St. Peter's Basilica Dome To Underground Grottoes Tour

This was a great tour. Our guide Anna was fantastic. She was very knowledgeable and personable. When some of the seniors on the tour had difficulty, she took good care of them. There was a glitch when we were scheduled to go up to the Dome. No one was there at the time and she persisted in getting out group of 28 to be able to visit the dome. She went above and beyond our expectations.

Karen was extremely knowledgeable! It is an incredible site steeped in history and awe. I learned a lot from the experience. I enjoyed going to the grottoes and the panoramic view from the dome. The line to enter is incredibly long and you must dress yourself in patience. It took much longer than scheduled, but it was a beautiful experience nonetheless. ♥️

Our tour guide, Ana, was a knowledgeable historian, highly informative, and took time to address any special interests or questions from the group.

Ana was our tour guide and she was EXCELLENT! She made our tour so personal. The way she presented the information was almost like storytelling. She knew her information and presented it in a way that engaged us completely. We’ve taken many tours over the years and this may have been the best!

it was a wonderful tour I would highly recommend this to anyone near Vatican city our guide was very knowledgeable about about St Peter Basilica

Our tour guide Alexandria was wonderful. It was definitely worth going with a tour guide to bypass the long lines. She also was able to get us up to the Dome which is limited access.

First, the meet up point in the document was not correct and we had to be led to another location - not that big of a deal. We believed this to be a skip the line tour but it was not. We ended up leaving the line because it would have taken the rest of the day to even begin the tour. The tour operator was just not that friendly. I would NOT recommend this tour agency but would find another to use.

Best way to see the Basilica, the underground, and the Dome. It’s worth the money and the information you get with a guide. Our guide was amazing. He had the right amount of information, a pleasant sense of humor and gave us a little time to ourselves to take photos.

Booked a small group “less than 10 people” and they put us with other groups, over 25 people. It was a “2 hour tour” but really that meant we waited in line for 1hr 45 min and then had a 9 minute tour of St Peter’s. Tour guide was not knowledgeable and hard to understand.

I thought the tour was extremely well done and very interesting. This tour was not skip the line so we had to wait a long time to get in. The tour guide filled the time with the early history for Christianity up to the present. I have hearing aids and cannot use the traditional type but they provided me with the kind I can use. She took us around the Vatican and explained a lot before our trip to the crypt. I expected the crypt to be very small and dusty but it wasn't. It was large and very interesting. After that some people went to the dome but we were tired and decided just to go back to the Bascilica.

Went here with my parents, pretty place and amazing guide named Paulo. Also met some lovely guys in our group. If they see this… hi I was the girl with the digital camera. Feel free to reach out :) You can take some beautiful pictures in the church.

A tour full of information from the heart & knowledge of our lovely guide, Paulo. He was caring of everyone on the tour to ensure we all benefitted and no-one got lost! A very enjoyable experience!

It was a great! great experience, learned many things,. As a young teenager, I didn't find it boring at all. The guide had a great humour and knew many things! Hes really funny too. I definitely recommend going there. Thank you for creating a great time in Rome.

Our guide paolo was very nice , bit funny and knew so much.

Paolo was an amazing guide! His explanations were clear, engaging, and full of interesting details. He made the whole experience much more enjoyable and easy to understand. You can really feel his passion and knowledge. Highly recommended!

Our tour guide, Alishba was amazing! She was well-informed about history and efficiently navigated the group through crowds. We had an amazing tour!

I highly recommend this tour. Our tour guide, Anna, was amazing. She shared a lot of interesting historical information, was extremely nice and professional and watched out for everyone in our tour group. We had the right amount of time to tour the St. Peter’s Basilica, the papal crypts and the Dome. The tour office was only a two minute walk to the Vatican and was very organized. I highly recommend this tour company.

Romina was absolutely incredible and I highly recommend her for any of your tours. She is super knowledgeable and was not boring at all!!!!! She took her time explaining everything to us in great detail and walked around not just standing in one spot to long like other tour guides we have had. Perfect experience!

