Vatican Museums & The Sistine Chapel: Private 2.5 hr Walking Tour

Discover the dazzling treasures of the Vatican Museums, including world-famous antiquities, frescoes by Renaissance maestro Raphael, and of course the magnificence of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel on this private 2.5-hour tour. 

On your private tour you will: 

• Explore the Vatican Museums in Vatican City – the smallest country in the world, home to the Catholic Church and the Pope himself;
• See all the major highlights of these extensive museums with fascinating commentary from your guide; 
• Admire some of the world’s best-known classical sculptures such as the Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoön;
• Learn all about the Renaissance of Ancient Greece and Rome;
• Marvel at the skill of the Gallery of Tapestries and the exquisite Gallery of Maps;
• Learn the fascinating, complex, and sometimes scandalous history of the papacy;
• Enjoy the masterpieces by Raphael in Pope Julius II’s private apartments and learn all about the life and times of the Warrior Pope; 
• Hear all about the famous rivalry between Raphael and Michelangelo;
• Stand beneath the awe-inspiring frescos on the Sistine Chapel walls and admire the Last Judgment by Michelangelo on the whole altar wall;
• End inside the Vatican Museums to continue at your own leisure or exit with your guide.

Vatican City, located in the heart of Rome, is an independent city-state, and the smallest country in the world. It is the heart of the Roman Catholic Church and the traditional home of the Pope.

The Vatican Museums with its hallowed halls and galleries, lined with world-famous priceless artefacts, antiquities, and art, is also home to works by the two Renaissance maestros and rivals Raphael and Michaelangelo.

Your highlights tour of the Vatican Museums will whisk you through the galleries ensuring you see the most renowned pieces. You will see the Belvedere Courtyard with the Appollo Belvedere and Laocoön sculptures, explore the Gallery of Tapestries with designs of the life of Christ by Raphael and the exquisitely frescoed Gallery of the Maps.

You'll hear all about the life and papacy of Pope Julius II who commissioned Raphael to paint his private apartments and Michaelangelo to paint the Sistine Ceiling. Your guide will show you the Raphael Rooms with the School of Athens fresco that would set a new standard in the art world, followed finally by the truly awe-inspiring and magnificent Sistine Chapel with those astounding frescoes painted by Michelangelo in his thirties and later his sixties.

Admire the Creation of Adam on the Ceiling and the perfection of the human form with the 392 bodies in the Last Judgement. Most of us have seen reproductions of the Sistine Chapel, but nothing beats the real thing!

Your guide will give you fascinating in-depth explanations, stories, and analyses of Michelangelo's life and masterpieces.

Your tour ends inside the Vatican Museums.

Please note this tour does not visit St. Peter's Basilica. It ends inside the Vatican Museums, allowing you to spend as long as you wish inside to get food and keep exploring at your own leisure.