private vatican tour

Vatican Tours

Vatican City offers countless artistic and architectural treasures, and you’ll be able to make the m...

Our tours in Vatican

Pristine Sistine™ Early Entrance Small Group Vatican Tour

The Complete Vatican Tour with Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter’s Basilica

Rome in a Day Tour: Including Vatican, Colosseum & Historic Center

Pristine Sistine at Closing Time: Late Entry Vatican Tour

St. Peter’s Basilica from Top to Bottom with Dome Climb & Crypt

VIP Vatican Key Master’s Tour: Unlock the Sistine Chapel

Alone In The Vatican: Exclusive VIP Access Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel Tour

What to know about vatican from our local guides.

What should I not miss in the Vatican Museums?

The Vatican Museums house 70,000 of the world’s greatest artistic treasures, of which 20,000 are on display. From ancient Roman sculptures to Renaissance paintings, it would take days to discover it all, which is why we highly recommend booking a Vatican tour to help you make the most of your time at the museums.

A few of the collection’s undisputed highlights are:

The Sistine Chapel, adorned with Michelangelo’s legendary frescoes
The Raphael Rooms, which include the famous School of Athens
The Gallery of the Maps, perhaps the most famous of the Museums’ galleries adorned with 40 maps depicting the different regions of Italy
Laocoön and His Sons, an enigmatic masterpiece of ancient sculpture
The Belvedere Torso, which is said to have influenced the work of Michelangelo himself

The Sistine Chapel is perhaps the most famous individual room in the entire world. This is in no small part due to the significant artistic masterpieces adorning its interior, with Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment” and ceiling frescoes being the highlights.

Pope Sixtus IV, the chapel’s namesake, commissioned its construction in the late 15th century. Today, its best-known use is for the papal conclaves, the process through which a new pope is elected by the College of Cardinals. It also serves as the Pope’s own private chapel when he is at the Vatican.

Want to have the Sistine Chapel all to yourself, just like the Pope? Avoid the crowds on a VIP tour outside opening hours. For a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience, you can even accompany the Vatican Key Master himself as he opens the silent halls and galleries in the Vatican Museums early in the morning—including the Sistine Chapel.

What can I see inside St. Peter’s Basilica?

As the largest church in the world, St. Peter’s Basilica is itself a masterpiece of art and architecture. It houses some of the most significant religious art in the world, including Michelangelo’s moving Pietà sculpture and the Baldachin, Bernini’s massive bronze altar canopy.

Michelangelo was also the mastermind behind the famous dome crowning the basilica. Climbing the dome is a fantastic way to see not just the incredible mosaics lining the interior up close, but also to feast your eyes on spectacular views over Rome from the very top. Keep in mind that there are over 500 steps to get to the top of the dome from ground level, though an elevator is available to bypass approximately the first half. Underneath the Basilica, the Papal Crypts mark the final resting place of some of the most important Popes in Catholic history.

A guided tour of St. Peter’s Basilica will give you an up-close look at all of these treasures and more. Led by an expert art historian guide, you’ll see a side of the world’s most iconic church that few others get to experience.

Is it possible to get skip the line tickets for the Vatican?

The best and easiest way to ensure you skip the line at the Vatican is to book a guided tour . With no-wait access to the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica, you’ll save precious hours of time that would have been spent in line. Plus, you'll be in the company of an insightful guide who can provide context on the innumerable masterpieces that can be hard to make sense of on your own.

What are the Vatican Museums’ opening hours?

The Vatican Museums are open Monday to Saturday from 9 am–6 pm. They tend to get more crowded the later in the day you go, so consider booking an early morning Vatican tour to get ahead of the crowds and ensure a more relaxed visit.

For an especially exclusive experience, consider joining the Vatican Key Master himself as he unlocks the silent halls, galleries, and even the Sistine Chapel first thing in the morning before the Museums open to the public. Accompanied by a small group of just 20 other people, the Key Master’s Tour is the most special way to experience the Vatican in total peace and quiet.

Don’t want to get up early? Another excellent option is to take a special access tour after closing time to wander the halls of the Vatican in peace—and have the Sistine Chapel all to yourself.

From May through October, the Vatican Museums offer extended opening hours until 10:30 pm on Fridays and 8 pm on Saturdays. Taking a night tour of the Vatican is a once-in-a-lifetime experience you won’t soon forget!

The Museums are closed most Sundays (except for the last Sunday of every month) and on certain public holidays.

