Combo (Save 5%): Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and Castel Sant'Angelo Priority Access Tickets

Hello, I went to Rome for the first time between October 30 and November 2, 2025. I booked my ticket online before my departure. On the afternoon of October 31, I planned to visit the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. What I really appreciated about Headout was that someone picked me up at the meeting point I'd been given. He was a very nice young man, whose first name I've unfortunately forgotten. He accompanied me inside, to the entrance of the Vatican Museums. I'm sorry I didn't have the presence of mind to give him a small ticket to thank him for picking me up at the meeting point, all the way inside the Museums. I wish I could tip him online via the Headout app. I don't know if it's possible, but I'll ask. So, when you enter the museum, you have the option of taking the escalator to get to the beginning of the tour, or going up the floors by taking a huge spiral staircase, quite wide. As you go up the spiral staircase, you discover various objects of African culture, protected in large display cases or hung on the walls. A magnificent sight. Then you have to pass through long corridors, including the Egyptian Gregorian Museum, which I absolutely had to visit. I'm passionate about ancient Egypt. 😉 After a very long walk through large galleries, where you can see a lot of valuable ancient objects and richly decorated ceilings, it's time to finally arrive at the Sistine Chapel. 😊 It's 40 metres long, 13 metres wide and 21 metres high. The Sistine Chapel's vault originally depicted a starry blue sky, as can still be seen in many churches. I assure you, your wait is well rewarded. The frescoes in the vault are very colorful and quite simply magnificent. It's a shame we're not allowed to take photos and videos. In fact, during my visit, several visitors were called to order by the security guards, as they had had time to take photos and selfies... In fact, the Vatican forbids tourists to take photos of the striking frescoes in the Sistine Chapel and, more generally, the entire collections of its museums, which are already saturated with visitors, in order to facilitate their transit. In any case, since I was able to visit the Trevi Fountain before I left and throw my coins in, I'm sure I'll be back in Rome one day. 😊 But be careful! For this to work, tradition says that you have to turn your back to the fountain, have your coin or coins in your right hand, and throw them over your left shoulder! If you throw one coin into the fountain, you're sure to return to Rome, but you don't know when... if you throw two coins, you're sure to meet love, and if you throw three or more coins, you're sure to marry "a Roman". On that last point, I disagree. Lol! There you go. Anyway, I'll definitely be coming back to Rome one day and visiting the Sistine Chapel and the other places in the Vatican that I didn't have time to see on my first visit. Nice visit to all and thanks again to Headout, for this organization. 😉

We visited the Castel in the afternoon, the entery line was not all that long but with our pre-purchase tickets pretty much went in straight away. The Castel it self was very intersting, as it is built on an old Roman Fort and you realy got a great sense of it age as you made your way from the entry up to the newer fortications above. Exploring the fortress was easy follow the arrows and you wandered from room to room (if you had a self guided tour you would get explainations of every you would visit). We didn't use the self guided tour but we followed the path taking our time. From state rooms to roof tops to batlements there was plenty of opertunites to stop and take it all in. There is a tuck shop in the Castel for refrshments and snaks. All in all we as a family enjoyed the visit.

Booking a hosted skip the line ticket made it so easy for us to get into the Vatican Museums. After receiving detailed instructions on where to meet, we met our host,Jonathan, at the Inside Out office, which was very close to the main entrance of the museum. I think without a host, we would have waited in the very long line and maybe even the wrong one. Jonathan got us to the front of the line, through security, and escorted us right up to the 2nd entrance where we got in quickly. We spent about 2 hours exploring until we reached the Sistine Chapel. It was a wonderful experience, and yes, we would book it again. Tip: Bring headphones so you can listen to their provided audio tour on your phone or on the MP3 device you can rent at the museum for 8€.

Visiting the Vatican was truly an unforgettable experience. Before going, I could not have imagined the size and beauty of the buildings — they were far beyond what any photo could show. The guide contacted us beforehand with clear instructions about when and where to arrive, which made everything easy and well-organized. Once we got there, the guide helped us find the right line and explained everything in a friendly and professional way. Although there were many people, it never felt too crowded or stressful. The atmosphere was calm and respectful. The paintings and decorations were simply indescribable — their detail and colors left me speechless. It was an inspiring and breathtaking visit that I would highly recommend to anyone.

There was a blip meeting up with the host ,as we thought that it was a group thing and nobody was at the meeting place. The host text us when we'd made our way up to the entrance to the museum. We could not use the bar code on the confirmation as this is NOT a ticket. Apparently we were to ring the bell at the address but there was no indication to do that on our confirmation letter and the door where the address was, was for several.properties. It would be helpful if this was noted. Nevertheless our host found us and was really helpful at getting us straight on past the crowds. We were in there hours, lots to see and amazing collection. The Sistine Chapel was beautiful and steeped in the history of past conclaves.