We normally prefer self guided tour but decided to do a tour and it was unbelievable. Our guide, Karen was fantastic and given the queues everywhere due to the Jubilee we felt that we really had to do the tour so we knew where to go to see everything! Basilica was absolutely beautiful. View from the top of the dome over Rome….absolutely worth it.

Vatican City is a very popular tourist destination. Choose dates wisely. This is a tour through St. Peter's Basilica and underground grotto (since lines were so long, we skipped this).

It was very well organized and our tour guide Alexandra, was so very knowledgeable about the history of the Basilica. She told us about facts that I had never heard before and this was my 3rd trip. Highly recommend this tour and this guide!

We had issues with the company Best In Rome. We got placed in the wrong language group…the meet place on the instructions did not show up correctly on Google Maps, so we had a hard time finding the meet place. However, when we finally got with our correct guide, our guide, Alexandra, was a delight! Friendly, knowledgeable, and very attentive…she saved our rough start 100%.

Tour guide was great. But, It was just so crowded it was hard to enjoy. Took 3 hours to get in. All Saints weekend. Go on a weekday if you want less crowds. We did the crypt. It was like a gas chamber at the holocaust. 12 deep- hundreds and hundreds crammed into an underground space. Don’t go if claustrophobic and you mind not seeing anything because you are stuck in the middle. And hot!!! November- just too hot..

Wear very comfortable walking shoes. Karen is an excellent tour guide. She's clear and very informative.. We booked the dome with the elevator. THANK GOD. There is absolutely no way we would have been able to climb the stairs all the way. As it was, halfway was exhausting. I suggest taking your time. It's the only way. Once up there the view is incredible. Definitely worth the effort. Didn't want to wait for the elevator down. The line was long. So we walked all the way down. Definitely not as bad as going up. Enjoy your trip. Karen was very aware of our wants and needs. We felt completely at ease. Thank you Karen. You're awesome!!

There's a bit of waiting in "lines" and can be a bit congested. Romina was a great guide and kept everyone informed and together. Highly recommend the dome option, as it's an incredible view both inside and outside St. Peter's! The Basilica is a thing of wonder, beauty, awe and so many other adjectives, whether a Catholic like me or not! Highly recommend.

Our guide did not help us in a dangerous crowd. We lost him and had to guide ourselves. Don't bother. Hope to get our money back. Viator outsources through Best Tours, which is WORST tours

Tour guide was great, we would of liked to of been informed that the basilica was closed from 1pm on and as a result we did not get to do the dome the main thing on our list, very poor management.

It was an excellent tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable and friendly and did a great job of herding cats in a very crowded space. We highly recommend the climb up to the top of the Basilica dome. The views inside and out are fantastic, and, as our guide said, climbing all the stairs entitled us to double portions of pasta at dinner that night.

St. Peter’s Basilica is beauty and opulence at its finest. Our guide Volodymyr was so kind and knowledgeable. The views from the top of the Dome are indescribable. This tour included the catacombs, the square, the basilica and the dome. We were privileged to be there during a Jubilee year and to walk through the Jubilee door. Volodymyr Was great at navigating around the large groups of pilgrims to ensure that we got the most out of our experience.

Fantastic guide (Kelly) and an absolutely amazing experience! Very busy because of the Jubilee but worth the wait!

The tour guides were very informative and accommodating. We will definitely come back. Volodymyr our guide was really good!

Karen was amazing! Great knowledge of all the historical events and she made the whole tour very enjoyable.

Our tour guide was so well-informed, friendly and interesting. She even recommended a number of great things to do while in Rome! Highly recommend her tour!

Great tour and guide. Great information on everything seen. We saw a lot in 2 hours. The views from the dome were amazing. At the end of the tour you could stay longer if you wanted. Would recommend.

Alexandra was very good and explained everything very well Gave us tips and went with our pace Great experience !!! Recommend

Kelly was very kind and knowledgeable. She showed that she truly enjoys her work. We were a bit late and she waited for us.