The Vatican is a religious site, and official rules mandate that visitors dress appropriately or risk being turned away. All guests regardless of gender are required to keep their shoulders and knees covered. In warmer months, it’s useful to have a shawl, scarf, or light jacket handy to pull on when entering the Vatican if your outfit doesn’t meet the dress code standards. Additionally, hats are not allowed.

While the Vatican dress code doesn’t have any hard-and-fast rules regarding footwear, keep in mind that you’ll be doing a lot of walking on your Vatican tour. As long as you have comfortable shoes that are good for walking, you’re all set.

What are the best restaurants near the Vatican?

While there aren’t any restaurants within Vatican City itself, the surrounding Prati and Trionfale neighborhoods offer plenty of excellent options—particularly if you don’t mind walking a few blocks away (or further) from the Vatican walls. For a quick, on-the-go option, Anthony Bourdain-approved Bonci Pizzarium serves up some of the best pizza by the slice in Rome. In the mood for a sit-down meal after spending hours on your feet at the Vatican? Velavevodetto ai Quiriti—the Prati outpost of Testaccio icon Flavio al Velavevodetto—is perfect for home-cooked Roman classics.

Check out our popular Vatican articles

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Private Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter's Basilica Tour

With our amazing Reserved Entrance access we get you into the Vatican quickly and easily ready to enjoy a private tour. This is a once in a lifetime experience to enjoy an unforgettable visit to the Vatican.
Explore the Vatican like a VIP on this intimate private tour. Marvel at Michelangelo’s awe-inspiring Sistine Chapel and Last Judgement and bask in the beauty of the Vatican’s many opulent galleries, before immersing yourself in the jewel of the Vatican, St. Peter’s Basilica.
Tailor your Vatican experience to perfectly suit your needs and interests on this private tour. In the company of an expert, English-speaking guide , explore the Vatican at your own pace as you navigate through the museums.

Make the Most of a Vatican Tour with us

What's included.

Reserved Access into the Vatican Museums
Vatican Museums entrance ticket and reservation fee
Access to the Sistine Chapel
Skip the Line entrance into St. Peter’s Basilica
Intimate private experience
Expert, English-speaking tour guide

Sites Visited

Vatican Museums
Sistine Chapel
Gallery of Maps
Gallery of Tapestries
St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's Square

Our customers will benefit from our Reserved Entrance, so you can make the most of your precious vacation time as you are whisked straight inside in a matter of minutes. All of our guides are experts in their field and fluent English speakers, making them the perfect people to lead your journey through the Vatican Museums. In the company of your passionate guide, you can tailor your experience to suit your interests and needs, as they answer your questions and enthral you with fascinating insights as you explore.

Follow your interests in the Vatican Museum

Choose to explore parts of the Vatican Museums that interest you or opt for our classic Vatican route. Our classic highlights tour visits the Sistine Chapel and a diverse range of galleries covering ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, maps, tapestries and precious relics.

Whatever you choose, rest assured that your guide will be the perfect host – well-versed in the history, art and architecture of the Vatican and able to answer all your questions. Experience the masterpieces of the Vatican at a higher level when you spot the little details and hear the stories behind the artworks.

Your expert guide will provide a fascinating commentary as you explore the Pinecone Courtyard, the Gallery of Tapestries, the Gallery of Candelabra and the wonderful Hall of Maps. There is so much to see and learn, and now is a great time to do so in peace and quiet.

A highlight of your tour will no doubt be the Sistine Chapel. Your guide will share the hidden meanings depicted in the Last Judgement, where Michelangelo painted his personal vendettas and private jokes. Insights from your passionate guide will help you truly appreciate this artistic marvel and give you a better understanding into the complex character who created it.

From the Sistine Chapel we’ll use a special access door to gain entry directly to St. Peter’s Basilica, allowing us once again to skip the long lines that form outside St. Peter’s Basilica, so you can really optimize your time at the Vatican. Inside the Basilica your guide will excite you with tales and anecdotes surrounding the many breath-taking artworks that call the basilica home. Marvel at the monumental carved altar and the incredible architecture of Christianity’s most iconic church.

In just three hours you’ll see the very best of the Vatican on our Private Vatican Tour. Without a tour group to influence your route, you can spend as long as you like appreciating the works and artefacts that most pique your interest, while moving quickly through areas that don’t. With your own dedicated expert, English-speaking guide, you’ll be enthralled throughout this immersive tour; we take the hassle out of the day so you can have a truly once-in-a-lifetime Vatican experience. Especially now, with the lack of crowds!

