Take part in a tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica only lasting 2.5 hours, leaving you plenty of time to explore the rest of Rome! Skip the regular lines and explore the wonders of the museum's collections without the afternoon crowds.
Explore the Gallery of the Candelabra, the Gallery of Tapestries and the Gallery of Maps. Based on painted topographical maps of Italy by Dominican Italian friar Ignazio Danti, the Gallery of Maps is both beautiful and informative. Predating a unified Italy by nearly 300 years, it also shows the length and breadth of the peninsula in the late 1500s. Reach the Sistine Chapel, where you'll admire the awe-inspiring quality of the artistic work. While you stand beneath the frescoes, it’s impossible not to appreciate how difficult it must have been for Michelangelo to lay on his back and toil, year after year at the masterpiece.
Continue your experience entering jaw-dropping St. Peter's Basilica through a special door from the Sistine Chapel. Once inside, admire masterpieces that include Bernini's Baldachin, Michelangelo's La Pieta and the statue of St. Peter. Then, descend to the church’s floors to visit the tombs of popes and to learn the stories behind some of the most fascinating leaders of the Roman Catholic church.
Since Papal mass takes place on Wednesday mornings and St. Peter’s Basilica is closed, if your Vatican tour lands on a Wednesday, St. Peter’s Basilica will be substituted for the Bramante courtyard. Here you'll admire some of the world’s most iconic statues, including Apollo Belvedere, Laocoön and his sons and the Belvedere Torso. Learn the stories behind the statues and conclude your tour visiting Nero’s enormous, red marble bathtub.
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