Skip the long lines at the entrance to visit the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel with one of our passionate and knowledgeable guides. Your guide will enlighten you with historical facts and will entertain you with myths and legends connected to this unique place. You will follow a selected itinerary of one of the biggest Museums in the world with the aim to visit the best of this art collection.
Tour Overview
After the Upper Galleries (Gallery of the Candelabra, the Gallery of Tapestries and the Gallery of Maps), you will enter the Sistine Chapel – one of the most visited places on the planet. This tour option will also allow you to skip the line for St. Peter’s Basilica that will be accessible to you directly from the Sistine Chapel. You will have some time to admire the incredible Michelangelo’s frescoes: the Last Judgement and the Sistine Chapel ceiling with the Creation of Adam.
After visiting the Sistine Chapel, as a participant of this tour, you will have the privileged access to St. Peter’s Basilica. Your guide will escort you through the passage and you will skip the hours-long line leading to the Basilica. Your guide will bring you to the entrance of the Basilica where you will be provided with the main historical and architectural notions about the Basilica. Afterwards, you will be free to access the Basilica where you can stay as long as you wish.
Please note that the Basilica is not part of the Vatican Museums and sometimes, according to the Pope’s ceremonies, it can be closed.
Skip the ticket line for the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica
Meeting Point
City Lights Tours Head Office
Gallery of the Candelabras
This section of Vatican Museums was built in 1761, and it is separated into six sections. The walls and ceilings are decorated with magnificent frescoes while the the marble floors are ornamented with mosaics and marble decorations. The artworks displayed in this segment of the Museums are mostly statues from Roman Empire territories.
Gallery of the Maps
The Vatican Museums’ Gallery of Geographical Maps with around 40 frescoes depicting different parts of Italy is the World’s largest collection of painted maps. The superb topographical work made by Ignazio Danti almost 500 years ago still represents all of the Italian regions with 80% accuracy.
Gallery of the Tapestries
The tapestries in this Gallery were created for the decoration of the Sistine Chapel. The original paintings were made by Raffaello, and later transformed into tapestries by the Flemish artisans in Bruxelles.
The Sistine Chapel
Stunning frescoes inside the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo are a result of meticulous study of Stories of Genesis with well known Creations including the Last Judgement. The legacy of Michelangelo is this artwork that leaves every visitor breathless.