Rome: Vatican Museums & Sistine Chaple Private Tour

Take a personal trip around Vatican City, giving you the chance to skip the big crowds and dive into the amazing past of the Vatican.

Your tour will cover the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St.

Peter's Basilica—plus you can choose to see either the Vatican Gardens or the Vatican Necropolis.

Start your visit with a no-wait entry to the Vatican Museums.

As you walk through the galleries, your guide will point out key works from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, featuring famous artists like Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci.

Some top sights in the museum are the Gallery of Maps—a hall decorated with large and detailed frescoes of Italy—and the Raphael Rooms, displaying colorful frescoes by Raphael plus his students.

A major highlight of visiting the Vatican Museums is the Sistine Chapel, the masterpiece of Michelangelo.

You will have an opportunity to appreciate in-depth the complexities of the chapel’s ceiling with scenes from the Book of Genesis, including the famous “Creation of Adam.” Even more fascinating are anecdotes about Michelangelo’s inspiration, struggles, and how his work changed the world of art that your private guide shares with you.

To view works so famous at such close quarters is indeed a privilege, allowing time to take in every detail away from the usual tourist crush.

Only after this will there be an opportunity to visit St.

Peter's Basilica, recognized as the largest and one of the most important churches in the world.

This incredible basilica is testimony to Renaissance architecture designed by such great names as Michelangelo and Bernini.

Visitors are greeted by the awe of its towering dome and the exquisite beauty of Michelangelo's Pietà, a sculpture that powerfully portrays the Virgin Mary with her son's dead body.

Your guide will share with you the deep religious meaning of the basilica and its art and architecture in symbolism towards becoming an essential place of spirituality.

If time allows, one may visit the Vatican Gardens - a peaceful getaway filled with lots of green and beautiful fountains.

Or, if preferred, one can see the Vatican Necropolis - an old burial site where people believe St.

Peter's remains were placed - to get a rare glimpse into early Christian history in Rome.

It ends at Bernini's design for St.

Peter's Square, featuring great colonnades and the broad look of Vatican City from this place.