The Roman Guy vs. Walks of Italy for early morning Vatican/SC/St. Peter's

It was nine years ago, but here is our experience.

For guided Vatican tour we did "Early Morning Vatican Tour with Sistine Chapel" with Through Eternity Tours: https://www.througheternity.com/vatican

It was excellent: here is our review: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/early-morning-vatican-tour-with-sistine-chapel-with-through-eternity-tours-excellent

I have no experience with Walks of Italy.

We used The Roman Guy for a different tour and were disappointed; here is our review (rich with replies): https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/vip-colosseum-at-night-tour-by-the-roman-guy-a-great-disappointment

And here is our entire Italy trip report: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/italy-2019-sicily-sorrento-amalfi-pompeii-rome-orvieto-tuscany-siena-florence-cinque-terre-milan

My experience with Walks of Italy. Every tour in Rome that I have ever signed up with for them, they have cancelled at the last minute. Others have been more successful.

I have never done Roman Guy, but I have had very positive experience with a company called Roman Vacations.
https://roman-vacations.com/ I think they are less likely to do the last minute cancellations than some of the others.

Ticketing procedures for the Vatican have changed and one person's previous experience may not relate to current practices. Realize that any tour that advertises itself as "early admission" probably isn't a true early admission tour. What that often means is that they meet up early, but then enter the museum right when it opens to the public at 8 am.

Just a thought, but why don't you book through the Vatican museums directly? Over the years I've read positive reviews on the Forum about their tours. BTW if THEY cancel, all other tours will be cancelled too!
https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en.html

Sandancisco makes a good point (regarding potential infrequent cancellations) but one drawback to the Vatican's own tours is that they don't offer one that allows access to the indoor passage between the museum (Sistine Chapel) and the basilica. That benefit eliminates the outdoor trek between the entrance to the museums and the entrance to St. Peter's + a 2nd security-check queue. LOL, saving that bit of shoe leather can be nice when there's so much ground to cover to-and-inside the two sites! :O)

If having that benefit is of interest to you, then look at a tour through either WOI, The Tour Guy (same as the Roman Guy) or other that specifically offers it but be aware that tours on Wednesdays can't access the back passage, and it may be closed at rare other times because of special events in the church.

And this from Carol:

Realize that any tour that advertises itself as "early admission"
probably isn't a true early admission tour. What that often means is
that they meet up early, but then enter the museum right when it opens
to the public at 8 am.

Yep. Although a tour's start time may be 30-40 minutes before the museums open at 8:00, virtually all but the most expensive tours (e.g. "Keymaster's Tour") enter at the same time as the general public; they just meet at a stated location for an informative walk-and-talk en route to the entrance. I think there's one out there that's NOT a Keymaster's Tour that has a 6:30 start time - which would get in sometime before 8:00 - but booking dates never seemed to be available so may not be offered anymore.

I booked both The Key Master's Tour and St. Peter’s Basilica Priority Access Tour with Dome Climb & Crypt with Walks of Italy for my October 2024 trip. Neither were canceled. The Key Master tour was worth every penny, an exceptional experience for me. I booked the St. Peter's Tour for the priority access, but feel I could have done that on my own and had a better experience.

I did Walks of Italy in 2018 and liked it. That said, in 2025 I planned on getting the first entrance time directly from the Vatican. That was because I didn’t want to have to follow the guide thru the museum which, while excellent, I don’t care that much about all the details. However, I think if taking the tour gets you directly into St. Peter’s, it is worth it.

I ended up not going in 2025 - Sistine Chapel was being used for something elese at the time. Something about choosing a new pope.

We've used Walks of Italy multiple times for tours in Venice, Florence, Pompeii and Rome and have excellent experiences each time.
Highly recommend the Pristine Sistine tour.

Just for an idea of what a "Key Master" tour costs:

https://www.walksofitaly.com/vatican-tours/key-masters-tour-sistine-chapel-vatican-museums/

This one looks to only be available once a month:
https://livtours.com/tours/vip-semi-private-vatican-key-master-experience-opening-the-sistine-chapel/?_gl=1*y76y2y*_up*MQ..*_gs*MQ..&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgtSNxPHklQMVeYbCCB3ksyCIEAAYASAAEgIrYPD_BwE&gbraid=0AAAAADtz4iRVB8sryHz7-_NSj6HWN7SRl

Having not taken either, I won't address the 'worth' factor but let's just say they're more than our budget would have accommodated. Yours might be more generous. I wouldn't stress over tours being cancelled although there have been too-frequent issues with those for the Colosseum's underground when booked through 3rd parties but as you're not asking about those, it's not something we need to address, eh? :O)

Thanks everyone! I truly appreciate the advice and perspective...