Private First Entry Vatican Visit with Bramante Staircase, Rome

With early-access tickets and an expert guide, this private experience is the best way to discover the Vatican City. Start with the Vatican Museums, where your guide will help navigate the vast network of collections with your interests (and preferred pace) in mind. A highlight of the day: exclusive entry to the helical Bramante Staircase, Michelangelo's own hidden passageway. Your visit concludes with two of the most iconic sights in Europe—the famed frescoes of the Sistine Chapel and the imposing grandeur of St. Peter's Basilica.

Your morning begins with early access to the Vatican Museums, allowing you to step inside before the surge of visitors—an invaluable advantage in a complex that can welcome tens of thousands each day. Accompanied by a knowledgeable private guide (and Art History graduate), you'll first meet across from the Vatican Museums entrance alongside a handful of small groups, before moving through the highlights of your choosing—some 24 museums and 54 galleries. All the while, you'll gain insight into the art, architecture, and personalities that shaped Vatican history.

As you walk through the museums, you'll encounter an impressive collection of Roman and Greek sculptures, sarcophagi, and artifacts, followed by richly decorated galleries like the Gallery of the Candelabra, the Gallery of the Tapestries with its intricate trompe-l'oeil effects, and the Gallery of the Maps, where Italy unfolds in vivid, centuries-old detail. Yet among the public museums, you'll be offered a special treat—exclusive access to the 1505 double-helix Bramante Staircase, originally built in 1505 for mules and horses and then used as Michelangelo's hidden entrance while he worked on the Sistine Chapel (distinct from the 1932 modern version at the Vatican Museum's exit).

The experience continues into the 15th-century Sistine Chapel, where you'll have time to look up and absorb Michelangelo's iconic frescoes—from Creation of Adam to Last Judgment—in a quieter, more contemplative atmosphere. You'll also visit notable collections that include the Raphael Rooms, four interconnected chambers adorned with frescoes, considered among the Vatican's most precious artistic spaces.

Your visit concludes with direct access to St. Peter's Basilica, the largest Catholic church in the world. Silence is observed in the still-used church, so your guide will provide an overview of its extraordinary design and symbolism before you step inside. Then, at your own pace, you can observe impressive monuments, like Michelangelo's La Pietà (the only work he ever signed) and admire the soaring architecture above. As your guide will part ways with you here, you're free to stay as long as you wish—whether that means exploring the papal tombs and St. Peter's Square or climbing to the top of the mosaic-covered dome for panoramic views over the Eternal City.