The Roman Guy Tours

Hi,

If you have not already viewed this one, https://youtu.be/IxHpQ-A9hs4 check it out.

Some good info and tips about preparing for and visiting the Vatican. (Unfortunately, the background music is a little loud.)

Private (exclusive) tours will be more expensive with any tour company compared to a group tour.

The Roman Guy appears to keep to small groups.

Also, for comparison, look at
https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/
which has smallish groups

Or, https://darkrome.com/

Whichever tour you decide to do, yes, a very early one in the month of July, to sort of beat the heat and compete with the crowds of peak season, would be best.

As another consideration, if you're deciding to take another guided tour, for example, The Borghese (individual tickets sell fast), ask about discounts. Muti tour bookings may save a few dollars. Call each company to get the most accurate information.

Good luck.

yes, a very early one in the month of July, to sort of beat the heat
and compete with the crowds of peak season, would be best.

Just putting an exclamation point on this comment! Valid complaints about overcrowding in the Vatican Museums - and the Sistine in particular - are frequent! Early-entrance tours, such as those offered by Roman Guy, Walks of Italy, etc. have become a popular method of enjoying some of the most-visited highlights of the museums before they're completely overrun. Posters who've done them have sworn that they were well worth the price.

You don't need to do an expensive, truly private (meaning just you and a guide) tour. Just as a sample from the links Girasole kindly provided above, these two small-group tours are very popular, highly rated options.

https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/pristine-sistine-chapel-tour/

https://theromanguy.com/tours/Rome/Sistine-Chapel-Vatican-Tour

As far as other tours in Rome, do take a look at Rick's free audio tours for select attractions and sightseeing walks in chosen Italian cities? These can be dowloaded to you own devices, and posters have had positive things to report about them. If needing to stretch the pennies, this is one way to do that! :O)

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours

Last week was the first that I’d heard of The Roman Guy. In Rome we guided ourselves, using Rick Steves’ guidebook and audiotours extensively. And we arrived first thing at the Vatican Museums, basically spent all day there, and watched as the crowd built and built throughout the day.

But in some other places (including Paris, Neolithic sights in Ireland, Iceland, and in Greece and Morocco, we’ve hired private guides. Some were considerably more expensive than others, but based on their expertise, small number of participants (just us in our case!), and our desire for someone with more knowledge than we could acquire in a short time with printed or recorded info, they were well worth the money. Maybe there are some outfits that overcharge, but we’ve generally found that guides charge what they’re worth.

Check out Through Eternity Tours. https://www.througheternity.com/ I was happy with their group tour pricing. They use head phones so you don't have to crowd around the guide. I never felt I was in a large, cumbersome group. We used them for tours of the Vatican and Colosseum/Forum and they were easily the best tour company we've used anywhere in Europe so far.

Through Eternity Tours. https://www.througheternity.com/

"Bookmarked" for future reference. Always good to have choices and view travelers' experiences.

We did Dark Rome's early morning Vatican tour (8:10 AM) and it was so worth it. We were there in October when it was not as crowded as the summer and the regular line to get in was wrapped around the building even that early. I can only imagine how it would be in the summer. We walked right into the building. We used The Roman Guy when we toured the Colosseum and I would highly recommend them, too. They also do an early morning Vatican tour. Both companies had small groups and excellent tour guides. It gets expensive to use the private tours but you would lose so much time waiting in line that I would highly suggest getting an early morning tour for the Vatican. I would like to warn you not to eat breakfast across from the Vatican! We ate there and didn't think much of the fact there were no prices on the menu! We were charged 40 euro for two orders of eggs, bacon, toast and coffee!

We just did a Roman Guy tour on Saturday for the Vatican Museums/Castel Gandolfo. As we were doing a tour only offered by the Vatican, we were given the headphones and guide from the Vatican. The early time made it very spacious in the museums and the Sistine Chapel (instead of being crammed in there, we only had to bob and weave to move around people at 9:30am). The tour wasn't very popular, so we only had 6 people in total for it, and the people doing it on their own had no tour guide for the museums or the Vatican gardens or the Castel Gandolfo gardens, and we didn't have to think much about any of the logistics. They were very organized and I would use them again if the need arose.

They use head phones so you don't have to crowd around the guide.

As a footnote to Allan's helpful post, most of the museums require that tour groups which number more than a very modest size use headsets so that the guides don't have to shout to be heard. It's easier on them, easier on their clients, and easier on the ears of other visitors too! :O)

We used Dark Rome/City Wonders First Entry to the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum Tour we thought it was well worth it - keep in mind that after the SC, you are on your own to wander the Vatican Museum but this is where RS's audio guide could come into play. Little pricier than purchasing direct from the Vatican but a lot cheaper than other tour groups - then again, you are sorta on your own.....