Vatican City

Keeping in mind that I haven't gone yet, for us the advantage of taking the Vatican tour is not standing in line. The Vatican museum shortened their hours just this year, and my impression is the lines are quite long. I'm not clear if previous tips about what time of day to visit (afternoon) still apply considering the new hours. Also the cost is lower than many tour companies. The contact instructions are here:

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/z-Info/MV_Info_Servizi_Visite.html

The other tactic we considered is to get tickets to go in before the official opening time, which apparently some tour groups are able to arrange. The one I found is here:

http://www.rome-museum.com/index.htm

I was worried that this seems a bit sketchy, but maybe not. The advantage is you get into the museum before the crowds. It is the same price as the guided Vatican tour, but is actually not a guided tour, just the privledge of going in early. Maybe someone else has experience with this.

We sent our fax on June 14 and received our return fax (for the day and time we wanted) on July 3. We are taking the Vatican tour July 30, so the fax came well before the tour date.

what all is included in the Vatican Tour? I understand there are no options for reserving Vatican Museum tickets any longer. and what is the contact information for the Vatican Tour? Is that tour recommended over another commercial tour agency?

Read earlier posts on this topic. Expect Vatican museum to be very crowded. Despite change of schedule and preference for tour groups there is little attempt at reducing overall numbers of bodies in the museum. Yes, you pay for reserving through 3rd party (we used rome-museum) but it helps get you past the line. I also faxed ahead for official Vatican tour and received confirmation the day before we left. Many people that get a reply from Vatican cite last-minute type responses.