Hello! I've read wonderful reviews for the Walks of Italy "Pristine Sistine" tour. I love the idea of being in the Sistine Chapel early, before the swarms of other tourists, however, one thing I haven't heard is how busy St Peter's Basilica is by the time you get there. I imagine it's towards the end of the tour (?), so will be after 10 am. Is it super crowded in the basilica by the time the tour reaches the church? Is that a drawback? Just trying to determine how to see the Vatican Museums (primarily the Sistine Chapel) and the Basilica....
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
There may not be a time when the Basilica is not crowded.
Posted by
Midwest
2768 posts
Yes, that is the biggest drawback. On our tour we got to the Basilica around 11AM and it was super crowded. We went separately to the basilica another day first thing in the morning and it was much better. At 11 after the tour the dome climb line looked awful (and I imagine it would be pretty claustrophobic). If this is your only chance to see these sights you may want to decide where your low-crowd priorities are.
Posted by
California
1625 posts
We took the Pristine Sistine tour and the visit to the Sistine Chapel was early on in the tour, still before the Museum opened and it was not crowded at all. There are other "early entry" groups there, but relatively empty compared to other times of the day. This was one of the main reasons we chose this tour. Once the museum opened I can only imagine how crowded it would be!
Posted by
Florida
610 posts
We did this tour last year and really liked it but, but as the other poster said, the Basilica was quite crowded when we got there. Also, there are far more groups and companies offering the same type of tour, so there were tons of other people going in when we did. Our guide took us to the Raphael room first to wait out the initial crowd in the Sistine Chapel, and then took us to the Chapel. We were still glad we did it, but it was a lot busier and more crowded than I ever expected in the whole place for getting there so early. Just something to be aware of.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
You might consider the Pristine Sistine tour separate from the Basilica, and go to the Basilica early on a different day. You can take an elevator to the roof, and skip the rest of the dome climb.