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Important Notes

Appropriate dress is required for entry into some sites on this tour. Knees, shoulders, and backs must be covered.
Please note that in case of unexpected closures of some of the areas inside the Museums, the guide may have to modify the itinerary slightly.
On Wednesday mornings St. Peter's Basilica may be closed to the public due to the Papal Audience taking place in St. Peter’s Square. Customers who wish to visit St. Peter’s Basilica are advised to travel on another day. St. Peter's Basilica and other religious sites are subject to occasional closures for religious ceremonies. When this occurs, we will provide guests with an extended tour of the Vatican Museums, or appropriate alternative. In these cases we are unable to provide refunds or discounts.

Cancelation Policy

This tour is subject to a 24-hour cancelation policy. If you wish to cancel or amend your booking, you can do so without charge by contacting us up to 24 hours in advance of your expected departure time.

The tours meet at a location very close and convenient to the entrance of the Vatican Museums. Full details of the exact location are included on the confirmation voucher you will receive when you book your tour.

It is possible to climb the Dome on your own if you wish, however you will need to purchase a ticket directly on site. Our tours do not include a visit to the Dome. Please note that if you intend to climb the Dome after your tour ends, you should make sure to book a morning tour (not on a Wednesday) as the Dome access is already closed in the afternoon before our afternoon tours reach Saint Peter’s Basilica, and the Basilica is often closed on Wednesday mornings.

Wheelchairs are available at the Vatican. You will need to send a request to the Vatican before your visit. Please note that you should request them by sending an email to this address: [email protected] Wheelchairs are free of charge.

If you bring your own wheelchair, please let us know while booking your private tour so that we can arrange the perfect tour for you.

Book with Confidence: Free cancellations up to 24 hours before the experience begins (local time).
Multilingual Customer Service: Talk to us, we are here to help.
No Hidden Costs: All taxes and fees included.

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Vatican tours, vatican museums tours, get to know city wonders.

A City Wonders tour is the product of meticulous research, detailed planning, and a passion for providing customers with travel experiences they will cherish forever.

With City Wonders it's not just facts, our passionate guides tell you the stories that bring the sights to life.

All of our guides are experts in their field
We only hire fluent English-speakers so nothing is ever lost in translation
We focus on the little details and anecdotes that make City Wonders so special

Tour Overview

Join us for the ultimate VIP Vatican experience on a private tour of the Vatican museums, and embark on a whirlwind journey through thousands of years of history and art. The spectacular Vatican collections are unique in the world: where else can you witness Michelangelo and Raphael’s crowning achievements, the greatest sculptures of the ancient world, priceless tapestries, Renaissance maps and jaw-dropping Renaissance architecture all under one roof? Treat yourself to the luxury of a private art-historian guide and discover the miraculous masterpieces of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel and Raphael’s incredible frescoes. Learn about the fascinating story of the Renaissance as the past is brought to life by our expert, and customize your visit to suit your interests. Skip the lines at St. Peter’s and gaze on Michelangelo’s touching Pietà as well as Bernini’s majestic canopy above St. Peter’s altar. This is the Vatican at its best - experience it with us!

In-depth Vatican experience
Expert English-speaking private guide
Vatican tickets and reservation fees
Skip the lines entry
Fast-track entrance to St. Peter's
Special Pinacoteca visit

The Sistine Chapel
The Raphael Rooms
St. Peter's Basilica with Michelangelo's Pietà
Ancient Greek Sculpture Halls
The Belvedere Courtyard
The Hall of Maps

The Vatican Pinacoteca (Picture Gallery)
Raphael's Transfiguration
Leonardo's St. Jerome
The Laocoon
The Belvedere Torso
The Tapestries Gallery

Tour Description

Explore one of the world's greatest museums with an expert guide.

Our tour of the Vatican is optimized to offer you a VIP experience of the great masterpieces of the Sistine Chapel, the Pinacoteca, the Vatican Museums and Saint Peter's Basilica. There is only one route that brings you to the Sistine Chapel, passing through courtyards and palaces dense with history and studded with works of art. Don't rush through them like a stranger; enjoy them in all their splendour.

Encounter the Genius of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel

Whoever explores the Sistine Chapel through the eyes of Michelangelo, whoever reads in it his thoughts and sentiments, encounters a genius. Who he was, how he lived and what he thought, are some of the themes of our Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel guide tour. Our guides will accompany you into the great building projects of the Italian Renaissance and together we will relive the environment of the Florentine Renaissance and the Papal court in Rome in which Michelangelo created his masterpieces. Our VIP Vatican Tour uncovers the meaning of the figures of Jonah, Adam, Eve, Noah and thousands of others on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and in the Last Judgement, revealing the ideals of Michelangelo and of the Renaissance. Then you will understand how and why these frescoes have changed for ever not only art, but the way in which we look at the world.

