Vatican Museums Tour: Early Morning Access

Experience exclusive early access to the Vatican Museums and avoid the crowds. Explore the masterpieces with a small group or in a private tour, led by an expert local guide.

Duration: 3 hours, 30 minutes
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Vatican Museums - Enjoy the luxury of an intimate group size, with a maximum of 6 people, or the personalized touch of a private group, ensuring you make the most of your Vatican visit. Navigate effortlessly through the numerous masterpieces with an expert guide, ask any questions you have, and enjoy a tailored experience. This truly makes a…
What's Included
  • Skip the long ticket lines
  • Private Option of this tour is Available!
  • Tour in a Safe and Semi Private Group of 6 people
  • Learn from a Professional Local Expert Guide
  • Enjoy Early Morning Entrance to the Vatican Museums for a quieter experience
What's Not Included
  • Food and drinks
  • Gratuities (optional)
Additional Information

Get early morning access into the Vatican Museums to admire countless works, and beautiful courtyards! Together with a truly small group of only 6 participants max, or in your very own private group, you will be able to avoid the big crowds and quietly enjoy these wonderful masterpieces. The Vatican Museums is on everyone’s Rome itinerary so you can…

Location
Viale Vaticano, 100
Viale Vaticano
In front of Cafè Vaticano, right across the street from the Vatican Museum's Entrance. Your guide will be holding a LivTours sign. Please arrive 15 minutes before the start time.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.9
(3741 Ratings)
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Brittany
Dec 16, 2025
Great tour with Massimo! - Massimo was fantastic. The tour is a few hours long but he did a great job including everyone, keeping everyone engaged, and keeping it interesting. He even shared a few unscripted tips that made our tour extra special! Would definitely recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Elainel0uises
Dec 16, 2025
Exceptional Private Tour of the Vatican - More than Worth It! - Our private Liv Tour of the Vatican, with Serafina as our guide, was exceptional. It exceeded all our expectations in terms of quality, professionalism, and efficiency of movement through any crowded areas. Serafina’s expertise and passion for the Vatican and its history was evident. There’s so much to see, in a relatively limited amount of time; Serafina knew her way around so that not a minute of our time was wasted. Through her eyes we were able to fully appreciate the exquisite beauty of the Vatican. It’s was worth every penny!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
William_a
Dec 15, 2025
Absolutely wonderful... - Absolutely wonderful experience provided by a knowledgeable, charismatic guide. The time flew by with the stories bringing to life the complex history of the Vatican. Particularly, her explanation of what to be seen in the Sistine Chapel was captivating.
Review provided by Viator
237maryalicea
Dec 14, 2025
Wonderful! - This was such a wonderful experience! Elizabeth was a fantastic and knowledgable tour guide. Her personal background in archaeology enabled her to give thoughts on certain exhibits. The Sistine Chapel was amazing and the Basilica was beautiful. This tour was very organized and worth the cost of admission.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jennine
Dec 14, 2025
Vatican Tour plus more! - Wow Massimo was terrific! Not only was he knowledgeable about the Vatican Museum, St. Peter’s and Sistine Chapel but engaging and funny which made the tour so entertaining. He packed in so much information plus more! His professional presentation with IPad photos to sync with his knowledge was well done. We were sorry it was our last day in Rome. We would have signed up for a private tour with him to see other Rome sites. One of the best tour guides we have had on our many travel trips. Take a LivTour and ask for Massimo! Thanks Massimo, Jennine and Don
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lochy46
Dec 13, 2025
Well-paced, professional, and smaller group for Vatican was ideal - Our tour was led by the enthusiastic, informative, and patient Elena. The tour runs on-time (and everyone of our part of 6 arrived early); and we were able to enter the Vatican area as one of the first groups. Our group started in the museum, then approx 20+ min in the Sistine Chapel, and ended in St. Peter's. There was a long line for the Holy Doors that we did not enter as part of the tour, but it was easy to queue up and do that afterwards. We also had a less than 5 yo on our group, whom Elena was so good with--getting to his eye-level to listen to his questions and reply. I highly recommend if you are interested in a well-paced, professional, and smaller group for the tour (I did larger groups for other things in Italy and I'm glad I chose a smaller one for the Vatican tour).
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Osde2025
Dec 12, 2025
A Must See Experience - Amazing Tour of an Historic Place. Early AM Option avoided crowded areas. Massimo was the best tour guide we have ever had.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sarahtravels14
Dec 10, 2025
Memorable Experience! - My families experience of the Private Early Morning Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peters was wonderful in every way! My group of four had a wonderful tour guide who from the time of our meeting had great communication and made the experience wonderful. While we waited in line to get into the facilities, we talked about Rome and learned some history of what we were going to be touring. Our tour guide was so thoughtful to offer spots for us to sit down and take a break, stop at the cafe for a coffee/water and take group photos throughout the 3.5 hours we had together. The guide was so knowledgeable of everything we saw, pointing out things we would have certainly overlooked had we gone in on our own accord. Getting inside early was SO WORTH IT as it gets really crowded and would've made the experience a bit less enjoyable and more chaotic. Highly recommend this LivTours experience!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Trail58229290243
Dec 8, 2025
Fantastic tour highly recommended - I did the alone in the Sistine chapel tour before it was open to the public. Davide our guide was amazing. He was witty and full of knowledge. Being alone in the Vatican without any other groups of people was truly magical. We only had 9 in our group. They have every step timed perfectly so you arrive to each room with your group only. Fantastic tour, I would highly recommend this experience. After the tour you can walk through and by that time the Vatican is open to the public. I walked through afterwards and am so pleased I got to experience it before the crowds. It truly is an incredible experience you’ll never forget.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
262annap
Dec 8, 2025
If you love art, this is the way to see the Vatican - The semi private tour was amazing. It’s early and we walked in around 6/45 right after the cleaners but there were 16 of us in the Sistine chapel for half an hour. Our guide was fantastic, knowledgeable and engaging. It’s an experience of a life time an worth the money if you’re interested in art. The only thing we didn’t see that a regular tour does were the Borgia apartments (and St Peter’s is not part of the tour).
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $234
up to 15 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).