Tour of the Vatican

Book with the official site: http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do?weblang=en&do Both tours and tickets will allow you to bypass the lines. Donna

Thanks for the help! We hired a private tour guide for the Vatican. He has offered to purchase our tickets at 55 euro PER ticket, which would allow us entrance to the museum at 8 a.m., an hour earlier than the general public. I am thinking this is somewhat expensive. I figured the cost of tickets for all five members of my family combined at 84 euros total, verses 55 euros/ticket. Does this make sense that he would charge us 55 euros/person just to be allowed in an hour earlier?

Thanks for the help! We hired a private tour guide for the Vatican. He has offered to purchase our tickets at 55 euro PER ticket, which would allow us entrance to the museum at 8 a.m., an hour earlier than the general public. I am thinking this is somewhat expensive. I figured the cost of tickets for all five members of my family combined at 84 euros total, verses 55 euros/ticket. Does this make sense that he would charge us 55 euros/person just to be allowed in an hour earlier?

55 euros each is a lot of money. You won't have the chapel all to yourselves as there are many other tour companies that have early entry as well. Entry tickets at 9 am from the official site will be 80 euros for the 4 of you. I would much rather pay this than the 220 that was quoted to you. It's really a personal decision and you should make it based on what's important to you. Personally, while I find the artwork in the chapel to be amazing it's not 220 euros worth of amazing. I have no problems standing with everyone else looking at the ceiling. But, that's just me and you need to make your own choice. Donna

What time of the year are you going. Last March on a wednesday afternoon when the outdoor mass was finished, I toured the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel was by no means full. It took a few minutes of waiting, but we got seats on the side and were able to sit at take in the Chapel without ever feeling crowded or rushed.

Just keep in mind that the Vatican can only accept cash and can not accept credit/debit/atm cards. This is why you are seeing a wide variety in the cost of the tickets. Keep this in mind if you plan to get any trinkets at the gift shop since you can only pay in cash.

Thanks, everyone! All of your comments are really helpful! We are going in March. I purchased my Vatican tickets on-line, but directly from the Vatican. I wasn't able to actually "purchase" them, I received a voucher and it states I need to pay when I get there. Does this mean I will still have to stand in line?

No, you get to bypass the lines outside and pay inside. You'll need cash for the tickets as they cannot take any credit or debit cards at this time. Donna

And just in case you would have completely forgotten to book the tickets online prior to the trip (as I did last June), you can still book them in Rome. I used an iphone and simply forwarded the confirmation from the Vatican to the hotel's email where they printed it for me. Very easy. I was able to avoid the extremely long peak season June crowds.