Vatican Museums Tour with Bramante Staircase, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter's

Meet and greet the tour guide outside the Vatican Museums, a collection of galleries of classical and Renaissance art masterpieces, including the Sistine Chapel frescoes. Walk inside through the official Vatican Partner entrance, which provides even faster access than the priority lines.

Once inside, there are more than nine miles of art, so follow along with the guide who points out the highlights and explains the story behind each work of art. A headset is included to hear the guide clearly.

Stop at the Vatican Paintings Gallery, featuring some of the most influential paintings in the world like Caravaggio’s 'Deposition from the Cross,' Da Vinci’s unfinished 'St. Jerome' and Raphael’s 'Transfiguration.'

Next, a Vatican Guard escorts you to one of the biggest thrills of the tour, a visit to the Bramante Staircase. Once used by the popes and Vatican staff, but it is now rarely visited. Take the opportunity to get a photo of this beautiful spiral staircase.

Then, visit Raphael’s Rooms, four interconnected rooms with frescoes painted by Renaissance artist Raphael; the six-sectioned Gallery of Candelabra, with Roman copies of Hellenistic originals and some great second century candelabra, from Otricoli; the Gallery of Tapestries, featuring the drawings from many of Raphael’s pupils; and Gallery of Maps, on the west side of the Belvedere Courtyard featuring a series of painted topographical maps of Italy.

Go to the Sistine Chapel to see Michelangelo’s 'Creation of Adam' and the 'Last Judgement' and St. Peter’s Basilica to see 'La Pietà,' one of Michelangelo’s earlier sculptures depicting the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion.

The tour ends just outside St. Peter’s Basilica.