Guided Vatican Tours questions

I visited these sites last year about this time. There is no ticket to the basilica itself and no charge, but if you wait until after you tour the Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel, you will face a long long security line. Took me nearly two hours to get into the basilica. So there may be a private tour that gets you into the basilica quicker. My resolve was that if I ever decided to return to Roma, I'd do the museums first thing on one day and go to the basilica quite early the next morning.

You don't need to book a private tour to visit the basilica or to use the bypass door. Any official tour of the museums and chapel will allow you to use the bypass door for a more direct route into the basilica and allow you to skip that security line.

There is an official tour that includes all three but it is not an early entry tour.

Donna

We will be doing the tour with Walks of Italy. Have you checked their site yet? This one might suit you:

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

With that many people you will actually save money if you book a private guide versus doing a group tour such as with the excellent Walks of Italy. Sonia Tavoletta or Francesca Caruso are good choices to tailor a tour to your needs. LMK if you want contact info. Expect to pay about 60 Euro per hour.

Thanks everyone!

Just did the excellent Walks of Italy tour but I agree that with a group your own guide would probably save some money.