Sistine chapel and St. Peter basiluca

Hello,
We reserved out guided tour through Tripadvisor. The company was City Wonders, you could check their website directly as well. Hope this helps :).

I used Walks of Italy and booked the "Pristine Sistine" Early Entrance tour.

I know of people who have booked the "Good Morning Vatican Museums" tour that starts at 6AM where you open the doors and turn on the lights.

If i were to do it again, i would book the official morning one where you get to turn on all the lights and have breakfast inside the Vatican.

Hi k,

Are you interested in visiting The Vatican? The Sistine Chapel visit comes at the end of The Vatican tour. Depending on the tour you purchase, St. Peter's might be included if that is what you want.

(You can also view St. Peter's Basilica on your own if you want) http://stpetersbasilica.info/index.htm -- It is free to visit and spend as much time in there as you like.

Here are some tour companies to get you started on your search

The Roman Guy -- https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy/rome

Walks Of Italy -- https://www.walksofitaly.com/

Dark Rome -- https://darkrome.com/rome-tours (City Wonders tour group is part of Dark Rome)

Angel Tours -- https://angeltours.eu/destination/rome/

Through Eternity Tours -- https://www.througheternity.com/en/rome-tours/

Perhaps as a reference, you can view: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/skip-the-line-tours-in-rome#top

And, this is another similar thread from another poster about tours: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/official-vatican-tours-vs-tour-operators

Be mindful of The Vatican and Basilica policies. You will go through security -- coats/jackets, hats, bags will be put into bins and onto the conveyor belt to be screened by a guard.

Shoulders and knees for women and men must be covered.

No photos or any electronic devices in The Sistine Chapel. No photos or any electronic devices in The Chapel of The Blessed Sacrament (St. Peter's Basilica.) Guards do random checks and will escort violators out of the Basilica. I saw it happen.

No big bags or backpacks, umbrellas or food. Water bottles were okay'd by security as long as they were put into your bag (14- to 15" should be okay to carry around.) They eyeball bags, not really measure them. But the guards "know" what is too big. Don't stuff your bag to make it too bulky.

It is best to not bring a big bag -- you will be told to check it. You will waste time going to retrieve it, impeding the rest of your visit. IF you still need to check a big item, there is a FREE check outside of St. Peter's Basilica. Near the bottom of the steps, there are glass doors. It won't look like much until you walk through -- Open cubbie style boxes for storage. Guard should be there. Also there are restrooms down the hallway.

You may also reserve an economically-priced group tour directly through the Vatican's own website. For highlights of the museums/Sistine + St. Peter's basilica, this would be the tour you would purchase:

http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/visita-i-musei/scegli-la-visita/musei-e-collezioni/musei-vaticani-e-basilica-di-san-pietro/visita-guidata-musei-e-basilica-s--pietro-per-singoli-e-gruppi-.html

Other tours are available, including early entrance to the museums + breakfast:
http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/visita-i-musei/scegli-la-visita/visitatori-singoli.html

NOTE: "Open Tour" means visiting the museums independently without a guided tour: it's a general-entry ticket. It does allow one to skip tickets lines (nobody skips the security-check queue but it moves along briskly) but does not allow direct, time-saving internal entry to the basilica via a back passage reserved for guided tours, although some folks have managed to slide through. To enter the basilica otherwise, you'd have to visit it before or after the museums, and use the separate, exterior church entrance. This is a 15-minute walk from the museum entrance and involves a potentially long security queue as the church is free for all to visit.

Hope this helps!

Viator will give you a lot of options.

Viator will give you a lot of options, but remember, they are a third party consolidator.

They are booking you on the Walks of Italy and Dark Rome tours noted above - for a fee.

So one should book their OWN tour on these great websites now that you know of them !

I'll be doing my tour through Context Travel - I've used them before (but not in Rome) and was very happy with their tours.

Voting with Carla. Viator is a 3rd-party booker that will likely cost you more than booking with a good tour company directly. Have an issue after booking? You want to be dealing with the company themselves rather than that middle man.