Recommendation for families touring the vatican

Depending on their interests, your children might enjoy the Scavi tour, although I'm not sure if there is any age limitation. It takes you through the excavations under the basilica, including the preChristian cemetary. You need to request tickets through the Vatican, well ahead of your departure for Italy. See vatican.va website and look for 'scavi' to the get into re requesting tickets. The roof of the basilica and the walkway inside the base of the dome provide interesting perspectives they might enjoy. You enter to the right of the basilica, via either stairs or an elevator. There is a charge, although I don't remember amount.

Not sure what you are asking. The Vatican is huge. You walk around and look. Do you want a guide tour? self guided tour? At 9 and maybe 11, not sure if they would be that interested in what a guide was describing. Maybe a self guided tour or a pod cast would work better. And when you ask about the Vatican are you including the museum or just the building?

"The Vatican" includes several parts. The "main parts for tourists" are St. Peter's Square, St. Peter's Basilica, and the Vatican Museums (where the Sistine Chapel is). The Museum requires a ticket; the other two are free, but lines to get into the Basilica can be long. Other posts here have more details, but if you're going soon, be aware that various parts may be inaccessible before the new pope is chosen, and may be very crowded shortly after. Here, from the wonderful Ron In Rome website, are his posts on the Vatican: http://www.roninrome.com/sites-attractions/the-vatican. The first post there, with 20 tips, should help you immensely. Now, an unsolicited comment. I found the Vatican Museums a crowded and unpleasant zoo, and no where was worse than the Sistine Chapel. Mobs of people disobeying the "no talking" and "no cameras" rules, then lots of attendants shushing them, made me want to leave fast. If I go again, I'll do whatever it takes to go at a less crowded time. It was a shame, as the collection of art, frescoes, etc was amazing, but I just couldn't enjoy it. I'm not saying you shouldn't see it, but do be sure that it's going to interest your kids sufficiently to go through the hassle and expense of seeing it.

The Vatican museums are really not the best place to take younger, smaller kids. I know your kids are 9 and 11 but they will be completely surrounded by adults who will block their views of the artwork. I always suggest skipping the museums and just visiting the basilica and climbing the dome. Unless your kids have a huge appreciation for art and would be devastated to miss the museums I would not bother visiting them. You can visit the basilica for free. You'll all need to wait in the security line but it moves quickly. Be sure everyone is dressed properly. For women that means shoulders covered and skirts or pants that cover the knees. These can be capris if you have them. For men they must also cover their shoulders but the are required to wear pants. If they don't they can be denied entry. Donna

Her children are too young to go on the scavi tour. The minimum age is 15. There are no exceptions to these rules as it's a very popular tour and hard to get on. donna

I agree with the others. Unless your kids are keen on something contained in the Vatican Museum, I would skip it. One of my sons was obsessed with classical Rome and Greece at age 8 and loved it. The older one, not so much. They both thought the Sistine Chapel was boring. However, they loved climbing St. Peter's, all the way to the top! And there's a gift shop on the roof! They loved having free reign to just wander around on top of a huge church. They also enjoyed Rick Steves' walking tour inside the church. We treated it a bit like a scavenger hunt...oooh, let's find the next thing!...and they liked that.
We visited very first thing on our first day in Rome. You will all wake up very early (if this is your first stop), so you can take advantage of that. St. Peter's opens at 7:00, and there is no one there at that time. We stood in no line and basically had the place to ourselves--during Easter week!