- Category
- Vatican, Five Days in Rome, Three Days in Rome
- Duration
- 3 hours
- Location
- Rome
Sites Visited
- Vatican Museum
- Sistine Chapel
Included
- Skip the line Admission Tickets
Itinerary Details
This tour is often coupled with our St. Peter's Tour with Historian, a three-hour tour of the Basilica and Treasury museum. Together they create a more in-depth six-hour experience.
If you are a family with children under 12 we highly recommend that you book our Vatican for Kids Tour.
To further your education and enjoyment of Vatican City, we have a number of other fascinating tours. Please click any relevant links on the list below.
- Vatican Museums After-Hours Experience
- Vatican Tour for Kids
- Full-Day Vatican and Colosseum Tour
- Rome in a Day: The Vatican, with Context
- Breakfast with an Expert Vatican Tour, with priority access to the Sistine Chapel
- Rome with Cecilia, Art Historian
Additional Information
While our visit includes advance reservations to the museums, the Vatican Museums are extremely popular. We will need time to pass through the security checkpoint and temperature check. Therefore, we may spend a few minutes at the beginning of the walk waiting in the reserved entry line, during which time our guide will provide an overview and contextualization for the walk. No time will be wasted.
FAQ
Please be aware that during the summer travel period, the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica can be subject to extremely high levels of visitor traffic. It’s important to anticipate slower movement, limited visibility, and potential restrictions on accessing certain areas due to the density of crowds. Our experienced guides are adept at navigating through these challenging conditions and will strive to optimize your tour experience.
If you are traveling as a larger party, please email us at info@contexttravel.com with the names and ages of your guests. Our team will be happy to assess the availability of your preferred tour dates and review pricing at that time.
Private tours are offered each day of the week – except Sundays, due to the Museums' closure and Papal services.
Does this walk "skip the line"?
Should I take a group tour if I have mobility concerns?
We recommend a private tour to clients with mobility concerns or with wheelchairs. This is because in order for wheelchair users to reach the Sistine Chapel there is a different route to avoid the stairs, the whole group in the small group tour wouldn't be able to join you. With a private tour, your expert will ensure the tour is adapted smoothly for you.
Does this tour include the gardens?
No, unfortunately it’s not possible to visit on one’s own. It’s a separate tour/ticket only available on the Vatican website and only as part of a tour with the Vatican (no one can wander the gardens). You would have to book that yourselves for after our tour if you wish to see the gardens.
What are the best days/times to visit the Vatican?

Cecilia is an art historian and a native Roman with a Master's degree in Medieval and Renaissance art from the Sapienza University of Rome. Although her specialty is painting and decorative arts, she has a broad knowledge of the history of Rome and a personal passion for ancient history, which she shares on many antiquity-themed itineraries. Cecilia has worked actively in the past as a lecturer, teacher, and curator of exhibitions. She had been a staff member of the didactive service of the Vatican Museums, the Galleria Doria Pamphili and the Galleria Colonna where she still frequently consults. As a licensed guide for Rome and Florence and with a specialized teaching degree, she has more than 20 years of experience in leading highly-qualified tours.

Liz, a native of San Francisco, California holds degrees in architecture from the University of California at Berkeley and Università degli studi "La Sapienza", Rome. She specialized in restoration and urban design. Her restoration projects have brought her to work in direct contact with the rich historical layers of Rome and Italy. She has been leading study walks for Context Rome since its beginning and has lived in Rome since 1988 practicing architecture, researching design and lecturing at university study abroad programs.

Sara is an art historian with doctoral degrees in Medieval and Modern Art History and Classical Antiquities. She is the author of a book, published by the Accademia dei Lincei, on the antiquities collection of Pope Julius II and has written various articles in important scholarly journals on the history of Renaissance and Baroque collections. More recently, she had published a book on some of the most famous paintings of Caravaggio in Rome which introduces a new interpretation of the works, based on philological data, and which is changing the way we look at this artist. For many years, she has combined her philological research with her work as a university instructor, museum educator and professional tourist guide.
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