Skip the Line to Vatican Treasures, Sistine Chapel

Choose between a morning or afternoon tour, climb aboard an air-conditioned coach near Rome's Termini station. Travel through the streets of the Eternal City, take in the views and hear fascinating commentary from your local guide. Pass through the Piazza del Popolo, cross the Tiber River, and spot the imposing Castel Sant' Angelo. 

Alight from your coach and skip the line at the Vatican Museums, home to some of the world's most renowned and recognizable artworks. Follow your guide down Guiseppe Momo's bronze spiral staircase to learn about the Flemish tapestries that grace the walls and about how they were based on paintings by students of Raphael, the Renaissance-era painter whose wall frescos of angels and cherubs are also in the museum. Then, head to the Sistine Chapel and admire Michelangelo's famed fresco. 

Next, follow on to St. Peter's Basilica to see another Michelangelo masterpiece: his amazing sculpture of La Pieta and discover the history of the church from your guide and hear little-known stories about the building and its construction. 

Alternatively, upgrade to a full-day tour which combines the morning with a walking tour of Christian Rome in the afternoon. 

Meet the guide and get ready for an engaging tour of Rome, seeing the most legendary Christian landmarks in this city. Stroll around Esquiline Hill, one of the city's famed seven hills, and home to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, a massive church. Then head over to San Giovanni in Laterano, or St. John Lateran, a basilica that is the official church of the pope. Next door take a moment to see the Holy Steps, supposedly the staircase that was part of Pontius Pilate's palace in Jerusalem, which Christ would have walked on for his trial. Today pilgrims ascend the 28 steps on their knees, saying a prayer for each step. 

At the top of the steps in the Sancta Sanctorum, or Holy of Holies, a room that was once a depository for some of the holiest relics in Christendom. Objects included the heads of Sts. Peter and Paul, a chunk of wood from the table where the Last Supper was eaten, and the Holy Foreskin, the prepuce of Jesus, which was stolen in 1527 by a marauding German soldier in the Sack of Rome. (It ended up in the medieval hill town of Calcata, just north of the city.)

Later head to the Appian Way, an ancient Roman road to visit some important early Christian churches, including the Chapel of Domine Quo Vadis, which boasts a cemented imprint of the ghost of Christ. Also visit some of the catacombs, burial grounds of the early Christian community. After exploring underground, visit the old spa ruins at the Baths of Caracalla, and then finish your tour with a hotel drop-off or a drop-off in town.