Should we take a tour of the Vatican

I have just done general admission and been very happy. I felt badly for the people on the tours because they would walk you to one place, explain it a little and then leave you there for a few minutes and move on to the next. There was just not enough time to absorb the Cistine Chapel or other delights. If you go on your own you can spend as much or as little a time as you like.

I've done both many times. Use the RS guide (book or audio) and do it on your own. Inside the Sistine Chapel the tour guide isn't permitted to speak to the group anyway, so they give a little lecture outside the Chapel - you can have the RS tour on your earbuds or in your hands.

The only reason I would choose a tour is if it is the early morning one that allows you access before the general admission opens up. Otherwise, using Rick's audio guide to walk you through it would be okay. The "best route" really depends on your personal preference. I personally think it's the one place that splurging on a tour that allows pre-opening access is totally worth it.

I just returned from Italy on Tuesday. Took a tour of the Vatican on Monday. I have done it both ways. Am glad I did the tour on Monday. The line to get in was hours long! The museum was packed with people. The tour guide gave us the highlights and did a good job. The museum is so vast that it is difficult to see it in a day and I just became overloaded the times I did it by myself. When the tour was finished - just before we went to the Sistine Chapel, we were given the option of returning and wandering through the museum ourselves. The museum was so crowded, however, that we did not take that option. Likewise, in the chapel, we were allowed to stay as long as we wished. I think the museum needs to consider different ways to admit people. A reservation system would allow many people to enter, and cut down on lines and crowding. We encountered that at Alhambra in Grenada. The Vatican museum needs to do something like that. I will never return. There are just too many people there.

You don't need to take a tour in order to bypass the lines. You can buy tickets online that allow you to do that. Taking a tour is a personal choice. I've done tours and visited on my own. I like both but for different reasons. A tour will give you more information and allow you to ask specific questions. Going by yourself or with an audio guide allows you to set your own pace, starting and stopping when you wish and choosing the exact itinerary you want to follow. Choose the option that is the best for how you like to travel.

The other option is doing a night time visit if you are visiting on a Friday. The museums are much less crowded which will allow more time to visit each exhibit. The chapel is also much less crowded allowing time to sit and study.

Donna

For me, the tour would not be aimed at bypassing lines, but rather avoiding crowds inside. That is the bigger issue that seems more unavoidable (except for the extended hours visits, which is a good idea).

Unless you book an expensive early entry tour all other tours deal with the crowds inside the museums. There is really no way to avoid them. The crowds usually don't bother me because I tend to visit the galleries that are not directly on the route to the chapel, which is what most people go to the museums to see.

Donna

Is there a RS audio guide for the Vatican Museums? I know there is one for the Sistine Chapel, but I haven't found one for the other parts of the Museum.

@jennakalkwarf, the tour books (Italy, Rome, Pocket Rome) have the Vatican Museum tours in them but I didn't see an audio tour for the museums, just the Sistine Chapel.

I thought if you got to the Sistine Chapel by 8 a.m. there was almost no crowd and entry was fast and easy. Is this incorrect???

You can't just enter the Sistine Chapel at 8:00 am. You must enter via the Vatican Museums door and trek along the marked route to finally end up at the Sistine.

The earliest entry you can book without a tour is for 9 am. You can book an earlier tour directly through the Vatican website or through third party vendors. You won't be able to enter the museums earlier than 9am without being on a tour. Once they open the doors for regular guests most of the 9am people rush directly to the chapel hoping to get there before anyone else. What they find is the hundreds of others who've had the same idea.

Donna