Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel Tour With St Peter Basilica Access

Excellent. Be patient and enjoy. Find your meeting spot. Know your local guide company name and enjoy.

If you plan on visiting the Vatican, it’s a MUST to do the early access tour. Even with early access there were quite a number of people. Our guide, Veronica, was awesome!! “Piano, piano”. That will stay with me and I will use it at home. Highly recommend this tour and hopefully you get Veronica.

Our guide Francesca was so knowledgeable and wonderful. Amazing experience! Also we were lost before and Carlo came and found us for our private tour. He really went above and beyond.

Great experience! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and fantastic!! He guided us so well and had so much information about each area.

The Vatican is so large, I highly recommend using a guide. This tour offered an informed and thoughtful guide along with a small, intimate group. It definitely added to the experience. Note though, the description makes it sound like you start in the chapel and that is not the case.

Luisa was enthusiastic, informative and friendly. However, the earpieces used were of such poor fit that those with glasses had to decide whether to wear glasses or listen through the earpiece. The earpieces were falling out of our ears, and some were simply carrying them. I don’t feel like I got what I paid for unfortunately.

Sara was an amazing guide, her background made her super knowledgeable about the Vatican and artwork inside. The best tour we’ve taken in Italy, by far. Worth the skip the line ticket and direct access from Sistine Chapel to the Basilica.

Our Vatican Museum tour with our guide Antoinette (Toni) was EXCELLENT! Entering the museum early in the morning and skipping the VERY long line put us in great position to see so much without big crowds. Her knowledge about what we saw and her English were outstanding. She did a wonderful job of setting up our time in the Sistine Chapel before we entered. While we were disappointed that St. Peter's Basilica was closed due to a Jubilee celebration, we did get the surprise of seeing Pope Leo when he made an appearance in the square. We would highly recommend this tour to anyone.

You spent a lot of time outside before you entered the Vatican. It was very cold and windy, I felt like we could’ve eliminated some of this time. Our Guide spoke English, but it kind of ran together. It was difficult to understand.

We have done several Viator tours over the years. This tour was a fast paced tour that hit the highlights, but little else. She was a sweet lady, however, the guide’s English was very broken. My teenaged son understood almost nothing from the guide. I only understood maybe 25%. The guide would repeat or restart, but still not clear. This was sold as an 7 or 8 person max tour. There were 11 people in the group. My family made up 5. We all deserve a partial refund as we were not provided the personal attention which was sold. We spent the first hour looking at a picture of the Sistine Chapel instead of ACTUAL art. AAARRRGGGHHH! We spent too much time on unimportant details, and then not enough time on the important items even if we had no competition from other tours. Finally, when my daughter got separated from the group and we could not find her, the guide’s first concern was getting the radio back, NOT finding my daughter. Other tour group members were happy to help us. All for $880, disappointed. We got much better tours at the Vatican from other guides.

Fantastic tour. Well worth the money. Extremely knowledgeable and friendly tour guide. You won’t regret it. 1 Timothy 2:5

Chiara was amazing!! Thank you for the amazing tour! She was great at explaining and took her time. She is also very kind!

Sylvia was our guide through the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s. We took the 7:20am tour and was the 2nd group in line at the entry gate. She was very pleasant, easy to understand, knowledge and very patient. Our group of 7 was small compared to the huge groups of 20+ that were around. The size gave us an opportunities to ask questions throughout and definitely felt more intimate. Highly recommend this tour.

Barbara was a fantastic guide. She provided so much insightful information about the Vatican and Sistine chapel. The works of art of what has been preserved is just wonderful. When we got to the Basilica di St. Pietro the original statue of the Pieta was being cleaned to prepare for next years Jubilee, so they had a replica but it did not disappoint. The size of this church is enormous. The intricacies and detail that went into building it and what they do to preserve it is unbelievable. The emotional part was when we were able to get a private blessing from a priest. It was a visit of a lifetime to see the Sistine chapel and its works of art. An experience that made me feel my late mother’s presence.

Our tour guide Barbara was amazing! She was waiting for us at the entrance when we arrived and made everything go smoothly. Our group needed some special accommodations and she made sure to help and allow everyone to participate. I am so grateful to have been able to have my whole family see and experience the Sistine Chapel and the Basilica! It was amazing! Thank you.

