Sistine Chapel question.

Are you arriving from the U.S? I ask because it might be a bit ambitious to plan to do the Colosseo, Forum and Palatino on Day One after an all-night minimal-sleep flight. From a time management standpoint, if you are fresh and rested I think it can be done. With a good guide, you can cover the turf in 3-4 hours. I strongly recommend a guide for the ancient Rome area as a guide can decipher what is a very complex set of sites.

I must say, while seeing the Sistine Chapel was very interesting after a lifetime of hearing about it, I would not go to the Vatican Museums and only visit the chapel. A good visit to the museums and St. Peter's Basilica will take 3-4 hours as well. I can highly recommend the Walks of Italy "Pristine Sistine" tour which gets you into the Sistine Chapel before the big crowds arrive.

Laurel,

We will be arriving by train from Florence. This will be our second week in Italy. Yes, St. Peter's is on my list too. I was actually looking into requesting if a Scavi tour was available, but I might be pushing it!

Donna

We used Walks of Italy for our tour of the Colloseum etc. and did the Prisitine Sistine as well. Of our 3 weeks is a Europe, they were one of the best tours we went on, highly recommend, check out their website.

Donna, I also enjoyed and endorse the Walks of Italy "Pristine Sistine" tour, which gets you through the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel early before it is crowded and hot. It also includes St. Peter's and goes every morning except Sunday. They also have a variety of Colosseum/Forum/Palatine Hill tours, morning, afternoon or evening. A good group. Of course more expensive than just going on your own, or taking the sites' own tour during normal hours.

Hi Donna. OK so you are fresh and rested! Good thing! The Scavi might be hard... the scheduling is up to the Vatican. You can write and ask for the 15th and see what they say. No obligation to take the reservation offered if it does not fit with your plan. But if you can do the Ancient Rome tour on the 14th (afternoon - it will be warm) and book the Pristine Sistine for the AM of the 14th, you can certainly do the Scavi Tour in the afternoon. Just be sure you have time for a bit of a rest over lunch. We did Pristine Sistine + lunch + Scavi on the same day 4 years ago and it was a wonderful day but long, 11 hours or so.

If you don't want to book an expensive tour I would suggest booking the late afternoon tickets to the museums. After the chapel you can visit the basilica and still have time for other sites in the evening. With only one day available for the scavi tour I doubt you'll get tickets but it's worth a try.

Donna

We were there on a weekday in December 2012, so our experience may not carry over exactly for your schedule, but we arrived early and there was absolutely no one in the long, roped-off entrance maze out in front of the museum, and relatively few people inside. Within an hour and a half the place was packed, and we worked our way thru the museum before arriving at the Sistine Chapel. The crowd remained throughout the day, so I'd suggest considering a first-thing visit. There were signs throughout, pointing the way to the Sistine Chapel for people for whom that was their primary objective.

Thanks to all.

Thanks for everyone's help and info. We have a plan!!