Our guide was OUTSTANDING!! I have physical issues, and she would stop and let me catch my breath before moving on. Fantastic!!

Valerie was probably the best guide we’ve ever had on any tours in any of our travels. He was very friendly, and extremely knowledgeable about everything in the Basilica. He understood how to talk to our kids and relate things to them while not talking to them like they were kids. I felt very blessed we were lucky enough to have him guide us through the tour.

Alexandra was an amazing tour guide for our group. She is deeply knowledgeable about the whole of St. Peter's and the site's prior history before the Roman Catholic Church. You are lucky if you get a tour with her--intelligent, articulate, compassionate and delightful.

I did not enjoy being preached to about the Catholic religion as I felt I was being converted , as I'm a Roman Catholic anyway I felt it was too much and time wasting when most of us just wanted to see St Peter's , the Crypt and roof . Also , there was a young Lady of Muslim faith and she was picked out four or five times with comparisons with to what her religion allows and what it doesn't , I was on the verge of asking the Guide to cool it a bit as it was uncomfortable. The Vatican itself was fantastic .

We booked the tour for a maximum of 10 people; however, when we started there were 12 participants. Also, the tour guide added people while waiting in a large crowd to enter the Basilica. The tour was supposed to start at 1, we arrived on time, and after “checking in,” which involved waiting in line with more than 50 people in mass chaos, we tried to keep up with our “tour guide” to wait in a large crowd of more than 100 people to get into the Basilica. We could hear her through the hearing devices adding participants to our tour. We were also told by her that the wait would be long to enter, and that the previous day she waited 4 hours to enter. The tour was supposed to start at 1, but we learned upon arriving that the Basilica did not open until 2. We opted to ditch this “tour” and have requested a refund.

St. Peter's Basilica and Vatican City were breathtaking—especially the dome, which offered incredible views. The grottoes were moving, though less visually impressive. Unfortunately, the tour itself was disappointing. While our guide was kind and enthusiastic, the content leaned more religious than historical, which wasn't quite what we expected. Some parts were difficult to follow, partly due to the guide’s accent and pronunciation, and the audio equipment made it even harder—there was frequent static and distortion if we weren’t close by. The biggest issue was the duration. It was listed as a 2-hour tour, but we spent nearly 3.5-3.75 hours in total. The guide left us at the dome, which added 30-45 minutes on our own (which feels incredibly misleading not to include in tour time). In the end, we loved the location, but we would’ve preferred to explore independently at our own pace.

Alexandra was the best guide to the Vatican we could have hoped for. Charming, informative, patient and articulate, she greatly enhanced our experience despite the huge crowds for the jubilee year and the death of St Francis. Do not miss the climb to dome

Overall fantastic tour lead by Kelly. She was very knowledgeable & helpful. The walk in the Dome was well worth the exercise.

A very informative and enjoyable tour with our tour guide Kelly Would highly recommend using a tour guide as it can be quite overwhelming when deciding where to go The view from the dome was amazing Highly recommend but only for the able bodied

Karen was excellent guide Very knowledgeable and passionate Nice group size Loved the optical illusions talked about

Kathy was an excellent tour lady. Very knowledgeable in terms of the history and an excellent guide that manage the group very well. I would highly recommend the tour. Outstanding

We arrived before time and made our way towards the meeting point as quoted on Viator. We were the. Told by the Swiss Guard that the area quoted was out of bounds due to the jubilee year. Tried to call the tour operator with no response so totally wasted journey for a tour we were told was not running and no response form the numbers orobided

Our guide, Alexandra, was phenomenal! She has so much insight on the history of St. Peter’s Plaza and the Basilica. Things that we had not been told previously by our tour guides! She was very upbeat and enthusiastic. She didn’t rush us through areas of the tour and pointed out everything that was a must-see. I expected our tour to be about 1.5 hours and instead we got over 3 hours of experience! Definitely recommend the dome of the Basilica experience!