating to our group. She was getting knowledgeable. You can always had a smile. We really enjoyed this tour.

If you’re planning to visit St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Museums, and the Sistine Chapel, I would strongly recommend doing it with a guide. This was one of the most comprehensive and rewarding tours we did in Italy. There is an enormous amount of history, art, architecture, symbolism, and religious significance packed into these sites. Without guidance, I think we would have spent much of the day wandering through incredible places without fully understanding what we were looking at. We began with St. Peter’s Basilica and the Dome Climb. That includes the elevator to the roof terrace; it’s important to know that the final 320 steps are still climbed on foot. The staircase becomes increasingly narrow, spiral, and confined as you approach the top. Anyone claustrophobic should be aware of this. The views from the summit, however, are extraordinary and absolutely worth the effort. One of the biggest advantages of this tour was the early start. We entered St. Peter’s Square while the crowds were still manageable. When we emerged later in the morning, the queues had grown dramatically. Skip-the-line access alone saved a significant amount of time. It’s a short 15-minute walk to the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel. The museums are breathtaking but also overwhelming because of their scale. Left to our own devices, I suspect we would have rushed through simply trying to reach the Sistine Chapel. Instead, Loretta helped us focus on key works, stories, and historical context that we would otherwise have overlooked, making the experience far richer and more engaging. Loretta was outstanding: knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and genuinely delighted when people asked questions. Her passion for the subject matter was infectious and brought the history, art, and significance of the sites to life. By the end of the tour, we were definitely tired, but in the best possible way. There is a huge amount packed into the morning, so I would recommend bringing water and a small snack. We were grateful to have one between the Dome Climb and the Vatican Museums. What surprised me most was how much the tour sparked my curiosity. Rather than feeling like we had simply 'ticked off' major attractions, we left wanting to learn more about Vatican City, its history, its governance, and the extraordinary collection housed within the Vatican Museums. An excellent tour that transformed what could have been an overwhelming experience into one of the highlights of our time in Rome.

Raffa was amazing and very knowledgeable. She had an answer to all of our questions and kept things fun and interesting. I would highly recommend booking with her!

We did a private tour with Raffa! She was simply amazing and made our experience so special and memorable! The dome climb is a must and gives you a total different view.

The tour guide Raffa was amazing and knew what she was talking about. She helped us understand everything and answered all of our questions.

The tour guide Raffa made this experience very good. She helped explain everything to my group very well due to her knowledge. Overall this was worth it

Great tour! Lots of knowledge about every detail and good pacing around the Vatican.

Great access and wonderful explanation of the key sights.

My favorite part was the dome climb only because I already had the privilege of touring the Vatican on a previous visit. The dome climb is not for the faint of heart and definitely not if you are claustrophobic but if you can do it, I highly recommend! The sustained chapel part of this tour is a lot, not because seeing the Sistine Chapel isn’t beautiful, it’s because of all the galleries of artifacts and paintings you have to go through before you get to the Sistine Chapel. I would not recommend bringing children on this tour as there is a lot of walking! I’m not saying your kids shouldn’t see the Vatican, just don’t do the combination with the Sistine Chapel. Highly recommend this tour otherwise.

Very informative tour. Guide was great and was a wealth of knowledge

Very good experience, although the museums& Sistine chapel were a slight disappointment due to the number of people in the place at one time , couldn’t really take everything on as it was so busy

Amazing tour! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable & made sure we had a great experiment. It was our second time during the tour & it was even better than the first.

Marco was great. Talks a mile a minute but we learn a lot

Chiara made this tour, an amazing one! She has a great personality, is very knowledgeable, and made sure everyone had their questions answered. Always a smile on her face and the patience to work with people. My wife and I were delighted with this experience and we attribute it to her. The coordination from the company was very good. They texted the day before with a reminder and were puntual the day of the tour.

Raffa was amazing. We did the tour with small children privately and it was perfect

We had a great day with Loretta as our guide and highly recommend the 7:15am tour to avoid the long lines. We first went to St. Peter's Basilica, one of the most beautiful cathedrals I have ever seen and then the climb to the top of the dome, approx 330 steps through narrow corridors for a magnificent view of the city and surrounding gardens. Loretta shared her passion of history and art as we toured the museum on our way to the Sistine Chapel. She also offered great narrative and history about Michael Angelo and The Sistine Chapel which was the highlight of our tour and beyond breathtaking.

Great tour and amazing guide!!