Best of Rome: Vatican & Colosseum Highlights

Your experience

Highlights

• All of the information is out there for us! But what do I know about the fuss with a woman wolf? Including four different establishments, this tour will give you an entrance ticket to the morning and afternoon tours, leaving enough time between tours for something relaxing.

Full description

Come and meet your guide just a few steps from the Vatican, no less than where we walk ahead through the lines right to the doors of the Vatican Museums for expedited entrance. Learn about the major artworks ranging from sculptures of ancient Greece and Rome to Renaissance masterpieces, and the close relationship the two have between them. The major focus of our trip will be on Raphael's rooms and the extraordinary ceiling in the Sistine Chapel.From the commissioning of this colossal masterpiece to the finishing touches applied by Michelangelo Buonarroti, your guide will help you discern between myth, fact, and popular Hollywood fiction regarding this majestic work of art. Once you have spent enough time exploring all that the Sistine Chapel has to offer, it is entirely up to you how much more time you would like to remain within the walls of the Vatican Museums. Alternatively, if you prefer not to linger in the Vatican Museums after your visit to the Sistine Chapel, we can offer fast-track entry into St. Peter's Basilica, which you will then be free to explore at your own pace. After a short break for lunch in a local Roman restaurant (meal not included), we will regroup at a meeting point near the Colosseum. Here, our guide will reveal where its name comes from and tell some stories about its gruesome past. Now comes the big time! We are going to bypass any lines there may be with fast-track entry into this vast arena, once known as "The Icon of Rome", built back in 72 AD when it could seat up to 50,000 bloodthirsty spectators.Stepping into the Colosseum, your tour guide will give you an accurate and vivid depiction of what it was like to be present at the Gladiator games in one of the most magnificent amphitheaters that were part of the Roman Empire.Assistance from their expert opinions will help to distinguish the facts of history, imaginative fictions, and the portrayals of Hollywood movies. Walk around the circumference of the Colosseum and after you turn your head downward, you can see through into the arena and then onto where once upon a time men and animals awaited their shared moments of grandeur or doom. After leaving behind the walls of the Colosseum, enter a place that is even more remote back in time, that is, when you get into the Roman Forum; this was really Ancient Rome’s heart, with relics going back all the way to the 7th century BC.One of the sights you should definitely see is Palatine Hill, where a she-wolf saved and brought up Romulus (who later became the first king of Rome) and his brother Remus. Your guide will tell you how these famous brothers came to power, which would lead to future tyrants, Emperors, and even Caesars claiming themselves Gods during the Roman Empire’s years of ascendancy and decay.

Includes

• Two complete and two half-guided tours are available, providing a skip-the-line entry pass and covering the Colosseum and Roman Forum, as well as the Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel. Additionally, St. Peter’s Basilica is accessible through fast-track upon completing the tour of all other sites in this amazing complex, with the only exception being Wednesdays.

Not includes

• Transportation arrangements can be made from hotels in the central district for a fee. The services include pick-up at a hotel and drop-off at the end of a visit to any sightseeing or other important places.
• Gratuities
• Despite the difficulties, there are a few things that can be said about the agent that are even more.

What to bring

• The shoes that one wears each day are important because they provide a means of moving about and help with exercises like jogging or walking through town.

Not allowed

• Suitcases, large backpacks, short dresses, sleeveless tops.

Know before you go

• For the summer, ensure that you have brought along water and wear walking shoes or sandals as appropriate. The dress code that operates in the Sistine Chapel (Vatican Museums) is that men and women within Vatican City must keep their knees and shoulders covered. Due to the route and/or method of transport employed, it is not possible for a wheelchair, scooter, or other aid user to partake in this tour, but we encourage guests with mobility challenges to check with us for a tailor-made option. St. Peter's Basilica is closed on Wednesday mornings when the weekly Papal Audience takes place, so no one can enter at this time.