Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's

Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel before the crowds

4.9/5

About 3,594 reviews on GetYourGuide

The official ticket is 25 euros online. This tour is 109, and buys three things you cannot buy yourself: the first entry of the day, a group of ten or so, and the guides' shortcut from the Sistine Chapel into St Peter's.

Free cancellationUp to 24 hours before, with a full refund
Reserve now, pay laterHold your place today and pay nothing yet
Entry ticket includedBooked for your slot and in the price
Duration: 3 to 3.5 hoursStart times show in the calendar
Live guideEnglish
Small groupUp to 10 people

The Vatican Museums open to the public at 8am, Monday to Saturday, and by 9am the Gallery of Maps moves at the pace of the person in front of you. The whole point of this tour is the hour before that. Early-entry groups go in ahead of the public opening, so the first rooms, the Raphael Rooms and, if you are quick, the Sistine Chapel itself are at their emptiest of the day.

The route is the classic one, done properly. About two hours in the museums: the classical sculpture galleries, the Gallery of Maps, the four Raphael Rooms, then the Sistine Chapel, where guides cannot speak, so the explaining happens before you go in. Then the part that a ticket of your own cannot give you: groups with a licensed guide can take the passage from the Sistine Chapel straight into St Peter's Basilica, skipping the walk back through the museums and the queue in the square, for about half an hour inside the basilica. The whole morning runs three to three and a half hours.

What a Life Tours meets at its own shopfront at Via Santamaura 14B, a few metres from the museums' entrance. The guides are in English only, the group on GetYourGuide's listing is capped at 10, and the price includes the museum ticket, its booking fee and the basilica.

Why this one

There are a dozen early-entry tours of the Vatican on GetYourGuide. This one was rated 4.9 from about 3,600 reviews, with the guides themselves scored 4.9, and its groups are the smallest of the well-reviewed ones. The most-reviewed guided Vatican tour, at 49 euros and about 86,000 reviews, rates 4.3 and runs in big groups at normal opening; a 64-euro version rated 4.7 from about 19,000 is the middle way.

If you do not need a guide, the official skip-the-line ticket is 25 euros online, 20 at the door, and on the last Sunday of the month the museums open free from 9am to 2pm, with a queue to match. If you want the rooms to yourself, nothing you can book on your own does what this tour does.

Compared withVatican: early entry or the standard tour?Borghese Gallery or the Vatican Museums?

Good for

A first visit to the Sistine Chapel without the crush
Art lovers who want the Raphael Rooms explained
Anyone who would rather pay once than queue twice

Not for

Wheelchair users and anyone who cannot keep up a brisk three-hour walk
Late risers and anyone staying a long way out without a taxi
Travellers who need a guide in a language other than English

From our Rome hotels

Walking times are routed from each hotel in our Rome edit to What a Life Tours' shopfront at Via Santamaura 14B, by the museums' entrance. The tour starts before the museums open, so at that hour a taxi is the sensible way from any of them.

ROMEO RomaCampo Marzio31 min walkTaxi, bus or metro
Eitch Borromini Palazzo PamphiljPiazza Navona32 min walkTaxi, bus or metro
Bvlgari Hotel RomaCampo Marzio34 min walkTaxi, bus or metro
Orient Express La MinervaPigna40 min walkTaxi, bus or metro
Donna Camilla SavelliTrastevere41 min walkTaxi, bus or metro
Six Senses RomeCentro Storico43 min walkTaxi, bus or metro
Rhinoceros RomaVelabro53 min walkTaxi, bus or metro
The Inn at the Roman ForumMonti55 min walkTaxi, bus or metro
Palazzo ManfrediColle Oppio64 min walkTaxi, bus or metro
Hotel San AnselmoAventino64 min walkTaxi, bus or metro

The facts

Duration: 3 to 3.5 hours: about 2 hours in the museums, then the Sistine Chapel and St Peter's
Language: English
Group: Up to 10 on GetYourGuide's listing
Included: Early entry ticket and booking fee, a licensed guide, the Sistine Chapel, the passage to St Peter's and a visit inside it
Not included: Hotel pickup, tips, the dome of St Peter's
Official price: 20 euros at the door, 25 with the online skip-the-line booking; free on the last Sunday of the month, 9am to 2pm
Hours: Monday to Saturday 8am to 8pm, last entry 6pm; closed on Sundays except the last of the month
Dress code: Knees and shoulders covered; no shorts, short skirts or sleeveless tops
Cancellation: Free up to 24 hours before
Price: From 109 euros on GetYourGuide; the calendar shows today's price
Run by: What a Life Tours, Rome

What guests keep saying

Recurring themes in the tour’s reviews, in our words, never quoted.

Praised

Guides with the knowledge and the humour to hold a group for three hours
Small groups, which guests say is what makes the Vatican bearable
Running on time, from the shopfront to the basilica

Complaints

The pace: it moves quickly to stay ahead of the crowds, and slower walkers notice

The catch

Late means lost
Entry is timed. The operator does not hold the group for late arrivals and does not refund them, and the meeting time comes before the museums open.
What to do. Take a taxi rather than walking at dawn: from most of our hotels the walk is 30 to 60 minutes.
Shoulders and knees covered
The Vatican turns away shorts, short skirts and sleeveless tops, and that includes St Peter's. Nobody checks the forecast for you.
What to do. Long trousers or a long skirt and a scarf or shirt for your shoulders, even in August.
St Peter's can close without warning
The basilica is a working church. On days with a papal or religious event the shortcut or the basilica may close; the operator then runs a longer museum tour, with no refund.
What to do. Check the Vatican calendar for papal events before you pick a date.
Security, and a fast pace
Everyone goes through airport-style security, which the operator says can take 30 minutes in high season, and the tour moves fast to stay ahead of the crowd. It is not suitable for anyone with walking difficulties or in a wheelchair.
What to do. Wear shoes you can stand in for three hours, and stay on in the museums afterwards if there is a room you want to see again.
Sundays and holidays are different
The museums close on Sundays, except the last Sunday of the month, and on a list of Catholic holidays, including 6 January, 29 June, 14 and 15 August, 1 November and 8, 25 and 26 December.
What to do. Plan the Vatican for a weekday.

Questions people ask

Good questions about Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel before the crowds

Is the Vatican early entry tour worth it?

If the Sistine Chapel is the reason you came, yes. You go in before the public opening at 8am, in a group of about ten, and leave through the guides' shortcut into St Peter's. The official ticket is 25 euros online, so the early access, the guide and the shortcut cost about 84 euros.

What time does the Vatican early entry tour start?

Before the museums open to the public at 8am; the exact start shows in the calendar when you pick a date, and you need to be at Via Santamaura 14B a little before it.

How much are official Vatican Museums tickets?

20 euros at the door and 25 with the online skip-the-line booking, with reductions for children and students. Entry is free on the last Sunday of the month from 9am to 2pm.

Can you go from the Sistine Chapel straight into St Peter's?

Groups with a licensed guide can, by a passage reserved for them, and this tour uses it. Visitors on their own ticket walk back through the museums and enter the basilica from St Peter's Square.

What is the Vatican dress code?

Shoulders and knees covered for everyone, in the museums and in St Peter's. Shorts, short skirts and sleeveless tops are not allowed.

Is the Vatican open on Sundays?

Only on the last Sunday of each month, free, from 9am to 2pm with last entry at 12.30pm. Every other Sunday it is closed.

The Vatican

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