Rome: Complete Early Morning Vatican Tour | Small Group

About this experience

Meet at our comfortable offices less than a block from the museum entrance. Join our small group Vatican tour in the early morning with a top-notch tour guide and get the earliest entrance available to the museums, Sistine Chapel & Raphael Rooms. In a small group, you will be able to discover with no rush the extraordinary abundance of history and art. Your guide will tour you through these corridors and halls, pointing out the exhibits on display. Once through, the Sistine Chapel awaits you. The finale of our early entry Vatican tours culminates in St. Peter’s Basilica. Majestic and inspired, it is the perfect place to come full circle on the morning’s itinerary. Feast your eyes on Michelangelo’s Pietà and admire the stunning interior of the dome he designed, as well as Bernini’s massive bronze baldachin sitting over the Pope’s private alter directly above St. Peter’s tomb and other little-known details that can only be spotted when inside!

Itinerary

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1. Stop 1

   The activity starts directly at our office located conveniently very close to the Museums' entrance.

2. Stop 2

   Duration: 90 min

   The Vatican Museums feature many works of art that belonged to the different Popes and are full of artistic beauty. Here is a glimpse of some of the most beautiful things to see in the Vatican Museums. Rooms and Galleries of the Vatican Museums, as the Greek Cross Room, the Gallery of Maps, the Gallery of Tapestries, Raphael Rooms and much more! From a relatively small collection of statues brought in by Julius II, it grew into a gigantic museum to a point that nobody even knows how many items are kept in the vaults and galleries of the Vatican.

3. Stop 3

   Duration: 10 min

   The Gallery of Maps is a stupendous hallway where geography and history are perfectly intertwined. Created at the end of the 16th century, the entire room is dedicated to customized maps, which display the whole of Italy. On one side of the 393-foot long gallery are two representations of the country: one from the Imperial Roman Era and the other from the 1500s. Each map shows political happenings, religious roles, and major battles. The ceiling is no less remarkable, with frescoed scenes displaying episodes and miraculous events of apostles, saints, and martyrs, which are linked to the geographical maps below.

4. Stop 4

   Duration: 10 min

   The world-renowned tapestries adorning the walls of this breathtaking gallery used to hang in the Sistine Chapel until they were moved to their present-day location. The most esteemed pieces of the collection are the carpets based on Raphael’s drawings, depicting crucial scenes from the life of Jesus. Out of these 9 tapestries, we recommend paying some special attention to The Resurrection of Christ, which is woven in many layers, creating a surprising optical illusion as you walk by. It took the weavers 4 years to finalize the masterpiece and they cleverly used materials of different densities in order to obtain the eye-deceiving effect.

5. Stop 5

   Duration: 20 min

   Raphael’s most famous frescoes can be seen in four rooms in Pope Julius II’s and Leo X’s apartments. The first of the Raphael Rooms (1508-1524) to be frescoed – Pope Julius II’s study – reflects the themes of theology, philosophy, poetry and justice. Raphael’s most noted painting, the School of Athens, highlights the degree of knowledge acquired through reason. The largest of the rooms, the Hall of Constantine, represents the victory of Christianity over Paganism, the Room of Fire is dedicated to Pope Leo IV, and the Room of Heliodorus represents the liberation of St. Peter. A real highlight on our Vatican tour!

6. Stop 6

   Duration: 30 min

   Once inside the Vatican Museums, it’s straight to the main event – the Sistine Chapel. Gaze upon Michelangelo’s stupefying ceiling, Creation of Adam and the Last Judgment in awe, sharing the space with your group and a few others. Take your time – and savor each moment – because this is an experience you’ll never want to forget, as you nearly reach out and touch one of humankind’s most astounding creative achievements.

7. Stop 7

   Duration: 45 min

   If you thought the size of the Vatican Museums was overwhelmingly spectacular, St. Peter’s Basilica takes the “wow factor” to another level. The sheer capacity of the interiors is enough to leave any visitor searching for words to describe its vastness. At 613 feet long, 85 feet wide and 147 feet high, it took an incredible 120 years to build, starting from 1506. Admire Michelangelo’s unparalleled Pietà masterpiece and stroll towards the center right nave to observe Bernini’s 30-foot high bronze Baldachin, which sits directly atop the site of St. Peter’s tomb.

8. Stop 8

   A visit to Vatican City would not be complete without standing in awe of the beauty in St. Peter’s Square, also known as Piazza San Pietro. This massive square framing St. Peter’s Basilica is the location where the pope holds Wednesday General Audiences and special masses on religious holidays. Besides being an extremely sacred place for the Catholic Church, the square itself features a breathtaking architectural design. During the late 17th century, Gian Lorenzo Bernini erected a series of huge Doric colonnades extending out like arms from the basilica. If you stand in the right spot, the rows that consist of four columns, appear to converge as one. This optical illusion shows the incredible architectural precision of the time! To make the most of your trip to Vatican City, we recommend you join a tour of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica to learn the grand history behind this marvelous city from an expert guide.

9. Stop 9

   Vatican City, a city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy, is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. It's home to the Pope and a trove of iconic art and architecture. Its Vatican Museums house ancient Roman sculptures such as the famed “Laocoön and His Sons” as well as Renaissance frescoes in the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel, famous for Michelangelo’s ceiling.

What's included

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• Meet your guide at our comfortable offices near the Museums' entrance
• Headsets to hear the guide
• Entry to the Sistine Chapel
• Small group
• Expert English-speaking tour guide
• Skip-the-line access with tour of St. Peter’s Basilica
• 3.5-hour guided tour of the Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica

What's not included

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• Hotel pickup and drop-off
• Not wheelchair/walker accessible

Additional information

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• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels
• MEETING POINT IS VIA SANTAMAURA 14b, What a Life Tours
• The ticket is valid only for the date and time reserved. We are unable to accommodate late arrivals due to a time entrance of the Vatican Museums tour voucher. Missed tours or tickets due to late arrivals are non-refundable. Changes cannot be made less than 24 hours before the activity starts. Please allow extra time to reach the meeting point as Rome's streets can be confusing. Meeting time is 15 minutes before the start time of the tour.
• A dress code is required to enter places of worship and selected museums. No shorts or sleeveless tops allowed. ALL participants MUST cover their knees and shoulders. You may risk refused entry if you fail to comply with these dress requirements.
• While the Vatican Museums are equipped with elevators for wheelchair access, they are not conveniently located on the group tour route and only give access to specific sections of the Museums. As a result, we cannot accommodate wheelchairs/walkers on this tour. If you have any kind of disability and a certificate to prove it, please let us know in advance, as you might be eligible for free entry.
• Passport/ID : Due to Vatican security regulations, we strongly recommend you bring a picture of your ID document with you for all participants, in case the Vatican guards check.
• We cannot accommodate service animals.
• Please notice that we are not responsible for the number of visitors the Vatican Museums allow inside.
• Large umbrellas are not permitted, please leave these at your accommodation.
• No pictures, videos, or even speaking is allowed in the Sistine Chapel.
• St. Peter's Basilica is an active parish and therefore subject to last-minute closures due to mass or other religious events. In these cases, we will offer an extended tour of the Vatican Museums (including areas normally not part of the tour). Please note that closures of St. Peter's Basilica can happen anytime without further notice. No refunds are recognized for unexpected closures.

Cancellation policy

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For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.