Private Tour of Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel & Basilica

Take a trip through the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St.

Peter's Basilica with a guide.

See great works of art like the Raphael Rooms and the Gallery of Tapestries, and look at Michelangelo's famous Sistine Chapel.

The tour starts at the Vatican Museums, where you will walk through the Gallery of Maps, it is more than just a hall with 40 paintings of 16th-century Italy on its walls.

Next are the Raphael Rooms which contain The School of Athens inside these rooms that painting is in; it's Renaissance art at its best.

Enjoy viewing the Gallery of Tapestries because inside are detailed Flemish works from the 16th-century telling biblical stories.

Be sure to see the Spiral Staircase - designed by Giuseppe Momo.

See the Pio-Clementine Museum where there is a great display of ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, with such pieces as Laocoön and His Sons plus The Belvedere Torso.

Next, go to the Sistine Chapel where striking frescoes by Michelangelo─for example, the Genesis ceiling and The Last Judgment─leave a deep mark.

Used for holding the papal conclave this chapel has great historical and spiritual value.

For those on special or long tours, discover hidden gems like the Gregorian Etruscan Museum where ancient Etruscan pieces are kept; the Vatican Pinacoteca with works by Caravaggio, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael; and the Borgia Apartments decorated with colorful frescoes of Pinturicchio.

Your tour will end with entry to St.

Peter's Basilica through the inside way from the Sistine Chapel so that you can view its grandeur and spiritual history.