Description
On this Vatican skip the line tour the day begins with a stroll, not a queue. You meet your guide at the tour office in Borgo Pio, one of the Vatican's oldest neighbourhoods, hear an introduction and wander past its shops while collecting tips on where to eat and what to see in Rome.
The group then follows Via della Conciliazione, lined with flags and embassies, to St. Peter's Square, with its Egyptian obelisk and the colonnade Bernini designed. On the way to the museums you see how daily life goes in the world's smallest state and can photograph the Swiss Guards in their Renaissance uniforms.
At the Vatican Museums you enter through a separate entrance kept for skip-the-line groups. Along the route:
- classical statues from Rome and Greece
- the long Gallery of Maps, then the Gallery of Tapestries
- Michelangelo's Creation of Adam and Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel
It ends in St. Peter's Basilica. Count on about three hours. Security is airport-style for all. If the Basilica closes for a special event, the guide extends the visit within the Vatican. Not suitable for wheelchair users, and tips are not included.