Vatican Gardens, Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel Guided Tour

Bus tour of gardens

This is a must see. Absolutely beautiful and a break from the crowds!

via Tripadvisor

Mediocre garden, long wait, physically demanding

If you REALLY want to see the Gardens, then this tour might be worth your while. However, all you are really doing is paying a premium for a tour organized and given by the Vatican staff. You will have to wait outside the company office, in the elements, until they open. Then they will give you a voucher and have you walk back down the street to wait in a fairly short line to get into the Vatican. Then you have to wait in line again to get a ticket for your voucher, and then be directed to a particular tour guide, again requiring that you wait for the tour to start. Altogether it is about an hour of waiting before the tour even begins. The gardens are nice and historical, but not as lovely as many city arboretums. This experience can be enhanced or lessened by the quality of your guide, which is random. Also, there is a LOT of uphill and downhill walking. No problem if you are in good shape, but purgatory if you are unaccustomed to the exertion, have arthritis, or are disabled.

Response from the operator: Dear Customer, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. We are truly sorry to learn that your experience did not fully meet your expectations. At Touristation, customer satisfaction is our top priority, and we sincerely appreciate every review as an opportunity to improve our services. Please note that waiting times before entering the Vatican Museums and before the tour begins are determined by the Vatican's operational procedures and mandatory security checks, which apply equally to all visitors. As an authorized reseller, our role is to provide the official voucher and assist guests with the check-in process before they proceed to the Vatican entrance. We also understand that the Vatican Gardens itinerary includes several uphill and downhill paths. While this is an inherent characteristic of the visit, we appreciate your comments, as they may help future visitors better understand the physical nature of the tour, although we already include recommendations regarding the walking route and the level of physical effort required in our current package descriptions. If you would like to discuss your experience further or if there is anything else we can assist you with, please feel free to contact us at info@touristation.it. Our team will be happy to assist you. We hope to have the opportunity to welcome you again and provide you with an even better experience in the future. Kind regards, Touristation Customer Service

via Tripadvisor

Awful experience- do not book!!

Absolutely terrible experience. The swindle you into thinking the guided tour is worth it to gain access to St Peter’s basilica for an additional €25 per person. The guide we got was horrific, her English was awful and she just rambled on in an incoherent fashion. The tour was 3 hours rather than the advertised two. Do not book this!

via Tripadvisor

This tour was 2 hours of...

The person who assisted us at the meeting point was very helpful and definitely allowed us to skip the lines waiting to get into the museum. We would have missed our tour without her assistance even though we were early to pick up our tickets. However, this tour was meant to be 1 hour in the gardens and 2 hours in the museum with a final 10 minutes in the Sistine Chapel. What we got was 2 hours of walking through the gardens. Followed by 20 minutes of a presentation about the chapel while standing in front of an interactive screen. Another 30 minutes walking through hallways in huge crowds with no stopping to get to the chapel. And 5 minutes of being pushed through the chapel by guards while being told not to stop, leaving no option to actually view the art. The gardens are lovely and the guide was knowledgeable (although she left us at the entrance to the chapel). But the cost of this tour is only worth it if you want to walk around the gardens for 2 hours. You can get the same experience in the museum and chapel with a $20 ticket.

Response from the operator: Dear Customer, Thank you sincerely for taking the time to share your experience with us. We are sorry to hear that oyour experience did not meet your expectations. At Touristation, customer satisfaction is our top priority, and we greatly value constructive feedback as it helps us improve our services. Please know that we are always here to assist you, and if you have any further questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out to us via email at info@touristation.it. We appreciate your feedback and hope to have the opportunity to assist you again in the future. Best regards, Touristation Customer Service

via Viator

Not what tour description advertised!

I have visited gardens, museum, and chapel before but this was worst of the three previous visits. Tour stated 10:30-3:30 and as you can see by description includes gardens, museum, and chapel. Unfortunately also included basilica which meant very short time at museum. 45min bud tour of gardens - no stops or picture taking except from bus windows. 45 min in museum. Ridiculous - barely hit map room and one sculpture room. 15min in chapel. Then were told going to basilica which we had already toured in the morning. Returning to museum was not option and no guide anyway…be careful what you book vs what you get. Viator has been very good, but this was really poor and disappointing.

via Viator