Fantastic tour! Patricia was an amazing guide. Huge depth of knowledge about all things Vatican, art and Rome. Also an incredibly kind and thoughtful guide. She ensured everyone was comfortable and even asked the Swiss Guard to allow my mother (in her 70s) to take a short cut through the Vatican museum as she was wearing out. We appreciated everything Patricia did for us and all the information she shared! 10/10!

It was a little chaotic in the beginning trying to locate our guide. Also our tour was at 8:15 and we read the instructions to say be there at 7:30 which was unnecessary and confusing. However, our tour guide was a young woman named Louisa who was absolutely fabulous. She was extremely knowledgeable about the Vatican, the art and the various historical elements. Her English was good and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience and her company.

Guide had a wealth of knowledge on the history and architectural aspects of the Vatican . We got in as promised early morning tour is definitely recommended.

Ted was absolutely fantastic as a private guide. We were on a tight schedule and he was sensitive to showing us the high points without getting hung up in the massive crowds. Highly recommend.

Our tour guide was excellent!!! She was very knowledgeable and kept us walking at a good pace so we were able to hit all the good points in our time frame. Meeting point instructions were very clear, and we were able to skip the long lines. Worth every dollar

My wife and I booked a Vatican and Sistine Chapel VIP First Entrance tour and could not have had a better experience. We were a group of only four, were literally the first people in the door at opening and our guide was exceptional. She was friendly, organised and very knowledgeable. I look forward to booking more Walks Inside Rome in future.

Barbara, our tour guide was very good. But, both the instructions and the visibility of when and how to meet were terrible ... causing both problems and a delay in the morning. This was true for all the people in our group, not just my wife and I. Our tour was scheduled to meet at 7:20 a.m., with instructions to be 15 minutes early. We were early and in the right place (at the museum entrance) -- and I was showing my voucher to the guards and a few other people there and was told by everyone to go across the street. So, I went across the street and was told that the Tour Guy people would show up on the steps (by other tour guides). I went back across the street after about 15 minutes to the museum entrance and found no one with my suppossed group - but told to go across the street again. We found another party in our group having the same problem. The Tour Guy people showed up and told us that our tour wasn't part of them, although run by the same company. I went across the street again and finally found our guide. But, by now is was 7:45-7:50. So, while we all finally found the right group, there was wondering around, trying to call (and getting no one who could help) and finally feeling like we missed out on the front part of the line by 30 minutes so we were significantly back in the line. All-in-all, a terrible start to the day.

Our guide was very knowledgeable and passionate and her Catholic faith and history. She really made the tour very special.

We had a phenomenal tour of the Vatican, exclusive access to the Sistine Chapel, and then of the Colosseum and Forum with Maria Daga. We have visited the Sistine Chapel a few times before, including another early access, and this visit with our family was really outstanding thanks to Maria and Irina. They were extremely knowledgeable, and Maria in particular was engaging, flexible, and knowledgeable enough to adjust her content to each person in our small group. We had great access, weren’t rushed, and plenty of time to take in the best parts of the Sistine Chapel and Vatican. Maria was a real treasure….I’d ask for her and would highly recommend!!

We toured the Vatican early morning with Irene and can I say that this experience was SO well worth it. Our family of 7 had the entire Sistine Chapel and galleries leading up to it basically to ourselves! Made it so special and such that we could truly take every fresco and painting in without the overwhelming pressure of 'moving on to the next one' with hundreds of people surrounding us. The Sistine Chapel is a once in a lifetime experience, with so much history and so this tour is truly not one to be missed!! 100/100 would recommend the investment.

Kristina was the most amazing tour guide. She was extremely knowledgeable but was a lot of fun to be around. She went out of her way to make everybody feel very included and was extremely sympathetic to those of us who could not keep up as well as the younger people. This was one of the best tours I have ever been on and it was thanks to Kristina.

