Skip the Line Tours in Rome

Want to list the companies? Most people have not taken the same tour with different companies so it is hard to offer comparison. We did an Angel Tour of the Vatican and surrounding area. And thought our tour guide and the tour were terrific. Have no idea if they were better or worse than other tour companies. We would do a repeat with them for something else.

You know nobody skips the security lines, don't you?And that the only other line is the line to Buy the entrance tickets? You can skip this line Buying tickets in advance on the official sites without wasting money with a tour (assuming you are not interested in tours, of course).

You can see only 3 things at the Vatican: The Gardens, the Museum (including the Sistine Chapel) and the Basilica. The Basilica is free, the only line is for security.

Hi Marie,

As I have suggested awhile back, below is the list I provided of popular tour companies in Rome/Italy. They all seem to be very good, comparable in price and in itineraries.

Maybe some differ in group size. One or two may offer a discount on selected tours. Times and days will also be a factor for you.

It may be good to open up each website in browser windows and start comparing. Or, maybe copy and paste into a document with side by side similarities and differences after you have narrowed it down.

The Roman Guy -- https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy/rome

Walks Of Italy -- https://www.walksofitaly.com/

Dark Rome -- https://darkrome.com/rome-tours (City Wonders tour group is part of Dark Rome)

Angel Tours -- https://angeltours.eu/destination/rome/

Through Eternity Tours -- https://www.througheternity.com/en/rome-tours/

Perhaps as a reference, you can review this thread again: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/skip-the-line-tours-in-rome#top

And, this is another similar thread from another poster about tours: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/official-vatican-tours-vs-tour-operators

a tip: For your point of reference and convenience to quickly pull up info, maybe you can "bookmark" your favorite informational threads. Then go into your "travel forum account" to see your bookmarks, history and if you have any private messages.

"Skip the Line" just means you pre-purchase tickets for your visit - you skip the line to buy tickets, but there's still an entry line because of security screening.

My tour company of choice is Context Travel; I have not used them in Italy yet, but I have 4 tours booked for my trip to Italy in October (Venice, Florence, and Rome.). I have used them in Japan with great satisfaction, so I am confident that my experience with them in Italy will likewise be great. They only offer very small group tours of up to 6 people, which makes for a very different experience and one I really like.

This summer, we used The Roman Guy for the Vatican/Sistine Chapel (early tour that starts before it is open to general public) and another one of their tours for the Colesseum/Palatine Hill/Forum. We were happy with our tours. You still go through security on a tour - but the lines for tour groups seemed to move pretty fast. Have a great trip.

The term "Skip the line" is really nothing more than a marketing ploy. Whenever you prepurchase at ticket/tour, you skip the queue to buy tickets. And as previously posted, no one skips the Security lines

We've taken tours with Dark Rome/City Wonders and Walks of Italy and both were very good. Just do your due diligence and you should be fine - Girasole has a good list

We used Through Eternity Tours for Vatican and Forum/Colosseum tours. By far the best tours we've been on so far anywhere in Europe. https://www.througheternity.com/en/rome-tours/

blueangel4, the list of often-recommended operators hasn't changed since you asked this same question a couple weeks ago. Every one so them is "good" depending on amount of money/time you want to spend, the amount of guided ground you want to cover at the sites themselves, and in how large a group.

To echo the others, ALL tours and ALL pre-purchased entry tickets are "skip the line"; NO ticket or tour skips the security check queues. As previously discussed - and for anyone else using this thread for research - the most economical tours are offered by the Vatican Museums and Coopculture for the attractions listed, they both offer a range of different options, and their groups tend to be larger than the more expensive private company groups. Colosseum tours are VERY popular, tickets release in waves, and some sell out VERY quickly, often within hours of becoming available. The undergrounnd tour is one of them; this might be of interest (from the website):

"Pre-sale of the underground tour only online:
September 5th at 6.30 pm (ROME TIME) in the monthly availability for the month of October"

That is this tour:

https://ecm.coopculture.it/index.php?option=com_snapp&view=event&id=7F92A2ED-7C0B-A61F-649D-016524395482&catalogid=F4C3D833-DD3A-CA7F-4D7B-0167A8418A21&lang=en

Some of the guided tours offered by coopculture + other companies cover not just the Colosseum but the Forum and Palatine as well: these run around 3 hours versus the shorter tours for JUST the Colosseum so they usually cost more. As the Forum and Palatine together are complex, somewhat large sites, there is extra benefit to having a guide for them. That said, they may not be of interest to everyone so fair numbers go with just the Colosseum.

Same with the Vatican Museums/Sistine and St Peter's: some folks want longer guided tours which include both museums + basilica and some are fine with just the museums/Sistine.

So, what you want to book goes beyond "good" to amount of $/time you have to spend, and the level of interest you have covering more versus less ground with a guide. Make sense?

Thank you all again for your advice. Marie

We visited the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel ages ago and the crowds were terrible (at the Raphael Room and Sistine).

We are looking at tours that start at 8 or 7:30 AM, to "avoid the crowds" but they don't give an itinerary.
The tour group may get a headstart but is it worth the $ for that headstart?

I don't care about a tour that goes in the Basilica, it's the museum and chapel that matter.

Thanks

I just read the Dark Rome description
https://darkrome.com/vatican-tours/sistine-chapel-early-access
quotes:
"enter the Sistine Chapel a full 30 minutes before their tours and at least 1 hour and 30 minutes ahead of the public.
"Once you leave the Sistine Chapel you will still have a full hour in the Museums before the public are allowed in.

That sounds intriguing. Supposedly getting into the chapel 30 minutes before other tour groups seems too good to be true.

Other crowded places I've been to: Versailles, Alhambra, Louvre

The tour group may get a headstart but is it worth the $ for that headstart?

Only you can answer that for yourself. Context Travel has a 4 hour tour of the Vatican that starts at 7:15, but it's $154 per person (group of 6 people max), or $768 for a private (family) tour of up to 6. I elected not to pay extra, and will be taking their regular morning tour that starts at 8:30.

I just read the Dark Rome description
https://darkrome.com/vatican-tours/sistine-chapel-early-access
quotes:
"enter the Sistine Chapel a full 30 minutes before their tours and at least 1 hour and 30 minutes ahead of the public.
"Once you leave the Sistine Chapel you will still have a full hour in the Museums before the public are allowed in.

That sounds intriguing. Supposedly getting into the chapel 30 minutes before other tour groups seems too good to be true.

It isn't too good to be true.

We did the First Entry to the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum tour this past March with Dark Rome/City Wonders and it was well worth it.

We met at Caffe Vaticano at 7am and was literally the first group into the Vatican Museum at 7:30, a good hour and a half before the general public. Walked to the Sistine Chapel with a guided tour along the way - got to see the Hall of Maps and Tapestries totally empty. Once we got to the SC, there was a 5 or so minute wait to be let in - we got to spend as long as we wanted with maybe a total of 3 dozen people in there. We were then free to visit the rest of the Vatican Museum We knew when it was 9am as we started to see patrons and by 10am it was getting pretty crowded.

I thank you all for the information and advice you have provided. Marie

Herfnerd
Did you take the specific tour that I did the link to?
Thank you.

I'm saving all the good links to discussions like this, for our spring trip.