Sistine Chapel tour?

Great tour, as long as you’re willing to get up early and see Rome coming to life. You see the Sistine Chapel with very few others, can even sit on a bench and see the floor. You finish the tour by noon or so, and still have the rest of the day and evening in front of you. One down side, while you take the tour group door directly into St. Peter’s, you cannot then return directly into the Vatican Museum to spend more time on your own. Walks of Italy used to give RS readers a 10% discount, I think that’s still true. Walks of Italy also has a US-based 800#, and the staff are really very helpful.

either one will work;
anything that allows you a way to circumvent long lines;
more people go without knowing that a million other people in the world have the same ideas.

It was wonderful. I’ve done the early entry with two different companies and Walks was the better of the two.

On the way to the Sistine Chapel, I saw a lot of the things that were my must-sees but not all. I exited back into the hallway and walked around to Raphael’s rooms and wandered in and out of various rooms with few people around. When I headed back to the Sistine Chapel, it was horrifyingly packed. I would have hated to see the Museum that way. Once in the Sistine Chapel, I exited to go to St. Peter’s and went straight in.
FYI, if you want to mail postcards from the Vatican post office, be sure to take a pen in with you — there were about 10 of us sharing one pen when I was in there,

The WOI Pristine Sistine is excellent. It has been recommended on this Forum many times.

Just back from Rome and did the Pristine Sistine with Walks of Italy. While I love the tour group and would use them again, we were a bit disappointed in the crowds. I know it is better than in the afternoon, but no way would I call it "Pristine". Also our guide was about 15 minutes late which allowed many people ahead of us and cut into our time inside the Chapel. Our guide was great, but I was a little aggravated from the beginning due to her tardiness. But I have used them 4 times and this was my only complaint; so go for it!

We took both the Pristine Sistine and the VIP Colosseum Tours in April. I highly recommend them both. It was great to avoid the big crowds as well as the long security lines.