Booking Vatican museum tour or going it on my own

Hi Mary,

I did the Vatican tour from the Vatican and I thought it was good. Each person had an ear piece so you could hear the tour guide. They highlighted all the major things in the museum. The only part they didn't cover was the Egyptian Room. So after the tour we went back to see that on our own. I would recommend it.

Have a great trip!

Thanks. We are going to be able to book tickets for a night at the museum which may be very cool.

I did it on my own; but in retrospect, it is such a huge museum and a can get overwhelming. It might have been wiser to either have a tour guide or rent the audioguide.

We took a tour through Presto Tours (2 weeks ago) & it was very enjoyable and informative. I would highly recommend them. The tour was 3 hrs long & it focused on the highlights.

Mary, we did the tour directly through the Vatican last spring. Very glad we did, the crowds were bad - i think we would have missed alot without the tour guide to show us around. Price was good, and you can spend time after the tour doing more on your own if you want. I would definently recommend doing it (plus it saved us a lot of time by prebooking the tour so we didn't have to wait in the horrible lines outside!).

I have taken the Vatican tour twice. The first time, we had a docent who walked slowly and very meticulously showed us and explained things along the way. The second time, it was a "forced march"...nothing but a mad dash through the hallways to reach our final destination, the Sistine Chapel. It's a crap shoot. You might do better with an outside tour company. I used Context for my Forum/Palatine/Colosseum tour, and it was given by a PhD in archaeology from Oxford Univ. It was a four hour tour. It was pricey but very, very informative. Context has a great many different tours to choose from. http://www.contexttravel.com/rome/

I took that tour last week. Great tour, great tour guide!

Hi everyone,
I am back from Rome. I did book a Vatican museum tour and my husband and I enjoyed it very much!

We just got back from our trip to Italy. We usually like to explore places on our own (completely anti-tours) but decided to book a tour of the Vatican with Through Eternity Tours and it was the best money we spent. Brandon Green our guide was wonderful and insightful. He was enlightening beyond our expectations pointing out the less obvious aspects of the artifacts and the history behind them as well as the buildings and Popes. We were impressed with his knowledge of Rafael and Michelangelo and the way their relationship affected their art as well as how they expressed themselves through it. Brandon’s passion for art and history made the Vatican come alive. The time flew.