St. Peter’s Basilica Dome Climbing Experience with Optional to Papal Crypts

The welcoming arms of St. Peter’s Square is where you’ll meet your expert English-speaking guide for the climb to the highest point in the Vatican. To get started, they will take you by elevator up to the balcony viewing platform inside the majestic dome. Once there, they will show you Michelangelo’s windows that circle you, Bernini’s bronze canopy that was built to protect the altar and the mosaics which give the dome it’s signature blue and gold colors. Your guide will leave you at the spiral staircase where you start your approach to the top viewing platform on the dome. From here, you climb at your own pace up the 320 steps. When you reach the top, you’ll be standing on the highest point in Vatican City. At 448 feet above the ground, the panorama is incredible with views of the Vatican Gardens and St. Peter’s Square below. You’ll also see as far as the Colosseum and the Pantheon in historic Rome, so have your camera ready. One of the advantages of climbing inside the dome is that it allows you to descend right into the basilica. You can ignore all those lines that are waiting to get inside the basilica. You can go straight in by following the stairs down. If you want, you can then spend the rest of your time exploring the vast church (on your own) in search of treasures like Michelangelo’s Pietá. For a more extensive experience, you can upgrade for the complete tour of the church and exploration of the crypts to view the silent tombs of the popes in the holiest pilgrimage site of the Vatican.