Private Vatican tour to beat the crowd

Private tour as offered by the roman guy and others

We used Walks of Italy and booked the "Pristine Sistine" tour. tons of reviews online for that tour.

The Vatican also has its own early-bird ticket (with breakfast/self guided). Links:

Walks of Italy Pristine Sistine (guided):
https://www.walksofitaly.com/vatican-tours/pristine-sistine-chapel-tour/

Roman Guy Privileged Early Entrance (guided):
https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy/vatican/sistine-chapel-vatican-tour?layout=layout2

Vatican early entrance w/breakfast (self touring with audioguide):
http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/visita-i-musei/scegli-la-visita/musei-e-collezioni/colazione-ai-musei-vaticani/ingresso-anticipato-ai-musei---colazione.html

These are not considered completely "private" (meaning you won't have a guide all to yourselves), and multiple companies sell early-entrance tours so you won't be alone in the chapel and other parts of the museums included on the tour route but you will get a jump on the general-entry mob.

Hi,
Just got back from Roma where we used The Roman Guy (https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy) for early entry into the Vatican and Colosseum. Prices were very reasonable and our guides very knowledgeable.

Hope this helps.
Bill

Adding to the chorus for the Roman Guy. We met at 7:30 and were in the Sistine Chapel before it opened to the general public. The crowds in the museum were impossible by 9:30, literally elbow to elbow, and even in the Basilica, there were throngs of pushing and impatient tourists trying to see everything. The tour made it possible to see things instead of wandering around with all the people. Early is the way to go.

We had a great experience with Through Eternity Tours early Vatican Tour; review on the forum: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/early-morning-vatican-tour-with-sistine-chapel-with-through-eternity-tours-excellent
We did Colesseum Tour with Roman Guy; didn't meet expectations: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/vip-colosseum-at-night-tour-by-the-roman-guy-a-great-disappointment

still wondering why Jeff keeps bringing up a bad experience on a tour that had nothing to do with the company he used. By his admission, any tour guide company he picked would have had the same issue because of the mandates dictated by the location. Stop singling out the roman guy as if they were the ones that caused your "problem"

Also to be fair, a Colosseum evening tour is a different animal than a Vatican Museums early-entrance tour.