Guide was good. We booked a 6 person tour but instead they put 4 other people with us, so we paid extra for no reason

Amazing! This was my third time to the Vatican but this time I took my adult/teen children and wife and we used a tour guide. It was a small group of 9. Just 2 families. She was great. She does this 4 days a week and all the guards knew her by name. If you want to see the Sistine Chapel, then you have to go early. We were one of the first to enter and with her connections basically did not wait on anything. We also entered a section in the Vatican Museums usually off limits to the public, a section with many animal statues and other mosaics. She gave us so much history and culture. My children said it was AP World History made real. You could tell she truly loved what she did.

I'm giving it a 1 . Our visit was Saturday July 2nd. 7:30. Whoever the guide was, an older lady was absolutely HORRIBLE. She was completely disorganized, boring and didn't know what she was talking about. For example, the line at the back of St. Peter's Basilica which shows the distance to the altar.....she said it's "a political thing". We didn't know that 1/2 of the 'early morning vatican' tour was mostly St. Peter's basilica. We booked a separate tour at 2pm in the afternoon for the grottoes and dome but the grottoes was part of the early vatican tour and if we decided to, then we could've gone to the dome with the early morning tour. The only good thing about going back for our 2 pm grottoes and dome tour...it was mostly a tour of St. Peters and that tour guide made sense, knew her information and was interesting. That's when I realized our morning guide for this tour was absolutely clueless and making things up.

Our guide was fantastic. She was able to take us to areas not normally open to the public. The early morning tour is so worth it to beat the crowds.

Tour was AMAZING! Rosie B. Our guide was knowledgeable, funny, attentive and professional!! Upon arrival, company was organized and made it very easy to meet up with group! Highly recommend it!!

This was an OK experience. We arrived at the designated location at the 7:15 am time and no one was there. We paid for early morning tour at 7:30 am but we did not even find our tour guide until 8:00 am and then did not get into the Vatican until after 8:30 am. The Vatican opened at 7:30 am and we should have just walked in with the others who were there at that time - very few people. The tour company seemed very unorganized. We saw several other tours and tour leaders who were organized and ready. Our leader was just talking but was not talking to us - there were only 6 of us - and she was zero engaging or interested. We could not hear our leader half of the time because she would not speak into the microphone - everyone in our group asked her to speak up. She seemed nice but just not giving much information and kind of ignoring her party. My husband and I joined (followed behind) another group later in the day and the information and quality of tour was MUCH BETTER! You can get a better tour if you just do the self paced per-recorded tour. In our opinion, it was a bust.

Great experience, though we had 9 in our group instead of 6. Our tour group met in front of the Vatican Museum entrance just before 7:30 and entered right at 8am. Our guide Cecilia was extremely knowledgeable and spoke great English. Plenty of time to take pictures along the tour as well. We ended our tour in St Peter’s Basilica, but stayed longer to go see the catacombs. We were there probably 4 hours total. Would not have been the same experience in a larger group or later in the day.

Our guide was very knowledgeable providing a lot of historical detail on religious, political, and cultural levels that influenced the art and architectural changes through time. Bella!

We had an awesome tour with our tour guide Stephanie you can tell she loves what she does and was so knowledgeable. She explained everything in such amazing detail. Stephanie is also very respectful of the Vatican and all that encompasses.

Stunning organization, marvelous service. Walk inside Rome is, as usual, simply the best. One of italys finest concierge and tour services ever.

Rosi was our guide for the experience and she was A+. Not just knowledgeable but also passionate and a great story teller. She was patient w questions and made the overall experience incredibly fun.

Walk Inside Rome has the best, most informed guides and they never disappoint! From the first inquiry through the tour they are also the most gracious and accommodating. Our most recent guide at the Vatican was TEO, knowledgeable, friendly, and someone who clearly loves the city of Rome. The owner of WIR, Marilena is hands on, and considers you a friend after the first tour!

Very impressed and happy - From booking to the tour, everything was very smooth. I had some questions about the tour before booking - sent an email with responses prompt and the relevant information. We did the early morning Vatican Tour with Walks Inside Rome with our guide Barbara, who was amazing. Spending the extra money was worth the experience of WIR, in depth knowledge of the guide, early access to the Vatican and the path/route to see the highlights and relevant areas of the Vatican. Would highly recommend for anyone to book this tour, and would consider them for other tours next time in Rome! Thanks to the team at WIR and special shout out to Barbara who was so very considerate (my Mom was 89 years old and visiting the Vatican for the first time, making sure my Mom was at the front and able to see everything even though she was a tiny bit slower than everyone else! Grazie Mille!

