Rated Vatican Tour on Tripadvisor since 2011!

12th August 2018

Best tour in a seven week journey!! 

We travelled for seven weeks with our daughters (7 and 10) and our Vatican tour with Martina was hands down our best tour. The private tour was worth every penny, from her quickly buying umbrellas to keep us dry in line, to adapting her stories and knowledge to keep the girls mesmerized, to not having to wear this annoying headsets- definitely worth the splurge. We could spend as little or as much time in each place. She was passionate and knowledgeable. It was an amazing experience. We have done tours at the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, Monet in Giverny and more and this was everyone’s favourite. It was art and history all in one. 

With our timing, we ended up going to the early morning access Vatican tour followed immediately by the colosseum underground tour with Vincenzo. In the heat and with the turnaround time very short, I was worried about how the girls would do and if we would have time to eat. WALT answered every email quickly and thoroughly, even sending me a labelled picture of what it looks like where we would meet our second guide. More than that, Joseph personally came to meet us and Martina and made sure we had lunch and a cab to get us on our way. (Must eat at Alice pizza, btw)

Our second tour was with Vincenzo who did a great job including our two girls in the adult group and is unrivalled in his passion and expression. He did not just want you to see the sights, he wanted you to hear it, to smell it, to feel it.... to experience it. 

Planning a trip online and forking our great suns of money in advance can be very nerve racking. You will not regret your decision to use WALT. They were the best company we dealt with in a seven week France/Italy adventure.  

28th July 2018

Vatican Best of the Best - So enjoyable

I highly recommend this tour to anybody who wants to have an enjoyable and informative visit to the Vatican. From the moment we arrived at the office meeting point, we were warmly greeted by the hostess (sorry I didn't catch your name) who offered refreshments and breakfast pastries and made sure everybody in our small party were organised. We then met our guide Grant. So knowledgeable and with a fantastic dry humour, he really made the tour for me. We were able to see everything that we needed to see and lots of wonderful things that we would no doubt of missed without such a knowledgeable guide. Top bloke and top tour! Thank you!

24th July 2018

Amazing Underground Tour 

Paulo was a fantastic tour guide and one of our favorite of our trip to Italy.  This was our kids (11 & 13) favorite tour of our trip to Italy.  Be one of the few to see underground of the Colosseum... where the gladiators entered the stadium and where the animals were held...  We also went to Palatine Hill and the Forum as part of this tour.  Paulo had a great sense of humor, related to our middle school kids and taught us a ton about ancient Rome. Very impressed...  this is a can't miss tour! 

14th July 2018

Absolutely amazing!! 

Colosseum Underground Tour - We had the privilege of having Marcello as our tour guide and from the moment he introduced us to the moment he said goodbye, it was the most amazing experience! He was well-spoken, informative, respectful, flexible, funny, easy-going...the list goes on. 

14th July 2018

Vatican, Sistine Chapel & Basilica

Booked online great communication contacted by email to check on our booking which they thought we had double booked. Lovely greeting and drink. Grant our guide was knowledgeable,  interactive, kept us informed and gave us lots of information without being too boring or overloading with information. Would definitely recommend, as I was also. Debbie 

6th July 2018

Colosseum Underground & Vatican Early Access

These two tours were the highlights of our time in Italy. Michael and Mario were amazing! Their immense knowledge of the history of Rome made the Colosseum and Vatican come to life. Loved their humor, too!!! Wish I could give this more than 5 stars!!!  

5th July 2018

Exceptional Guide and Tour

I would highly recommend What a Life tour if your interested in seeing in Vatican/St.Peter’s Basilica, and learning about all the history. My suggestion is to request Mario as your guide. He is extremely knowledgeable, informative, and will make you laugh. I thoroughly enjoyed the time we had with him. Instead of rushing to the Sistine Chapel first, he took us to the empty parts of the Vatican Museum before they got busy with other groups and tourist. At the end of our tour, he gave us the option to stay and explore more of St. Peter’s Basilica which I loved because there is so much to see!  

