I have a love/hate relationship with the Vatican. Yes, it’s a historical marvel full of stunning artwork and powerful religious symbolism. But if you’ve never been to the Vatican before, let me tell you that it’s always crowded. Nothing says claustrophobia like trying to squeeze through hordes of tourists in a hot narrow room to get closer to an old map of Italy. There is so much to see at the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Basilica that you could spend days there, so why not join a small group tour with a professional who shows you the important highlights?

That’s exactly what we did earlier this year during our 5-day stay in Rome. After having done our evening golf cart tour, we were excited to visit the Vatican for the first time with someone who knows what to see. I can say, looking back, that I’m so glad we did this as a tour and not by ourselves – especially during a Jubilee year! Keep reading to find out if this tour would be right for you.

Table of Contents

• About the Vatican
• Jubilee Year
• Why I Prefer LivTours
• Meeting Point
• Our Guide, Giovanni
• Vatican Museums
• Sistine Chapel
• St. Peter’s Basilica
• Saint Peter’s Square
• Vatican McDonald’s?
• Tour Cost + Was It Worth It?
• Kat’s Final Thoughts

About the Vatican

When people say they want to visit the Vatican, many don’t realize that the best tours include three components. First, there is the Vatican Museums which comprises of over 25 various museums from Raphael’s Rooms and the Gallery of Tapestries to the Gregorian Egyptian Museum and the Sistine Chapel. This is where you’ll spend a majority of your time looking at various artifacts.

Towards the end of your visit at the Vatican Museums, you’ll usually stop by the Sistine Chapel then. It’s a crowded and small room where talking is frowned upon (I’d say it’s prohibited but people were definitely talking when I went). Because there’s no talking, your guide tells you what you’re about to see before you go in there, this is invaluable as there is a lot to take in when you enter the chapel.

After the Sistine Chapel is when you’ll generally make your way to St. Peter’s Basilica if your visit includes this. St. Peter’s Basilica is typically closed on Wednesdays so make sure you book your tour for an alternate day. Our tour ended after we finished walking around St. Peter’s Basilica.

Jubilee Year

2025 is a special year for the Vatican as it’s a Jubilee Year, which only happens every 25 years. Sometimes there is an “Extraordinary Jubilee” outside of that cycle, but for the most part this takes place at the Vatican every quarter of a century. Why is this significant? Well, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims make their way to the Vatican for the Jubilee throughout the year. This means more crowds and a higher chance of the Basilica closing for pilgrim events.

On the plus side, if you visit the Vatican during a Jubilee Year, you’ll see the Holy Doors open which is a rare occurrence. Supposedly walking through the door cleanses your soul and grants one “plenary indulgence” which I hear is a good thing. The right side of St. Peter’s Basilica was curtained off to allow the pilgrims walking through the door a separate experience. Behind the curtain is the famous sculpture of Pietà by Michelangelo which we could only access if we went through the Holy Door.

Why I Prefer LivTours

I mentioned this in my previous blog post about my evening golf cart tour in Rome, which I loved. It’s worth mentioning again why I chose to do this tour with LivTours instead of any other tour operator, because they’re not all the same. I always say that your guides can make or break your experience!

I prefer LivTours because they’re family-owned, offer semi-private options, and have high quality guides. By semi-private, I mean most tours are typically capped at 6 people maximum. This means you can avoid the impersonal feeling of larger group tours, ask your tour guide questions (and hear them better, let’s be real), and not pay as much as a private tour.

Their private tours are great too. There’s nothing like getting personalized attention and being able to customize a tour. If you book a semi-private tour and no one else books your time then you’ll get the tour private by default. For this Vatican experience, LivTours offers semi-private plus private Vatican tours and even tours that start before opening times, after closing, and the exclusive “keymaster” experience (if you know, you know). They take care of securing the tickets so all you need to do is show up.

Meeting Point

I booked us the “Vatican Highlights, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter’s Basilica | Semi-Private Tour” which started at 8:30 AM. I made sure to avoid booking this tour for a Wednesday so we could see St. Peter’s Basilica. I want to note that there are earlier “first access” tour options, but they were sold out over our dates.

Our meeting point was set across from the entrance to the Vatican Museums. There are a handful of cafes and an ungodly (pardon the pun) amount of tourists also trying to find their tour leaders across from the museum entrance. We waded through the crowds until we found our guide holding a LivTours sign, and then we were ready to go!

Our Guide, Giovanni

It takes a certain type of person to be able to manage the crazy crowds while weaving a story of Vatican history and showing what’s most important to your group. Our guide, Giovanni, was that type of person. He was an older, very Italian, kind of serious grandpa-type who made it his life’s mission to get our group through the Museums and Basilica.

After we checked in with Giovanni, he immediately handed us our Vatican Museum tickets and told us not to lose them. We all moved to the special group entrance of the museum until our time slot was allowed in (this took maybe 5 minutes). Upon entering the museum, we picked up our headsets, went through another ticket check, and started our tour of the museums.

Vatican Museums

I think it would probably take months to go through every single room in the Vatican Museums, and we don’t have time for that. This wasn’t the type of museum experience where we would stand around and peruse at our leisure – there were way too many people and too much to see for that. Giovanni’s goal was to tell us the story of the Vatican with the artifacts in the Museum.