I have used this company several times and I would never come to Italy and not use their services. They are professional, fun, knowledgable and timely. We have used them over the course of 10 years when my kids were little to now having teenagers. We have used them in multiple cities and countless tours. I want to go back on a couples trip and take cooking classes. I can’t write enough good things about them but trust me book them and really get a sense from of Italy from The locals. Worth every penny. Ciao!

We did the early morning Vatican tour with Walks Inside Rome. Our guide, Lea, was great. She took time to learn our interests (geology for my daughter) and pointed out items that spoke to that interest. She was easy to understand and speak with and our tour flowed smoothly and never felt rushed or too slow. Lea was amazing and I would definitely book with Walks Inside Rome again.

Barbara was absolutely fantastic! She was knowledgeable, funny and able to help us navigate in a way that maximized our time and experience. We would wholeheartedly suggest spending the extra money for the private early morning tour- skipping the horrible lines and minimizing wading through the masses on overcrowded group tours. We were able to see things that other tour guides don’t have access to and learned so much without feeling overwhelmed by trying to figure out what to see as there is SO much! We would absolutely book again with WIR and Barbara!

You'll be in line for HOURS trying to access both of these places, just to save money, but the information you get and the special accesses are 100000% worth the price. Best money I spent the whole trip. My only issue was finding the tour guide in the morning - it's run by a smaller org, not trip advisor, so it was hard to find my guide in the morning, but I got there early enough and called the number on the ticket and found them eventually. Otherwise, HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

they give you a discount on Wednesdays--I should have known something was up. You don't see the basilica--without question the highlight of the Vatican. The pope holds a huge outdoor mass there every Wednesday and is not part of the tour. We had to go back at the end of the day on our own. So the tour spends and wastes a lot of time in the museum on nonsense--staring at maps of Italy for example. They say early morning to avoid crowds--by the time you get in,form the plan,the guide buys the admission tickets and you get to wherever he takes you--its basically wall to wall people!!!

Our lovely tour guide (Katia?) spent the first 30 minutes, while we waited for the doors to open, preparing us for our visit to the Sistine Chapel, both from a historical, religious and art historical perspective, which was fascinating. Her breadth of knowledge and experience was impressive and she was so sweet with our children, really encouraging them to engage with the tour. We were lucky enough to be in a group of only 7 and because we arrived early, we were at the front of the queue when the doors opened. It also meant that our visit was before the worst heat of the day. Not only was the tour amazing but Katia gave us access to rooms not accessible to other tour groups - which was a real treat. A tour of the Vatican and St Peters’ Basilica is a ‘must’ whilst in Rome and this one was excellent.

We did the early morning Vatican tour with Max. The tour was excellent, provided the appropriate amount of information and we all enjoyed it. We were also able to bypass lines upon entry which was great. Beginning the tour early in the morning also helped us to avoid some of the crowds which we appreciated. Thank you and we highly recommend this tour when visiting the Vatican!

The highlight of our trip to Rome was our private Early Morning Vatican Tour for four people. We met Adnan at 7:30 am in front of the Vatican Museum and he whisked us away through many rooms of the Vatican Museum to ensure we were first in line for the 8:00 am time slot to get into the Sistine Chapel. The prize was getting to see one of the most amazing works of art with far fewer people than if you went during the slots later in the day. We then double backed going through rooms we\'d run through with Adnan providing great context for what we were seeing and eventually ending up in the wonder that is St. Peter\'s Basilica. Adnan\'s knowledge was immense - he had at least 10 years of university studies in art and architecture and spoke English very well. We felt like VIPs and were so grateful that we got to experience the Vatican in our small group with such a talented guide. Many thanks to Adnan for this fabulous experience.

My tour guide at walks inside Rome made it so much more interesting. It was only me and 2 other people, so we were all able to ask so many questions. He was informative, practical, and made it a wonderful experience. I highly recommend this tour company, especially our tour guide Max.

We booked a Vatican tour with your company and happily Barbera was our guide on Tuesday, June 4. We wanted you to know how fantastic she was and so very knowledgeable. You are lucky to have her as one of your guides.