Scavi tour, St Peter’s Basilca, Vatican Museum

1. Fifteen minutes is fine. If you arrive earlier you may be given the option to take the earlier tour, depending on numbers, which we declined. My wife's more the adherent of organised religion. Our guide did not seem overly enthusiastic, using words and phrases like "apparently" and "believed to be" when describing certain events and artifacts. I don't know if all the guides use similar descriptions.

2. At the gate there will be a small number of guards in their stripy, fluffy uniforms. Just show them your papers.

3. Yes

4. I don't remember. We ended up in the tomb of the popes.

5. If the grotto is the tomb of the popes, then we walked through unguided.

6. Dome opens at 8. Up to you if you want to skip time in the basilica before the Scavi tour. I think you'll be pushed for time after your tour.

All in all, interesting and worth it.

Natique2, when we took the Scavi tour it ended inside the Basilica. No need to show up at 7am unless you are pressed for time. I'm curious about your experience with securing the tickets. There is a separate thread that addresses the issue of the Scavi office not getting back to a few of us. This has been going on for weeks. In the past they responded within a few hours. How was it with you?

Jennifer - I just received an email about the Scavi tour a few days ago. I sent a request in last November. Quite honestly, I forgot I even sent the request was pleasantly surprised . However, this requires a little bit of rescheduling to make it work. Hopefully, it’s worth it.

Thank for getting back to me. It's crazy to me how long it's taking them to respond to requests now. Weird. That being said, it is totally worth it. It does sound like you will be pressed for time though. It probably would be a good idea to head to the Basilica for 7am like you planned. That way you can take your time in there. Yes, you will have to go through security again, but it is dedicated to the Scavi tour only. So super quick. At the end of the tour, you could wander around again but I would suggest allowing enough time to grab something to eat (you will need it) and head to the museum. It is a little bit of a hike around the outside of the Vatican walls to the museum entrance. I did this but in reverse a few years ago. Definitely do the dome another day.

Be sure to wear good shoes for the Scavi tour, it’s very uneven underfoot.
Also, it’s very warm and humid down there.
We were also there in the month of June.
We thought it would be quite cool being underground….oh no!
It was a surprise to get warmer and warmer the lower we went.
Bring water, and wear thin clothing.
Our guide was a very enthusiastic American seminary student, so made it all very interesting.

If we are the first one’s in line for the dome at 7:30 and our Scavi tour is at 9:30, will we be able to make it to the Scavi on time ? I am assuming we would be down from the dome by 9am and then walk to the Scavi security. Basically I would be leaving 15 min to get over to the Scavi tour from the Basilica? Is this doable? Or is it the case that tour groups are at the dome climb at that time as well making it a shoulder to shoulder experience?