Would like to get opinions from the experts here on how I can best visit St Peters Basilica, Sistine chapel including the Vatican museums, Colosseum, Roman forum in 2 days in the 3rd week of May.
I have been researching for awhile and took help here before but I am still very confused how to go about it so that I dont end up spending lot of time in long lines.
I have to buy Vatican tickets in the next 2 days.
All suggestions appreciated.
Hi shom, we were in Rome 2 weeks ago. We wanted to make the most of our time so we booked two tours.
On the recommendation of some other posters on the Rick Steves site, we did Walks of Italy Pristine Sistine Early Entrance Small Group Vatican Tour which met at 7:15 a.m. (https://www.walksofitaly.com/). We were among the first 20 people allowed to enter when the doors opened. We toured the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. Our guide was excellent and we thought it was well worth it to be able to get ahead of the crowd. Highly recommend.
We used Carpe Diem Rome (http://www.carpediemrome.com/) for an afternoon tour of the Colosseum With Arena Access, Palatine Hill and Roman Forum. Also recommend this one. We had a great (busy) day!
Thanks Donna.
I was under the impression that under the new rules for entry there are no early morning tours anymore. Looks like I was wrong.
If I buy the guided tour directly from the Vatican website would I be able to use the passage from Sistine Chapel to St. Peters Basilica?
Your best bet is an organized tour, they can handle all the details, even without, a day is enough for the Vatican museums and St Peters. In that case, I would focus on tickets for the museum, then depending on timing, fir St Peters in. The Security line does get long, but it moves quickly for the Basilica.
Much the same with the Colosseum/Forum, focus on entry to the Colosseum, get a ticket that includes the Forum, it is usually only a short wait, to no wait to get into the Forum if you already have a ticket.
I assume by "two Days" you have two full days, three nights, not trying to fit this into a "arrival day, one night, departure day" itinerary?
“If I buy the guided tour directly from the Vatican website would I be able to use the passage from Sistine Chapel to St. Peters Basilica?”
I don’t know the answer but I think the passage is closed on Wednesdays. Our guide said it’s never a sure thing that you can use it so I guess we were lucky. We visited on a Tuesday.
I've read often on this forum that the door is accessible only for tour groups being escorted into St. Peter's, which appears to exclude the VM tours run by the Vatican, since they are specifically limited to the Vatican Museums. Of course, the door policy is set by the Vatican, so it could certainly change the rules at any time. I'm doubtful that will happen, because opening a door one time to allow a tour group to pass through is very different from keeping it open constantly so it can be used by anyone with a VM tour ticket.
