The Vatican Museums hold one of the world's most remarkable art collections, spread across nine miles of galleries, and a full day with a guide is what turns that scale into something guests can genuinely enjoy. We begin among the paintings of the Vatican Art Gallery and the painted corridors beyond it, where the Gallery of Maps and the Gallery of Tapestries introduce the range of what lies ahead.

The route then gathers pace through the rooms most visitors walk straight past: the Gallery of the Candelabra, the Laocoön and His Sons, the Raphael Rooms, and the Borgia Apartments, once the residence of Rodrigo Borgia before he became Pope Alexander VI. Their family portraits open a window on one of the most controversial chapters of papal history, and everything leads to the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo spent eight years on frescoes whose meanings our guide explains before guests step inside to take in the chapel in silence.

The day continues into St. Peter's Basilica, the largest church in the world and more than 120 years in the making, raised over the tomb of St. Peter. Inside we pause at Michelangelo's Pietà, Bernini's altar, and the chair of St. Peter, and we finish in St. Peter's Square beneath Bernini's colonnade, with the architecture of the Vatican spread out around us.

Because the tour is private, the pace stays with the group: guests can linger over the works that speak to them and ask every question they have. With skip-the-line access and five hours ahead, from the museums to the chapel and on to the basilica, we make sure that nothing essential goes unseen.

A dress code is required to enter places of worship and selected museums. Shorts and sleeveless tops are not allowed, and knees and shoulders must be covered for both men and women. Guests may be refused entry if these dress requirements are not met.