What To Expect

What‘s Included

Reviews

• Great Tour of Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel & St Peter's Basilica - Sylvia was awesome

  MrPotter PE,Mar 27, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  We bought the 8am Vatican + Sistine + Basilica tour for end of March 2026. There was a line about half way up the stairs near the waiting point at Caffe Vatican. The person at the bottom of the stairs will asign you to one of the multiple City Wonders groups. The line went fast. Basically, the earlier you get there, the sooner you will start your tour. I'd say we were on the middle to the tail end of all the groups. We were assigned to Sylvia, who was fantastic. She gave each of us an audio receiver tuned to the channel of her microphone along with a new-in-the-bag earphone for a single ear. We also got a Sistine Chapel brochure. We then finally left the meeting point and joined the long line to enter Vatican Museums. The line went not quickly, but not super slow either. When you enter the building / entrance, you have left Italy and you are in Vatican City. You go through security right after entering the entrance, putting your phone and any metal etc. through scanner and go through a metal detector. We paused after the security check to allow a bathroom break as our tour guide went and did the paperwork for the "border crossing" into Vatican City. We then rode up an escalator, did the Pinecone Courtyard, saw Laocoon, one of the most amazing sculptures of all time. We also saw many other sculptures, the sarcophagi of Constantine's mother and daughter, amazing medieval tapestries, and the Gallery of Maps. The Gallery of Maps was incredible. We got 20 minutes for the Sistine Chapel. They just finished restoring the Last Judgment early, just 3 days before our tour, and so we were glad that we got to see that. It was busy there, but not as bad as later in the day and peak tourist season. We met at the opposite side of sistine chapel, at the large wooden door. We then exited from the Sistine Chapel and took the exclusive direct access to the Basilica, bypassing security. We stopped at the Holy Doors, which are opened every jubilee (last was in 2025, and next is in is a "special" jubilee in 2033). Our guide said the jubiliee tradition started in the 1300s. We then entered the basilica and viewed La Pietà (lah pee-eh-TAH), which Michelangelo finished when he was only 22 years old. Incredible. Our tour guide then walked us to the dome, the sculpture of Peter with the keys, Bernini's Baldachin, discussed the masaic tile paintings in the dome, showed us the entrance to the grottoes, and finished with a mosaic tile painting that looks like a painting until you get really close. The tour then ended and we returned the audio receivers. These belong to the Vatican and you will be charged if you don't return it. Our tour finished at 10:45 am. We then walked to the entrance to climb the dome / cupola at the Basilica. It was a fairly short line. We bought the full climb tickets - no elevator for us. But it may have helped a bit, because our total step count for the whole day was 22,047 with a total of 76 flights climbed. We also did the Colosseum, Forum, and Palatine Hill on the same day as the Vatican Tour and Basilica Dome Climb. Our legs were sore. Anyway, we bought the dome climb tickets online a week or so before for an 11am time slot. They did not look at our time when they scanned our tickets. But they do only allow up a certain number at a time. It tooks us about 10-15 minutes to climb to the terrace and then climb the dome. We stopped on the terrace on the way up and took pics of the apostles, then continued the climb. We entered the dome and took some pics of the mosaics and the view down into the Basilica. It gets a bit narrow and it leans a bit to one way as you climb the dome. It is an amazing view of Rome. We descended the dome back to the terrace. We stopped at the souvenir shop on the terrace on the way down. There is also a snack shop. We got a Christmas ornament and a post card. We then descended from the terrace. There was a family with a couple of young German boys who kept saying "schneller schneller" and "rapido rapido" on the way down. Ahh the exuberance of youth. It was pretty funny. We were back to the Basilica by 11:30am. We went through the grottoes, then left. Our Colosseum tour was at 2:30pm. We went back to the hotel and rested a bit, then went to Pizza & Foccacia IV Fontane for lunch. It was soo good. We then took the metro to the Colosseum. They will not let you enter any earlier than 15 minutes before your timed ticket. We got the Full Experience without guide. And so we got access to the main level, the main arena platform area, and the second level. That's it. We just listened to the Rick Steve's Colosseum audio tour. FYI: it starts on the outside. Anyway, we then went to the Forum and listened to the Rick Steve's Forum audio tour. We entered one buildings that was exclusive to the "Full Access" tickets, but it really was not that big of a deal. The Curia Iulia (Roman Senate House) was closed the day we went. Apparently it is open only Saturdays, Sunday, and Mondays. We then climbed up to Palatine Hill and toured the massive homes up there as well as enjoyed the view of the Forum from the lofty hill position. GPT and may online said Vatican Tour at 8am, Cupola climb at 11am, and Colosseum tour at 2:30pm was a bit tight. It wasn't at all. But it a bit tiring. We went back and took a quick nap, then went to dinner.

• Great tour

  naomihU7364FE,Mar 27, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Excellent tour. Marina was a great guide. Your was informative but moved at a good pace! Would recommend!

• Really enjoyable and informative tour!

  ShirleyB2088,Mar 27, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Very well organised tour with a warm and extremely knowledgeable guide, Silvia. She was clearly very experienced and managed a group of 20 effortlessly and calmly always ready to answer questions. This was my second tour of the Vatican, the last being ten years ago, and it definitely pays to go early, ie: 8.00am. It was pretty busy even then and it's still March and only gets busier once Easter arrives. This was a great experience thanks to the quality of our guide. Would recommend!

• Phenomenal

  samboM13,Mar 27, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  the Basilica is just amazing. Our tour was terrific. If there is any guide more knowledgeable than our guide that we had, I wouldn’t believe you. She was remarkable.

• Great tour, Iman may be the best tour guide I have had.

  Christine M,Mar 27, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Great tour. Iman was the best tour guide ever

• Great Vatican Education

  suzannemJ4405ET,Mar 26, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  I loved that the group was small, only 18 people, so everyone could stay close. The earpieces worked well and it was easy to understand the guide. She was informative, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and was able to sneak in a few extra stops not always easy to see.

• A well planned tour

  awill50,Mar 26, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Terrific! Our guide was very knowledgeable and pleasant. Her presentation was well-organized with an emphasis on the works of Michaelangelo. One suggestion: I would have liked a larger, printed map than the small brochure we were given.

• Great tour in Vatican City

  patriciaoN588YU,Mar 26, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Had an amazing time on this tour. Was great to bypass enterance line as it was hailing the day we went. Stephanie our tour guide was a wealth of knowledge. She made sure we all had enough time to see things and take pictures. Kept our 3 high schoolers engaged.

• Lorelei was a great guide!

  480kaitlinc,Mar 26, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Booked with City Wonders, our guide. Lorelei was excellent! Very accommodating for one in our party with mobility issues. Gave us plenty of time in each area and was very knowledgeable. She has a lot of experience and was able to answer lots of questions. It was just under 3 hours. The entire area is very crowded but with the provided headsets and specific color flag it's no problem to stay together.

  

  

  

• Amazing!

  TrailBlazer228367,Mar 25, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Simone was a fantastic tour guide. So informative and interesting…we learned so much that we do not know about Rome and the history behind the Vatican City. Amazing trip, that I would thoroughly recommend.

  

  

  

  
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