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Best way to tour Vatican end of January

What's the best order in which to tour the Vatican? Is it Vatican Museums then Sistine Chapel than St. Peter’s Basilica? And given winter hours, it seems like starting in late afternoon to beat crowds doesn’t leave much time. Starting early morning (like a Tues.) is fine, but then by the time we reach the Sistine Chapel wouldn’t there be crowds by then if going in the aforementioned order?

And which ticket do we buy in advance to skip the lines? We’re assuming we won’t need a tour if we’re listening to the audio tour plus the book? We know we’re going off season, but we still don’t know what that really means for the week’s worth of “must sees”. So any further advice given our unique time frame would be greatly appreciated! Like, do we really need to go with a tour for any sites, given the circumstances? Vs. buying tickets in advance to skip those lines? And which tickets are the way to go? (Coliseum, Forums, Pantheon, etc.)
Thanks for any advice!

Posted by
8 posts

Visited Oct 10, and it was EXTREMELY crowded. Yea, had "skip the line" tix - what a joke/scam. Two hour wait to enter. Had to match thru Vatican Museum, no stopping! With maybe 5,000 others. I hope you have better luck/info.

Posted by
11359 posts

I highly recommend the Walks of Italy “Pristine Sistine” tour. Have taken it three times. You enter early, before the folks with individual tickets or large groups, and march immediately to the Sistime Chapel, which is in the museums, by the way. Then you tour the museums highlights. You will notice it getting crowded, but you will be in a small group of only 12 people with a very good guide. The tour ends in the Basilica where you can take more time if you like. You have to meet at 730 am and are finished about Noon. Look it up on the Walks of Italy website.