TripAdvisor offers exclusive, sunrise Vatican tour

The Vatican is one of Italy’s most precious attractions, and about 25,000 people line up to tour it each day.

The queues are often long. In peak season, visitors can wait as long as four hours to get in.

Now, TripAdvisor is offering a new tour that will let some people bypass those long lines.
The Waking Up the Vatican tour will get visitors into the compound as early as 6 a.m.—a full hour before all the other early access and VIP tours that are available.

Visitors will enter each room as the clavigero, the Vatican keyholder, enters it. The group, the tour guide and the clavigero will be the only ones present as he unlocks the doors for the day and turns on the lights. The group will be limited to 20 people.

The 20 best-reviewed hotels in Rome

The tour is the only one in which a guide enters the Sistine Chapel with the group to provide commentary on Michelangelo’s masterpiece.

The tour will end with breakfast in the Pinecone Courtyard as other visitors are just starting to arrive for regular tours.

Once the tour ends, visitors can stay at the Vatican for an unlimited amount of time.

The Vatican is TripAdvisor’s most booked attraction.

The Waking up the Vatican tour is available through June 1, 2019, with some blackout dates.

The price is $530.40 per person.