We started with seeing a 3D model of Vatican City where Giovanni explained the route we’d be taking and what we would be seeing that day. The modern version of Bramante’s Staircase was here, so we were able to get a couple of pictures of the masterpiece. After, we headed into a courtyard with views of the expansive gardens and the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. We snapped a quick picture as a group before heading into the Pinecone Courtyard.

At the courtyard, there were several posters outlining the significance of Michelangelo’s The Last Judgement. Remember how I said you can’t talk inside the Sistine Chapel? This is where visitors come to learn about the painting before they visit the chapel. In this courtyard, there is a sit down bistro which we bought water bottles from and then continued onto our tour. We spent about 1.5 hours in the Museums seeing the highlights such as: the Round Room, Octagonal Courtyard, Gallery of Tapestries, Gallery of Maps, Raphael Rooms, and much more.

Sistine Chapel

It was then time to head into the Sistine Chapel to admire The Last Judgement. Apparently we took a rare pathway to get to the chapel, one that the Pope’s body is carried through when he passes. Giovanni briefed us on Sistine Chapel protocol – he’ll wait outside for us and give us 15 minutes inside the chapel for viewing. There’s a no photography and no talking rule when inside the chapel.

When we entered the chapel, we were awestruck. It’s a beautiful piece and there are so many details to look at. There are benches lining the chapel, but good luck getting a spot. This chapel was full to the brim, and even though there are strict rules about pictures and talking, they weren’t followed. Still, it felt otherworldly to be in this chapel and I’m grateful for the opportunity.

St. Peter’s Basilica

We met back up with Giovanni after the Sistine Chapel and started to make our way towards St. Peter’s Basilica. Due to a technicality, we had to switch out our headsets with different ones but this gave us the opportunity to use the toilet. Shortly after donning our new headsets, we headed up the steps to St. Peter’s Basilica.

It was cool to see all the pilgrim groups coming through. A lot of them were carrying signs and wearing group shirts. The inside of the Basilica was beautiful with the highlight being Bernini’s Bronze Altar, which was thankfully finished with renovations. We walked around the Basilica learning about the various chapels and preserved bodies. Giovanni told us that anything we bought from the gift shop could be blessed by a priest inside the Basilica. There was also the option to climb the Dome for a beautiful view of Rome, but that would need to have been booked in advance.

After about 3 hours total, our tour came to an end and it was time to say goodbye to Giovanni. He told us that we could remain in the Basilica to roam around, or we could exit and get in line to go through the Holy Door. My husband and I opted to stay in the Basilica so we could say a few prayers. Exiting the Basilica through the gift shop led us to the iconic Saint Peter’s Square.

Saint Peter’s Square

There’s really not much to say about Saint Peter’s Square other than it’s huge and there’s very little shade from the scorching summer sun. The square was full of chairs for an event that was happening, so we quickly made our way out of the sun and decided to get a bite to eat.

Vatican McDonald’s?

Yes, you read that right. After leaving Saint Peter’s Square, we walked about 2 blocks until we found a McDonald’s (technically outside Vatican City, but very close). My husband and I have an unspoken tradition of visiting local McDonald’s whenever we’re traveling. It’s cool to see some of the different items offered outside of the US! Also, it’s not a bad place to use the bathroom.

At this McDonald’s, we were intrigued by the Tasty Basket so we went ahead and ordered it. We also got cheesy fries, and my husband ordered himself a McChicken since he’s basic. The Tasty Basket had 6 chicken nuggets, 6 chicken wings, and 4 ham and cheese croquettes. The croquettes were filled with asiago cheese and speck (ham). Honestly, the croquettes were nothing to write home about flavor-wise, but they were gooey inside. The cheesy fries were also whatever. The cheese tasted like the canned nacho cheese you get at the movie theater.

This McDonald’s visit was particularly memorable because we ended up sitting next to two teenage boys from South Dakota who were on a pilgrimage with their church. It was their first time out of the country and it was heartwarming to hear the amazement in their voices. They were so polite, kind, and just nice to chat with.

Tour Cost + Was It Worth It?

Back to the Vatican Tour – we paid around $350 USD for the two of us in peak season. Remember, this was a small group tour with a much more intimate and personalized experience than if we were to do the large routine tours. We thought it was worth the cost to be in a smaller group with a guide to show us the highlights. My only feedback (which I shared with LivTours) was that our guide wasn’t as personable as our previous guide, Simone. We still had an amazing time, though!

Kat’s Final Thoughts

Going into the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica were all bucket list items for us. Back when I was in 7th grade, my family went into the Basilica and took pictures in the square, but we never did the Vatican Museums. I was also too young to care about the significance of the area.

Coming back as an adult with my husband and being able to appreciate the history with a guide made this trip extra special. Sure, we could’ve bought the tickets ourselves and spent an entire day perusing the museums, but that would’ve been information overload. After this Vatican tour, we still had 3 more tours to go for the rest of our trip: a Colosseum tour, a Borghese gallery tour, and a day trip to Tivoli. Stay tuned for those upcoming reviews!