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

Overview

Boasting some of the most significant artworks ever created, the Vatican Museums can be a daunting place to visit - and you can easily spend a day trying to see it all. But if you’re short on time in the Eternal City or want to see the highlights, our carefully crafted Essential Sistine Chapel and Vatican tour is for you.

See why the frescoes that Michelangelo painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel are often considered the greatest masterpieces of Western art and admire the work of his most illustrious rival in Raphael’s iconic School of Athens. Discover how the two artists drew inspiration from recently unearthed masterpieces of ancient art like the Laocoon and Belvedere Torso.

Skip the lines at the enormous St. Peter’s Basilica and enter on your own where you can see the mother church of the Catholic faith and home to Michelangelo’s incredible moving Pietà sculpture and Bernini’s jaw-dropping baldachin.

Description

Get the most out of the Vatican with skip-the-lines access

This specially optimised itinerary is designed to allow you to get the best out of your visit to the Vatican Museums in a limited time-frame, taking in the remarkable Sistine Chapel, Raphael Rooms and St. Peter’s basilica entry amongst other highlights in the company of one of our expert guides. As with all our Vatican tours, you’ll enjoy skip the lines access to the all the sites, meaning you’ll spend your precious time in the company of Michelangelo and Raphael rather than kicking your heels in the queues outside!

Appreciate the beauty of the Sistine Chapel

The highlight of our tour will of course be our visit to the Sistine Chapel, where you’ll get the chance to gaze up at Michelangelo’s ceiling as your guide explains the secrets behind Michelangelo’s masterful paintings. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel contains hundreds of figures, including Adam and Eve, Noah, Jonah, saints, prophets, sibyls, and the decorative nude figures known as “ignudi”. The sheer size of the fresco can make it overwhelming to look at, and it’s difficult to know where to begin. That’s why the expertise of our guides is so indispensible – they’ll reveal the meaning of Michelangelo’s masterwork, and explain the full significance of the massive scenes taken from the Old Testament Book of Genesis.

Years later Michelangelo returned to the Sistine Chapel to decorate the altar wall with the fresco of the Last Judgement – a powerful apocalyptic vision of the End of Days. As you study the painting alongside your guide on our Sistine Chapel tour, you’ll discover why it was initially so controversial, and gain a deeper appreciation of Michelangelo’s unique genius.

Discover the genius of Raphael in the Raphael Rooms

Close to the Sistine Chapel is the suite of private papal apartments known as the Raphael Rooms. These exquisitely decorated rooms contain some of the finest examples of Raphael’s work, including the “School of Athens” - a group portrait of antiquity's most famous philosophers, many of them in the guises of Raphael’s contemporaries.

On your visit to the Raphael Rooms, your guide will explain why a young painter from Urbino was chosen for such a prestigious commission, earning the admiration and envy of his peers. 

Explore the Vatican's amazing sculpture collections

Your visit to the Vatican Museums is a great opportunity to discover its remarkable collections of ancient sculpture, including the legendary Laocoon and Apollo Belvedere. These classical artworks had a profound impact on the artists of the Renaissance, and their muscular anatomies and psychological intensity strongly influenced the work of Michelangelo and Raphael. Accompanied by an expert art historian, you’ll learn all about these ancient masterpieces and gain a greater appreciation of Greek and Roman art.

On our tour you’ll also get to walk through the famous Gallery of Maps, admire the Pinecone Courtyard and visit the Belvedere Courtyard. Although it’s impossible to see the entire extent of the Vatican’s enormous collection in a few hours, our Essential Vatican Museums group tour allows you to get the most out of your visit, taking you to see a series of unmissable highlights. 

From the Sistine Chapel, your guide will escort you to St. Peter's Basilica, where you can enter on your own accord, without having to wait in line. 

After exiting the Sistine Chapel, you will have an expedited escort directly to the entrance of St Peter's Basilica. Here you will be able to enter on your own accord. Your guide will explain what you can visit inside the Basilica on the walk to the entrance.

Important Notes

1. The Raphael Rooms are part of this 3-hour itinerary. Still, on days due to crowding, timing, and direction flows of crowd traffic dictated by the Vatican Museum staff, we may be unable to make this stop within the designated time frame. If the Raphael Rooms are an absolute must for you, we suggest you book one of our more extended group tours: the Early Vatican Tour or the VIP Vatican Tour, where the Raphael Rooms will be covered.

2. The Basilica of St. Peter's may be subject to unscheduled closings and late openings for religious ceremonies.  We do not provide refunds for last-minute closures of St. Peter's Basilica. Your guide will still give you an introduction to the Basilica should you wish to return on your own time during your visit to Rome.

3. Please note that to obtain a student discount, a valid student ID must be shown on the day of your tour. If a student does not have a valid student ID, he/she may be charged a new full ticket price by the Museums, which must be paid by you on the day of the tour.

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