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| Group Tour | Yes | Private Tour | Yes |
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Tour Description
Walking along these halls of the Vatican City, originally intended only for the Pope and the fortunate few who received invitations to the Papal Palace, you cannot but feel overwhelmed by the sense of history, captivated on every wall and ceiling with priceless works of art.
Your Real Rome Tours licenced guide will help you to make sense of the sheer volume of paintings, mosaics, statues and artefacts in these rooms, explaining each item’s place in the rich tapestry of the history of the Vatican City.
The highlight of our Best of the Vatican tour is undoubtedly the most famous chapel in the world – the Sistine Chapel. Here, with the help of your Real Rome Tours licenced guide, you will learn every detail of the paintings of Michelangelo, and also his predecessors, who between the years 1480 and 1541 covered every inch of these walls and ceilings in some of the most masterful paintings ever conceived! The history of the period, with the difficulties encountered by the patron, Pope Julius II and by the artist, Michelangelo, are explained in detail, bringing you a level of understanding and appreciation of this uniquely-storied chapel that is, like the chapel itself, simply priceless.
Leaving the Sistine Chapel, your guide will next accompany you into St Peters Basilica, without standing in line. Here you will be again left speechless by the sheer size and splendour of this amazing site.
Your Best of the Vatican tour will finish with a visit to the Vatican Grottoes, beneath the floor of St Peters, to see the tombs of the former popes including among them the late John Paul II. Before ending your tour of the Vatican City, your guide will bring the tour full-circle with an explanation of Bernini's design for St. Peter’s Square and the alterations to his symbolical intentions by Benito Mussolini in the 1930s.
Following your Vatican tour, you will have the option to return to St. Peter’s Basilica or the Vatican Grottoes, take the elevator or walk to the dome of St. Peter’s, or exit to St. Peter’s Square.
Group Tour Details
| Tour Time: | 1.30pm | Tour Type: | Walking |
| Tour Duration: | 3 hours | Min-Max Group size: 4-12 * | Average group size: 6-8 |
| Gallery of Candelabra | Gallery of Tapestries | Gallery of Maps | Cortile della Pigna | ||
| Greek Cross Room | Sistine Chapel | St Peters Basilica | Laocoon Group |
Meeting Point Information
| Group Tour Fees: | Adults €65 | Students €55 | Children 6-17 €50 | Children under 6 Free |
| Private Tour Fees: | First 2 Adults €220 | Each additional Adult €55 |
Each additional Student €50 |
Each additional Child €45 |
For private groups of over 12 people, contact us for special group rates.
Book Now
Group Tour Availability:
| Nov-Dec-Jan | Feb-Mar | Apr-May | Jun-Jul | Aug-Sep | Oct |
| Wed, Sat | Mon, Tue, Thurs, Sat | Mon, Tue, Thurs, Sat | Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat | Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat | Tue, Fri, Sat |
Private Tour Availability:
Monday - Saturday, any time up to 3.30pm.
Days in 2012 on which the Vatican Museums will be closed:
January 1 - January 6 - February 11 - March 19 - April 8 - April 9 - May 1 - June 29 - August 15 - August 16 - November 1 - December 8 - December 25 - December 26.
Note: The Vatican Museums also close on Sunday, except the last Sunday of every month, when they offer free entrance from 9 am to 12.30 pm - the Museums close at 2 pm. Please note that due to the long lines and no VIP entrance system, we do not operate Vatican tours on Sundays.
FYI: The above information relates to the Vatican Museums. To visit the Sistine Chapel and to skip the line to St. Peter's Basilica, you have to go through the museums. The Basilica is often open on days when the museums are closed, and sometimes may be closed due to events and ceremonies taking place, even while the museums are open. If the Basilica is closed on a day when our tours takes place, we spend the extra time seeing more of the Vatican Museums.
Rome Survival Guide
Tour Description
Tour Details
What Our Clients Say
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“Our tour guide was outstanding. His knowledge of Rome and history was impressive.
He had a natural ability to communicate this wealth of knowledge in a way
that was easy to grasp and enjoyable. I look forward to visiting Rome again
in the future and highly recommend your company to everyone.
Thank you for a wonderful day in Rome full of amazing memories!”
– Shauna, USA -
“We had a great tour and we were very impressed and overwhelmed with the guide’s
abundance of knowledge! He was great and made it wonderful because we learned so much!
The group size was small which was very nice.
I will definitely recommend your company to others traveling to Rome!
Thank you.” - Kim, U.S. -
“Tour with Richie was wonderful. Everything we expected and more.
It was singlely the best decision we made when planning our trip!
Richie was very knowledgable and we enjoyed spending the day with him.”
– Kristy, USA -
“All three of our guides' level of historical, archeological and artistic expertise
is to be highly commended. I cannot say enough positive words about all three tours.”
- Wendy, Connecticut. -
“Your 3 tours made our time in Rome really worthwhile.
The sunset one with Richie was great; he was so helpful and informative.
The Vatican tour with Alexandra was equally good
and we could not get over how much of a difference it made to the holiday.
Thanks too for the easy to understand directions and meeting places,
we had absolutely no problems at all.
You are all wonderful……..” – Jenny, Slough -
“We had a wonderful tour and Richie was a great guide!
He was wonderful with the children (ages 7 and 4) as well as us adults.
We highly recommend him to others!
Thank you for helping us have a truly wonderful experience in Rome!
Also, a special hello and thank you to Richie!!
We still talk about him!”
- Susan, USA.