4th July 2018

Colosseo Under The Moon

The wonderful tour I took with Marcello was not booked by me - it was done so by someone I traveled with as recommended to her by someone in Rome. 
Even so, I can submit a review on my own.Our tour guide was Marcello -a lovely young man who was a wonderful guide.  He has studied well and one can see that in the history he shared with us - about 18 people on this tour.  The head sets were easy comfortable and easy to use and one could hear very clearly.  I do not recall the name of the young lady archaeologist  who guided us at the Colosseo, but she too was a knowledgeable guide and very passionate about her work. To visit the underground of the Colosseo and to stand on the arena floor is a gift many will never experience.  I have been several times to the Colosseo during the day to upper tiers, but being below and seeing the " backstage " is very special -and if Rome, do not miss it!

I will most certainly look forward to What a Life again on my next trip to Italy and highly recommend  to  anyone visiting in the future
Grazie mille at tutti a What a Life!

Ciao 
Ci vediamo 
RoseAnn   

27th June 2018

The Best Vatican Tour in Rome

Grant was the “Best” Tour Guide for our trip into the Vatican. His knowledge of things we toured & his sense of humor was extremely welcoming. I highly recommend this tour to everyone who wants to see the Vatican.  

26th June 2018

Early Vatican and Sistine tour 

Wonderful experience with What A Life tours! We booked online very easy and all questions were answered. We chose the option for hotel pickup certainly took the stress out of navigating the city. We arrived at the office and enjoyed fresh coffee and pastries.  Here we met our fabulous tour guide Ana and were awestruck with her wealth of knowledge. She knew how to navigate the crowds at the Vatican and we really had a comprehensive tour. The Sistine Chapel was so peaceful and we enjoyed sitting on the benches marveling the masterpieces and we gained an understanding of the history behind the paintings. The museum is absolutely beautiful. Entering St. Peters Basilica through the Holy Doors was spiritual. Perfect tour . Thank you What A Life for arranging our tour. Ana was The perfect tour guide. 

25th June 2018

Carlotta was great! 

We loved our early access Vatican tour with Carlotta. She was really knowledgeable and fun and knew exactly where to go when to avoid the crowds. She also had a great sense of humor! 

9th June 2018

Brilliant - Colosseum Underground Tour 

We took this tour June 9 with Carlotta as our guide. Her knowledge and deep understanding of Roman history was absolutely amazing. Carlotta's explanations were clear and easy to follow and her presentation made the history come alive. This is a long tour (3.5 hours) but the way she went about it made it seem like it was only a couple hours. We could not recommend this tour highly enough and make sure you ask for Carlotta. 

7th June 2018

Top Notch Tours 

Awesome experience with What a Life Tours.  We were promptly greeted by our driver at our hotel and were escorted to the What a Life Tour offices for a light breakfast.  Our Vatican tour guide, Mario, was awesome.  His knowledge of the different sections of the museum was remarkable.  He gave a great overview of what to expect and how to behave in the Sistine Chapel and St.Peter's Basilica.    In the afternoon we toured with Vanessa on the Colosseum Underground tour that included walking through the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill area.  Like Mario, Vanessa was extremely professional, knowledgeable, and courteous of our group, ensuring we understood what we were seeing.  I would recommend doing these on separate days, as we didn't have enough time to explore St. Peter's and the surrounding piazza.   

27th May 2018

Vatican Best-of-the-Best Tour 

We really enjoyed this tour, it was very well organised. Our tour guide, Grant, was excellent! He was very knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor. Would highly recommend it

25th May 2018

Express Vatican and Colosseum

First off the tour was amazing, informative and well thought out. Your guide Marcello Moghbel was a rockstar!!!! I was a bit leery of doing a semi-private tour due to the cost but boy am I glad we did. We were on our honeymoon and my wife tends to lose interest in history but Marcello kept both of us entertained and full of knowledge, that I know we wouldn't have got by doing it ourselves. The location of the office to the Vatican was a quick walk and placed perfectly to arrive early at the entrance. Marcello gave us so much history that we both were unaware of but most importantly made it fun, interesting and entertaining. After our Vatican tour, we had a private car waiting to pick us up and zip us to the Colosseum. This portion was amazing and super well organized! So many things Marcello taught on the history of the Colosseum and Rome itself.

I would also like to make a special thank to Marcello for helping with a photo of my grandfather in WWII, that he took on part of the ruins of the Colosseum. My family has been trying to pinpoint this exact location and Marcello almost got it instantly. He studied the picture meticulously and finally discovered the point my grandfather was sitting on when he took the picture. Thank you again Marcello.

