Vatican express tour:
Highlights of the museums and Sistine Chapel
Destination
Vatican, Italy
Duration
3 hours
Tour size
Max 18
Language
English
Overview
The Vatican Museums has 1,400 rooms of priceless paintings, sculptures, and chapels. . This Vatican evening tour enters the Museums in the late afternoon, when the crowds have thinned, and follows a curated route to the highlights.
- •Walk past the general admission line with skip-the-line entry and head straight into the Museums three hours before closing
- •Follow a curated route through the Pinecone Courtyard, the ancient sculpture galleries, and the Gallery of Maps, where 40 painted maps of Italy line the walls of a 120-meter corridor
- •Stand beneath Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling at one of the quietest hours of the day
- •Hear how Michelangelo nearly destroyed his body painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and why the popes who commissioned it almost didn't let him finish
- •Cover the Vatican's essential works in three hours with a small group and an accredited Vatican guide
What's included
- Skip-the-line ticket to the Vatican Museums
- Small group of 18 guests maximum
- Local English-speaking expert Vatican guide
- Headset
You will visit
- Vatican Museums (curated highlights route)
- Sistine Chapel
- Pinecone Courtyard
- Belvedere Courtyard and ancient Greek and Roman sculptures
- Gallery of the Candelabra
- Gallery of the Maps
- Gallery of the Tapestries
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What to expect
The Vatican Museums: more than a thousand rooms, one curated route
Your Vatican evening tour begins with skip-the-line entry in the late afternoon, when the Museums are past their busiest hours. Your guide will take you on a curated route through the galleries starting in the Pinecone Courtyard and the Belvedere Courtyard, where ancient Greek and Roman sculptures have stood since the Renaissance popes first collected them. You'll walk through the Gallery of the Candelabra and the Gallery of the Tapestries before reaching the Gallery of Maps. Forty hand-painted maps of Italy line the walls of this 120-meter corridor that most visitors pass through too quickly to register what they're seeing.
The Sistine Chapel: the ceiling, at the quietest hour
Before you enter the Sistine Chapel, your guide will stop and prepare you for what you're about to see. Guides are not permitted to speak inside the chapel, so everything you need to know about Michelangelo's ceiling, the nine Genesis scenes, and the Last Judgment on the altar wall will be explained beforehand. By this hour, the chapel holds a fraction of its daytime crowds. You'll have the space to stand still, look up, and take in a ceiling that holds 500 years of paint and ambition made by an artist it nearly broke.
"The Vatican Museums are bigger than people expect most people try to see all of it. We show you the parts that stay with you."
Guilia,
WalksDevour Vatican guide
"The late afternoon is when the Museums change. The crowds thin, the light shifts, and you can actually stand still in front of something."
Alessandro,
WalksDevour Vatican guide
Postcards from Vatican
Tour guide speaking with visitors inside the Gallery of Maps at the Vatican Museums in Rome
Vatican express tour
Vatican express tour
Vatican express tour
rachaelinrome1
Vatican express tour
Vatican express tour
Vatican express tour
Vatican express tour
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Frequently asked questions
Our guides love answering your questions. Here are some things they'd like you to know before you arrive.
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