Relive the vivid world of the Italian Renaissance in the Raphael Rooms

This was a period of overwhelming enthusiasm and of amazing innovation. The men of the Renaissance didn't merely dream of changing the world - they really revolutionised it. The printing press, the geographic maps with which Columbus reached the Americas, modern science, architecture, art and the sense of beauty (a concept demonized in the Middle Ages), all these were their creations. The frescoes of the Raphael rooms perfectly depict the world of the contemporary courts that governed the course of this new world and where the great geniuses of the age called home. The cultured conversations fueled by the wine of sumptuous banquets, the statues brought to light by a frenzied passion for excavations, new fashions, and above all new ways of thinking and living, are marvellously recreated by Raphael with the perfect touch of his graceful brush. On this Vatican private tour we will have the opportunity to experience this amazing world in the flesh. Indeed there is an entire world to discover here, a world of which we ourselves are the children.

Discover the incredible ancient sculpture collections of the Vatican

Some of the most important works that we will discover, such as timeless Greek masterpieces like the Laocoon , the Belvedere Torso and the Apollo Belvedere , were excavated at the time of Michelangelo and Raphael, who studied and admired them in the same architectural context in which they are preserved today. The artworks that they created are the fruit of their careful study. And so, we too will pass through the Pinecone courtyard, the Belvedere courtyard and the tapestry galleries, discovering a selection of masterpieces with a guide capable of recreating the climate of the epoch, helping you to appreciate the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel in their historical context.

Gaze on works by Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio and Raphael in the Pinacoteca

Some of the finest paintings of the Vatican Museums are collected in the Pinacoteca, still ignored by most tours. In this tranquil part of the Vatican museums it is possible to appreciate the explosive force of Leonardo's Saint Jerome and the spectacular realism of Caravaggio's Deposition , an artist of absolute and ungovernable genius. We will also encounter Raphael's Transfiguration, a work that would be his last when, struck by a terrible fever, he died at the height of his fame at the tender age of 37.

From the Sistine Chapel we will directly enter St. Peter's Basilica without waiting in line

Learn the story of 2,000 years of faith in St. Peter's Basilica

This part of our guided visit will bring us to the heart of the Christian faith, and along the way we will discover an incredible collection of relics and religious tokens that have accumulated here over the course of nearly 2,000 years at the site of St. Peter's tomb. Our Vatican group tour is optimized to allow you to experience these amazing objects in their original context. At the same time you will have the chance to admire and understand enchanting works of art such as Michelangelo's Pietà , a work whose intimate embrace overflows with such tenderness that it can move even the hardest viewer to tears. The masterpieces of Bernini , the great genius of the Italian Baroque, also dominate St. Peter's, and the spectacular eponymous piazza dazzles with astounding optical effects. It is here that the faithful have gathered for centuries to celebrate the great events of Christianity, from the election of new popes to solemn masses. We will bring you here to read a history that will also become our own, a history lived by the protagonists of our fascinating Vatican private tour itineraries.

The Basilica of St.Peter's may be subject to unscheduled closings and late openings for religious ceremonies. Because these are often last-minute for security reasons, we do not have time to notify our guests. We will provide you with a complete experience by exploring the Vatican Museums in more detail and cannot provide any refunds in these circumstances.

meeting point

Tour Reviews

5.0 (41 reviews)

We met our guide outside the entrance to the Vatican museum. The tour was completely private, just the guide, my wife, and I. We got through security and the ticket line in about 5 minutes total and got right inside the museum first thing. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable about everything we saw. He walked us through the history of the art from the late medieval period through the Baroque period with a heavy focus on the renaissance works of Rafael and Michelangelo. The art collection was stunning and we couldn't have asked for a better guide. After lunch we got to see the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica and they were gorgeous. The whole experience was excellent.

Anonymous - Sep 28, 2023

Just wanted to inform your company management, that the guide we had was exceptionally informed on areas of the vatican art, history, & the smallest details so many ignore in the telling of a most revered subject. We wanted to thank you for employing such an intelligent and interesting woman, to teach us the joy of viewing from her historical point of view. It was a long journey for us all, to get to this site & being from Louisiana we appreciated how wonderful and vivid storyteller she was by making the art come alive. The Vatican is a piece of history that must continue to pull others into its survival, for no other reason than to remind humanity of the challenges of perseverance of life forces. When we are to able to recommend your company’s service , I would also advise them to ask for Guia Grandi. We were well pleased with her job performance.

Debbie - Jun 20, 2023

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