Fill up—on food and history—before taking on the Vatican! During your Breakfast with an Expert Vatican Tour, you will meet up with our expert before the Vatican opens to enjoy a morning meal and introductory chat. When the gallery doors open at 8:30 am, you will head straight to the main galleries and then continue to the Raphael Rooms and on to the Sistine Chapel.  

This unique tour will provide you with an opportunity to meet an expert in Roman history and get acquainted with the history of the Vatican over a relaxed meal, rather than straining to hear them amid the crowds. You will meet for an American-style breakfast at the Bistrot at the Pinecone Courtyard in the Vatican. Over coffee or tea and some morning treats, you will engage in a lively conversation about papal history and art which will provide you with important context surrounding the masterpieces that await inside. 

After breakfast, you will enter the Vatican Museums to explore the vast art galleries. As part of this tour, you will stroll along the Percorso Classico (classic route), stopping to visit a number of world-renowned artworks and structures. We’ll explore the Braccio Nuovo, Pio Clementino Museums, Gallery of Maps, Gallery of Tapestries, and either the Raphael Rooms or Pinacoteca.  You will then arrive at the Sistine Chapel where you will contemplate its awe-inspiring frescoes. 

By the end of this four-hour tour, you will have seen the best of the Vatican, and gained some insight into its rich palimpsest of history and art—without battling all the crowds.

Please Note: If the 7:45 breakfast tickets are sold out for the date you book, our team will secure the next available breakfast time slot at 8:15 which will ensure you are still among the first to enter before the daytime crowds.

This tour doesn't include a visit to St. Peter's Basilica. If you'd like to explore the basilica and treasury with an expert historian, please have a look at our St. Peter's Tour.

Does this tour cover all of the highlights of the Vatican Museum?
While your expert will do their best to show you the highlights of the Vatican Museums, there may be closures that are beyond our control: works of art can be on loan elsewhere or entire galleries may be closed due to private Papal or Vatican functions. Should this be the case, your expert will take you to one of the many other areas of the Museums.

Does this tour "skip the line"?

Our visit to the Vatican includes advance entry tickets, which allow us to skip the general admission line. However, we will still be required to wait in the security line. At times, this line may take up to 20 minutes. Regardless, our guide will spend this time wisely by providing an overview of the history of Vatican. The most important consideration is timing your visit to avoid large tour groups and cruise ships which cause excessive crowding. We schedule our tours to try and find the best conditions inside the museums.