14th May 2018

Underground tour of Colosseum 

An excellent tour access to all levels, felt very privileged to have gates unlocked for us! Also extensive tours of palatine hill. Our guide Canotta friendly, professional and so knowledgable. All the details taken care of. We were part of a group of 8. Personal service thank you would not hesitate to recommend. 

8th May 2018

Fantastic tours for life long memories. 

My wife and I went on the Colosseum underground tour with our guide Carlotta. She was full of information and answered all our questions in great detail. It was a fantastic experience. 
The next day we went on the early Vatican tour starting with a light breakfast at the main office. Our guide Martina was again very informative and had a vast knowledge of the Vatican and Roman history. We went straight to the Sistine chapel after Martina had spent some time explaining all the details. It was amazing and well worth the early start to miss the crowds. Both tours will live long in our memories. Thank you, we hope to see you again soon. Darren X Kathryn. 

1st May 2018

Fantastic afternoon 

Colosseum Top Tiers VIP Access

Carlotta, our guide, used her wonderful knowledge and great sense of humor to keep us entertained and informed on a long afternoon walk. We had a wonderful time and really felt that we had got the very best out of this experience. 

1st May 2018

A good tour with a good guide 

Crypts & Catacombs tour

Marcello, our guide who spoke excellent English and did his best to know more about us and the aspects we would find interesting - even taking us for a quick visit to Keats and Shelly graves in the non-catholic cemetery. We had a really wonderful time, packed with information and an excellent walk - the catacombs were really fascinating. Good experience and would highly recommend to all visitors. 

26th April 2018

Exceptional Service

Absolutely wonderful tour, small group,of us Carlotta was lovely and so informative, you could really tell she loved her job and her city, she told the stories and explained everything, we will definitely be booking with her again.  

25th April 2018

AMAZING GUIDE 

Our tour guide was Carlotta (Charlotte). The knowledge she had about the colosseum & the roman forums was outstanding. we was all blown away. Thank you for an amazing afternoon. 

18th April 2018

Excellent Tour of Colosseum and Underground by Carlotta 

Carlotta was a fun, interesting, and informative guide! 

16th April 2018

Vatican Tour

Tour guide was a bloke called Grant. He did a fantastic job, certainly knew his stuff. Well worth the tour money as cuts the cues  

15th April 2018

Colosseum tour

A fantastic way to spend your time in Rome. Our guide Carlotta was warm and friendly with an excellent knowledge of the Colosseum. She even engaged our son for nearly four hours - a tremendous feat!!! We highly recommend this tour company. 

10th April 2018

Vatican tour with Mario

Toured the Vatican this morning. It was beautiful and very informative!  Excellent tour guide! I am glad we had him as he knew the history and told it with passion!

I would recommend this tour to anyone wanting to see the Vatican! Thank you!

9th April 2018

We loved Ana and the Vatican tour!

Terrific tour by Ana! She was knowledgable, friendly and funny! We recommend her and what a life tours 100 percent. Coffee and pastries were such a nice touch! Grazi!!

2nd April 2018

Great tour for the Vatican

Great tour & guide (Grant) to get the ”best of” to see the Vatican and Sistine chapel. Impressed by the level of knowledge, insigts and enthusiasm that Grant guided us through the impressive area. Its large at scale with many people, and massive queing - which is solved swiftly by using the service of a tour guide - highly recommend what a life tours!!!

25th February 2018

Marvelous Mario

This was another private tour we booked with What a Life and had the good fortune of having Mario as the tour guide.  Mario was fantastic!  He showed us the highlights in both the Colosseum and Roman Forum. He was able to bring to life the ruins of Ancient Rome!

22nd February 2018

This tour was exceptional as led by Carlotta. You could not ask for a better guide. Money well spent.

Van Hattem family

27th January 2018

I arranged these tours for both of my daughters last July and they enjoyed them very much. They thought the guide was very good and were so glad of the privilege to see so much history and faith in the tours. Highly recommend your tours!

23rd January 2018

What a fantastic early access Vatican tour from start to finish! Patrick Madden our guide was very knowledgeable and informative, he did not rush us and answered all of our questions thoroughly! Nothing was too much trouble for him. Patrick was absolutely excellent, he had a very pleasant manner, we could not have asked for a better guide!! We would not hesitate to recommend What a life tours and Patrick, they were very welcoming on our early morning arrival, making us feel relaxed and at ease from the very start of the tour! Thank you for the whole Vatican Tour experience, it exceeded our expectations!!

