Early entry Sistine Chapel/Vatican and early entry accademia with Duomo climb

Well, you are on the Rick Steve’s Travel Forum. I’ve taken 2 RS Tours; Florence & Istanbul. Enjoyed both. Great guides. Learned so much.

To this day I get emotional thinking about the 15 of us on the Florence tour being taken into the Accademia to see David well before the doors opened. Having an art historian talk about and answer questions about Michelangelo’s stunning sculpture ( its 17 feet tall ) remains a favorite travel memory.

Teens are often on RS tours. Take a look at the tour itinerary and see if they might work for the four of you.

The Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel are huge and time consuming. I would say spend the money here for early access to save your time and energy. Also visit St. Peter's Basilica.

Both Duomo and Accademia are smaller attractions than the Vatican ones. If you want to save some time, you may want to climb just the Giotta Bell tower, next to the Duomo. Not as high, but the lineup was quicker compared to the Duomo line-up.

I liked the Doge palace in Venice. The best free thing we did in Venice was a free tour of a glass factory in Murano offered through our hotel. One of those fancy wood speedboats (like the ones in those spy movies set in Venice) picked us up in front of our hotel in the morning and whisked us to the Island of Murano for free. That boat ride was awesome and a luxury I would not want to pay for. We saw the glass blowing and toured their beautiful gallery where they tried to sell us glass pieces worth thousands of Euros. There was no obligation to buy anything, but I ended up buying a bag of glass candy pieces for €1 each which I gave to friends and used to decorate my aquarium. We had lunch and then took ferry home for a couple of Euros. It never hurts to ask your hotel front desk if they have a similar complimentary offer.

I would definitely recommend an early entry to Sistine-there are several companies that offer this
We used Walks of Italy- Pristine Sitstine- and it was money well spent. Others are Roman Guy, Through Eternity and the Vatican itself has several options.
Be sure you are using the official Vatican site
https://m.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani-mobile/en.html

Accademia and Duomo Complex require timed entires. You can simply book your own at the opening time to avoid some of the crowds.

The Dome complex tix that includes the Dome climb also includes- Bell Tower, Baptistry and Museum- 30 euros (Brunelleschi). No need to book with anywhere but the official site.
https://duomo.firenze.it/en/discover/cathedral

Accademia is 12 euros- kids under 18 are free
https://www.galleriaaccademiafirenze.it/en/

There are many threads here about early entry to Sistine with more info
A search will bring them up

Any other great tours you would recommend in Rome, Florence, or
Venice?

We have enjoyed every single food tour we have ever taken
EatingEurope.com (Use EATWELL10 for a discount)
in Rome the Trastevere or Testaccio tours are fantastic

Your kids might like the Capuchin Crypt- no tour needed, just a very unique and a bit creepy place
https://museoecriptacappuccini.it

In Venice we loved the Secret itineraries tour of Doges Palace
https://palazzoducale.visitmuve.it/en/pianifica-la-tua-visita/special-itineraries/secret-itineraries-tour/

Are you in Rome on a Wednesday? You may consider attending a papal audience. Tickets are free: http://www.papalaudience.org/

If you wish to attend, I suggest sending a request by mail. My brother did a few years back and he received a signed approval letter from the Vatican typewritten on Vatican letterhead with an old typewriter. Nice keepsake. I see on the website that you can now send requests also by email or fax, but who would want to frame a reply fax or email? I don't know. Maybe the Vatican has bought a few laser printers.

I haven't been to the Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel in ages, but I've been researching options for an upcoming trip to Rome. The early-access options offered by the Vatican are quite a bit cheaper than those run by private companies. I am unclear on which groups get inside first. The Vatican offers tickets that include a guided tour as well as tickets that do not (in which case I think you'd want to take the optional audio guide at a modest additional cost).

Even ordinary tickets to the Vatican have been selling out well in advance this year, so I think you need to buy your Vatican tickets before you get to Italy. You can monitor ticket availability on the Vatican website to get an idea of how far in advance you'll need to make the purchase:

https://tickets.museivaticani.va/home/calendar/visit/Biglietti-Musei

The Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel were major disappointments to me last fall because of the crowds. You get shuffled along in a stream of people until you arrive at the Sistine Chapel where the crowds seem even worse and security guards are constantly telling people to move somewhere else. That is before the frequent loud speaker announcement of “ Silence, this is a place of worship “ blares through the air.

If you want to see these, You should do everything in your power to get the early admission and reduce the crowd factor. Perhaps my experience would have been more positive if I had done so.

When are you traveling? In the off season, early access isn't needed for the Accademia and Duomo. I just returned from Florence and Venice, and the week prior to Christmas, the place was very quiet. After Christmas became much busier.

We will be traveling in late March/early April. We are leaving just a few days before Easter but will be there over Palm Sunday. Definitely not the low season

I have done the Pristine Sistine tour twice and highly recommend it. Being in the Sistine Chapel with so few people was an incredible experience.

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