What You'll do in this tour
Our tour starts from the exit of your ship in Civitavecchia where one of our driver guides will be waiting, bearing a sign with your name, ready to escort you into the city. After your tours our driver guide will return you to your ship in plenty of time for your departure. This tour is generally used for all days except Wednesday and Sunday.
Even though Rome was not built in a day, we will sure do our best to show you the best of Rome and the Vatican city in a day. We will create an unforgettable and stress-free journey for you when you take this tour! Our Full Immersion Day (City Tour + Vatican) combines a driver guided tour with a walking tour to cover the major highlights of Rome along with a more detailed look at the Vatican sites. The tours are led by expert English speaking guides who will help to create a personalized experience while taking into account your specific interests.
Our tours will allow you to be able to catch a glimpse of daily Roman life hidden behind ivy-clad corners, open-air markets, and underground passageways long forgotten through the centuries. These incredible services enable you to tour the city with a native Roman tour escort showing you the real face of the city they are so passionate about. The tours are available in English or Italian, and are delivered with an insight and style that keeps our tours entertaining, fun, and informative.
Tour Description:
You will be picked up from the port and will head into the center of Rome to start out on a wonderful tour in the center of Rome. We will touch all the major sites of the city with time for a cappuccino. At 1:30pm we will stop for a quick bite to eat. At 2 pm The driver guide will drop you off at the starting point of your walking tour of the Vatican where you will meet your guide to explore the Vatican sites by foot.
The Vatican Museum consists of 1,400 rooms, spanning 4 miles, filled with more than 70,000 works of art and 17,000 visitors every day - these are just some of the statistics of one of the major attractions in the world’s smallest sovereign country. You will start here with your walking guide at your side to create a peaceful, informative 2-hour tour of the Vatican sites which includes access to the Sistine Chapel. This guided tour through one of the richest museums in the world offers you the ability to fully absorb some of the most magnificent art collected from Roman antiquity to the Renaissance period. The museum boasts some of the finest examples of Roman sculpture as well as masterpieces by Raphael, Caravaggio, and Leonardo da Vinci. Perhaps most beautiful is the lovingly restored Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo’s famous frescoed ceiling. Your guide will discuss what you will seeing prior to entering and you will also have the opportunity to take some quiet reflection time at the last stop on the tour which is the Sistine Chapel.
After the Vatican tour your driver guide will pick you up and take you back to the ship with an arrival time of 5:15pm
This type of tour is suggested for those that wish to have more in depth discussions while visiting the Vatican sites with the guide at their side and prefer to have an overview (not a walking tour) of the ancient Rome and other city sites during their driver guided city portion of the day.
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VATICAN TICKETS MUST BE PURCHASED BY YOU PREFERABLY PRIOR TO OR ON BOOKING OR AS SOON AS AVAILABLE ON THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE USUALLY FOR 2:00PM UNLESS OTHERWISE DIRECTED OR REQUESTED. PLEASE SET A REMINDER TO ENSURE THAT YOU ARE ABLE TO OBTAIN TICKETS USING ONE OF THE FOLLOWING OFFICIAL LINKS:
DIRECT: https://tickets.museivaticani.va/home/calendar/visit/Biglietti-Musei
WE WILL PROVIDE YOU THE GUIDE FOR THE AGREED-UPON TIME BUT PLEASE CONFIRM THE PURCHASE OF YOUR TICKETS NOT LATER THAN 45 DAYS PRIOR TO YOUR SERVICE OR THE COST OF THE GUIDE WILL BE OWED REGARDLESS IF UTILIZED OR NOT. - Additional Info to Note:
- Headsets, lunches and gratuities are not included in the price of the tour as shown when selecting the tour.
- As The Vatican is a holy place, there is a dress code that should be respected. Therefore, it is required that shoulders be covered and no short shorts or skirts are appropriate on the tour. It is best to have your knees covered, even for men.
- If someone in your party uses a wheelchair, please advise us if you do not have one but would like to reserve one. Usually a photo ID will be required to be left at the entrance and you will have to return there to collect the ID after the tour.
- Please note it is prohibited to bring tri-pods, backpacks, camping or other bulky bags or luggage/trollies. You are allowed to enter with medium and small size backpacks carried on a shoulder which must be checked by metal detectors and or opened and visually inspected by the Vatican authorities inside the Vatican City.
- Please be prepared to show a photo ID (or photocopy) such as a passport, student ID or driver`s license upon entry at the Vatican as you may be asked for one.
- You should have printed tickets to avoid problems upon entering with digital tickets on just one device. Each person must have their own digital ticket if you go that route.
- The 2 hour private tour of the Vatican can be booked for any day except on Sundays or other closed days or free days. (See the other shore excursion option with an Ancient Rome 2 hour walking tour as an alternative on these days)
IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR 2025 JUBILEE YEAR: (Basilica requires separate tickets and will not be a part of this tour)
We would like to mention the following: While The Vatican City is a major tourist attraction, it is first and foremost the largest operational Christian church in the world. As a result, it can and will close any portion, at any time, with little or no notice or information provided to us especially on the dates surrounding church holidays and especially during the Jubilee year which runs from Dec 24, 2024 to Jan 6th, 2026. We are not able to make last-minute changes once the tour is organized since our guides and your tickets will have been aligned well in advance but our guide work with you to show you areas that are accessible and in any event we will always provide you an exceptional experience. In 2025, St. Peter's Basilica has decided to require their own tickets for entrance so we can no longer include it in our Vatican tour as the seperate ticketing and entrance processes take too much time for the 2 hours we have with you. As a result, we are now focusing the entire time exclusively to the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel allowing us to show you more of these amazing sites. We would suggest that you consult the Basilica's website independently in order to arrange for a separate visit if you so choose.
The Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel are closed on Sundays. We also do not offer tours to the Vatican on free days the last Sunday of the month when tickets are not available for purchase as the Museum is far too crowded making the experience difficult to enjoy for you and your guide.
The itinerary of this tour includes the Colosseum but only from the outside.
Type and Length of Tour: 9.5 Hour Tour with a private van and Tour Escort
Traveling time from the Port of Civitavecchia to the city center of Rome:
- Approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes depending on traffic and day of the week.
Departure time from the port: 8:00am
Return to the port: Leave the center around 4:15pm arriving to your ship around 5:15pm
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