17 January 2018

Mario - you are a little legend. We booked with What a Life Tours for the VATICAN ART, HISTORY AND LEGENDS tour. We had only six people in our group and Mario our guide was brilliant. It was everything you could possibly want in a tour – a good guide, skip-the-line access & seeing all the major highlights in 3 hours all at a decent price. Mario was knowledgeable, clear & explained everything very well. He had a lot of knowledge about everything and was passionate when he spoke. It was the highlight of our Rome vacation for my family and I. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone. Thank you Mario for such an amazing day!

Chloe Newcombe

2nd January 2018

Booking and organization were very smooth. Our guide, Daniela, was amazing in both tours. She provided  very interesting and colorful information resulting in a great experience. Very professional, friendly and knowledgeable.
We had no waiting time anywhere. Highly recommended!

10th December 2017

Our tour guide, Mario, was incredible. I can't say enough good things about him! He has an advanced degree in Ancient Roman History and was incredibly knowledgeable. I have a degree in history myself so I  was very impressed by everything I learned. Mario is also very charismatic and has a great sense of humor - he had our group laughing from start to finish. This was by far the best tour I had in Rome!

Jamie Rose

1st December 2017

The only way to see the Vatican if you want to avoid the crowds. Very knowledgeable tour guide. I'm an Art Historian myself and I really enjoyed this tour. I wanted to show our twins Rome before they are out on their own. I have been in Rome and the Vatican many times, but that was in the early 80s when nobody cared about seeing the Sistine Chapel.Now you can't see anything, unless you take an early tour, the place is packed. I recommend that you spend the money, it is worth it. You got to see the Vatican at least once in your lifetime.

27th November 2017

My husband and I were blown away by this tour!  The guides were friendly and quickly escorted us to the Colosseum..We were taken through a special entrance with no wait and promptly started the Underground part of the tour.  We were amazed to see the original flooring, the hallways the animals and Gladiators used, and a remake of an elevator used to transport  them.  Next, we were guided by Carlotta, who was so knowledgeable and so much fun.  We never felt rushed and had plenty of photo ops.  Since we were there in October, we were allowed to go to 2 more upper floors!!  The views were breathtaking!  The Roman Forum was just as amazing made special by our guide Guiliano.  This was a tour of a lifetime made perfect by What a life tours! I would highly recommend this tour as it was exactly as stated with so many extras along the way. Thank you!

Donna Izer, USA

23rd November 2017

Quick four day visit early November. Glad we found "Whatalifetours" on google, as there our loads to chose from. Our guide at the Vatican took us straight off on his route which enabled us to visit the main and most impressive parts of the Vatican all on our own (he new all the short cuts) great knowledge on all areas, and never felt rushed. Personally you can't beat ancient Rome history, and the Colosseum is it's centre point, our guide this time is also an archaeologist his passion on the subject came through, with all the answers to my questions answered with passion. Both these tours we felt were worth while, with the lady from the office being in attendance at the start of both, making sure they went off on time. Listening to a recorded voice on tape, as some of the other tours are run, just would not have the same feel at all. Thanks once again, and if/when we visit Rome again we will be booking again.
Gary and Angela, U.K

10th November 2017

My husband and I did the Vatican early access tour with Mario as our guide.  The tour was so much better than we expected, Mario was an excellent guide, his knowledge of the Vatican and its history was communicated to us in an engaging, entertaining and comprehensive way. It was very special and something that I will never forget. I thoroughly recommend this tour!

9th November 2017

In Oct. 2017, I returned to bella Roma where I had grown up as an American teenager many decades ago.  My adult son joined me for a few days in Rome. Our tour with Daniela of the Colosseum and forum was the best I've ever experienced, and I've been on many.  She was exceptionally knowledgeable, interesting, and personable.  I learned so much about the construction of the buildings, typical day and events at the Colosseo, and many fascinating insights about the Roman culture.  When my camera storage was full and I couldn't take any more photos, my guide took the pictures I wanted on her own camera and had them sent to me through What a Life tours.  Can't rate this experience, guide, and company any higher!

6th November 2017

We would like to thank to Ana the superb guidance through the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and Basilica of St Peter. We had the early morning tour what we definietly recommend to everyone who would like to avoid the big crowd. Don't forget to climb the dome of the Basilica after the tour finished!