Rome: Complete Early Morning Vatican Tour | Small Group

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Overview

Available languages

English

3 hours 30 minutes

Mobile ticket

Meet at our comfortable offices less than a block from the museum entrance. Join our small group Vatican tour in the early morning with a top-notch tour guide and get the earliest entrance available to the museums, Sistine Chapel & Raphael Rooms. In a small group, you will be able to discover with no rush the extraordinary abundance of history and art.

Your guide will tour you through these corridors and halls, pointing out the exhibits on display. Once through, the Sistine Chapel awaits you.

The finale of our early entry Vatican tours culminates in St. Peter’s Basilica. Majestic and inspired, it is the perfect place to come full circle on the morning’s itinerary. Feast your eyes on Michelangelo’s Pietà and admire the stunning interior of the dome he designed, as well as Bernini’s massive bronze baldachin sitting over the Pope’s private alter directly above St. Peter’s tomb and other little-known details that can only be spotted when inside!

Additional Info

Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller

Public transportation options are available nearby

Suitable for all physical fitness levels

MEETING POINT IS VIA SANTAMAURA 14B, What A Life Tours

Under 18s aged 0-6 must book as "Child", under 18s aged 7-17 must book as "Youth". This is the age they will be on the day of the tour with us. Failure to book correctly will mean we cannot get your child inside the museums.

The ticket is valid only for the date and time reserved. We are unable to accommodate late arrivals due to a time entrance of the Vatican Museums tour voucher. Missed tours or tickets due to late arrivals are non-refundable. Please allow extra time to reach the meeting point as Rome's streets can be confusing. Meeting time is 15 minutes before the start time of the tour.

A dress code is required to enter places of worship and selected museums. No shorts or sleeveless tops allowed. ALL participants MUST cover their knees and shoulders. You may risk refused entry if you fail to comply with these dress requirements.

While the Vatican Museums are equipped with elevators for wheelchair access, they are not conveniently located on the group tour route and only give access to specific sections of the Museums. As a result, we cannot accommodate wheelchairs/walkers on this tour.

Please remember to bring with you a valid ID document for all participants.

We cannot accommodate service animals.

Please notice that we are not responsible for the number of visitors the Vatican Museums allow inside.

Large umbrellas are not permitted, please leave these at your accommodation.

No pictures, videos, or even speaking is allowed in the Sistine Chapel.

We recommend that you bring your own headphones as the ones provided by the Vatican have a single earpiece only, and you may prefer to use both earbuds to hear the guide better.

St. Peter's Basilica is an active parish and therefore subject to last-minute closures due to mass or other religious events. In these cases, we will offer an extended tour of the Vatican Museums (including areas normally not part of the tour). Please note that 2025 is the Jubilee year, closures of St. Peter's Basilica can happen anytime without further notice. No refunds are recognized for unexpected closures.

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

What‘s Included

Meet your guide at our comfortable offices near the Museums' entrance

Skip-the-line access to St. Peter’s Basilica

Headsets to hear the guide

Entry to the Sistine Chapel

Small group

Expert English-speaking tour guide

3.5-hour guided tour

Early entrance guaranteed

Hotel pickup and drop-off

What To Expect

1

The activity starts directly at our office located conveniently very close to the Museums' entrance.

Admission Not Applicable
2

Vatican Museums

The Vatican Museums feature many works of art that belonged to the different Popes and are full of artistic beauty. Here is a glimpse of some of the most beautiful things to see in the Vatican Museums. Rooms and Galleries of the Vatican Museums, as the Greek Cross Room, the Gallery of Maps, the Gallery of Tapestries, Raphael Rooms and much more! From a relatively small collection of statues brought in by Julius II, it grew into a gigantic museum to a point that nobody even knows how many items are kept in the vaults and galleries of the Vatican.

1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Included

Options

Complete Early Morning Tour

Sistine Chapel & Pinacoteca

Duration: 3 hours: Admire the amazing Vatican Pinacoteca in this Wednesday's Special itinerary.
Museums & Sistine Chapel: Please note this tour does not include St. Peter's Basilica but will go to the marvelous Pinacoteca instead.
Before the Crowds Early Entry: EXCLUSIONS: -St.Peter's Basilica

Reviews

4.93

2,118 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

2016
66
22
10
4
  • Couples Tour

    Kellie C,

    Oct 25, 2025

    - Viator

    5.00

    Mario was so entertaining and a great guide. We moved very efficiently through the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. Very happy I booked this tour.

  • Amazing tour!

    Kaitlyn B,

    Oct 21, 2025

    - Viator

    5.00

    My mom and I thoroughly enjoyed this tour and was well worth the money spent. Our guide Lucia made the experience that much better. She was engaging, funny, and so knowledgeable. She kept our interest throughout the whole tour. Highly recommend!

  • Great tour of the Vatican

    John H,

    Oct 17, 2025

    - Viator

    5.00

    Tony was a great guide. He was very knowlegeable about the Vatican museums and shared that knowlege with us. The pace of the tour was good and included timely bathroom breaks. I highly recommend going on a morning guided tour as mornings are less crowded and the guided tour gets you in and touring sooner than if you went on your own, even with a timed entry.

  • Early Morning Skip the Line Vatican Tour

    Sharon R,

    Oct 14, 2025

    - Viator

    5.00

    Our tour guide was very knowledgeable. The tour was fast paced and filled with so many facts about the Vatican, its art, the history of Rome and all the Popes. Our guide gave us an art history lesson of Michelangelo’s frescos in the Sistine chapel to prepare us for what we would see. She knew so much about Michelangelo and all of the sculptures, frescos, maps, tapestries, etc. that we saw during our tour. It was great having the headsets to be able to hear her. It was well worth doing the skip the line tour AND the early morning tour.

  • Vatican early morning tour

    Kenneth S,

    Oct 14, 2025

    - Viator

    5.00

    Wonderful experience in the Vatican! Lara was our guide. She explained everything so we understood , waited for those who couldn’t keep up and shared an amazing wealth of knowledge. Definitely worth getting up early to do this tour. It was crowded when we got there but when we left it looked like the crowd size tripled! What a life tours also kept us apprised of changes to the tour. Highly recommend!

From €109.00

4.93
2,118 reviews