Musei Vaticani, Cappella Sistina e San Pietro prima dell'apertura

Sara the tour guide was amazing. Because she is a Vatican museum recognized guide she had an in depth knowledge of the intricacies of the museum. We spent the entire time in awe of the beautiful artifacts throughout. I do not however recommend this trip to people with large crowd issues or limited mobility. There are hundreds of stairs throughout. Sara did say if you go December through March you will have the place to yourself.. something for next time I think...

Guide was fantastic. Very knowledgeable and interesting and spoke clearly. The early arrival meant we saw many rooms and features before the crowds started. Just amazing!

We arrived at 7:15 as directed for the "privileged entrance", but had to wait in line with our guide until after 8:00 along with everyone else waiting to get in to the Vatican. It did not feel like we were in any kind of special group, as advertised. The tour was very crowded and our guide rushed us through so quickly that many times he was way ahead of all of us walking on his own and talking through the microphone. It was amazing to see everything, and I recommend taking a tour, but did not feel like this tour was advertised correctly.

Great tour. I highly recommend it, our tour guide was very good. I was going to give 5 stars but I didn’t because it’s a little misleading. Even though it’s early the Sistine chapel it’s pretty packed, not as packed as regular hours. Other than that great overall.

Saw a huge amount of the Vatican museums. Very informative. Highly recommend this tour. Lines would be incredibly long otherwise.

This tour absolutely exceeded our expectations! We had a small group which made the experience even better. Sara was very knowledgeable, personable and genuinely seemed excited to share the history with our group. She made this experience even better! Entering the museums and Sistine Chapel early in the morning before the crowds is definitely the way to go. When we finished the line to enter the museum was half way around the block. I highly recommend this tour - you won't be disappointed!

Should definitely be on your schedule to visit, but you really need more time as there is SO much to see. Worth paying to get inside before it is "open" to the public.

The tour through the Vatican was amazing. The Sistine Chapel was inspiring, and our guide Marco shared details that became apparent when we were inside. Our guide made all the difference as his commentary really shed light on the history of all we saw. And we saw a great deal. After quickly visiting the Sistine Chapel we circled back to view the grounds more thoroughly. Marco provides rich details of the relationship between Michelangelo and Raphael, and then we saw the artwork. The tour ends in Saint Peter's basilica. Fantastic tour, delivered by a great guide.

The early morning start was nice to beat the massive crowds to see the Sistine Chapel. When we passed back through the chapel about an hour later it was a significantly more crowded. Our tour guide was very informative although I never caught her name.

What a memorable experience. It was record heat and crowds but the 7:30 start time and skip the line was definitely worth it. It didn’t feel that crowded and our guide made it a special experience.

It was an hour before actual entry. Then 15minutes for security. The crowds were quite large at the early time slot. Our tour guide was pushing us all the time. We were lost from the group in the Bascilica and had to find our own way out.

This tour was great. Small group and got to see all of the key attractions. The museums are huge and wish we had more time to view because most areas you move through very quickly.

Great tour getting in early for the chapel was way worth it. The tour guide was an incredible source of knowledge and really enjoys his job great visit

My wife and I greatly enjoyed this tour. The Vatican Museums are enormous and a good guide really points out the highlights. Franco is an experienced guide with a plan. He got us into the Sistine Chapel before the crushing crowd. I can not say enough positive things about this guide!

Our tour guide Raf was incredible. She was so enthusiastic and so knowledgeable. She ensured that we got to do and see everything before most crowds. If you go on this tour try and go with RAF as a guide. Grazie mille!

We had an excellent tour of the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and energetic. She was able to give us a lot of historical information in a story like manner so it was interesting and easy to understand. Excellent job!

Excellent guide who knew her facts and spoke excellent English. She knew the best sequence to view the various locations and starting early meant we missed the crowds

What a great experience. Stella was by far the best guide one could ask for. Knowledgeable, courteous and engaging with our group. Please extend our many thanks to Stella!!!!

Absolutely recommend the before hours. When we were leaving the line to get in had to be about 3 hours long. The day we went was very cold, but we managed to cover all the highlights. Ella (?) our tour guide was excellent. She was a professional archaeologist. Very knowledgeable and managed to get our group around at the best times. This is a must tour.

This early morning experience was well worth getting out off bed agree a long day of travel. We were above to see the museum's, the Sistine chapel and Vatican before the throngs of people arrived. We wetter very lucky to have Elenora, an archaeologist, with a wealth of knowledge who kept us engaged for the entire 4 hours. Loved the excursion!

This was a good tour and our guide, Ellie was excellent. Things were great in the beginning before the Vatican actually opened to the public because you had enough space to move around and observe things. However, once the Vatican opened to the public it was a mad house. Thank goodness our guide took us to the Sistine Chapel before the public came in so it was not very crowded. Great to really be able to admire and take everything in. When we had to walk back through the outer part of the chapel later in our tour it was filled with people and was so crowded. Because of time constraints we barely had any time to look at things in the Vatican gift shop. We had to ask our guide if we could take a few minutes to look around and be able to buy any presents we wanted, because we would not be able to come back to the gift shop after our tour. The tour ended at St. Peter's which was also beautiful. This was a good way to see the Vatican but you should be aware that there are numerous small group tours about 15 people in each group. All of these groups go in an hour before it opens to the public. So you are not really alone there are many small groups going around during that first hour. I think if I did this again I would do the very private early tour that starts at 6:00 am even though it is extremely expensive. If you can afford it that would be my recommendation. Otherwise this type of tour is the next best thing.