5 adults, semi-private tour suggestions for Vatican and Pompeii

Pam, "Walks of Italy" is a favorite operator among posters on the Italy forums. Look into their Pristine Sistine tour for the Vatican Museums. Note that it covers some parts of the museums and St Peter's Basilica but not a few other corners of the Vatican, such as the gardens (which I would personally skip anyway).

https://www.walksofitaly.com/vatican-tours/pristine-sistine-chapel-tour

For tours of some other parts of the Vatican, reference their websites:

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html

http://www.scavi.va/content/scavi/en/ufficio-scavi.html

You may, of course, books tours of the museums/Sistine and basilica through the Vatican's website above as well.

We've only done Pompeii on our own (from Sorrento and not Rome) but WOI has a tour which covers that one:

https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/pompeii-tours-from-rome

Thank you Kathy.

Ditto for Walks of Italy! Great all day trip to Pompeii from Rome that includes Amalfi coast drive to Positano. Also Pristine Sistine tour. Small groups, usually no more than 12 people. Very knowledgeable guides! Have loved these tours plus their Best of Milan starting with Last Supper. We are not tour people, always preferring solo travel, but these were excellent.

We just returned from a visit to Italy and we used Walks of Italy for both Pompeii and the Vatican. And we're beyond happy that we did. I can't stress enough to book the early morning 'Pristine Sistine' Vatican tour. As advertised - it gets you into the Sistine Chapel before the public opening - and we wound up having about 30 minutes inside the Chapel to appreciate the work of Michelangelo amongst relatively sparse crowds. Our guide was very knowledgable about the sites to see - and did a wonderful job of navigating us through the maze of the Vatican. Something I would not want to try to do on my own - especially as a first time visitor. And if there are sites you want to see that didn't get hit on this tour - you're still free to stay inside and explore on your own once the tour ends.

And our experience with Walks of Italy for Pompeii was just as positive. Our guide was an archeologist and his passion for Pompeii came through in his comments. Like the Vatican - navigating through the ruins of Pompeii without a guide would likely leave you frustrated - not to mention missing the backstory and history of the explanations of what you're actually seeing.

Hope this helps - and have a great trip!!!

Done and done...thank you all!

That was quick! :O)
Have a great trip!!!