Touring the Vatican

To clarify, I did exactly what Lexma's describes- booked a timed entry (but we actually showed up an hour early because I confused myself, and they still let us in).

We didn't do a tour, but an audiotour might have been helpful, as most of the time we had no clue what we were looking at while wandering the museum. We probably spent a good 3-4 hours here at least though. After a while, we noticed that the staff had shifted hallway closures around to make the crowds follow one path through the museum, ultimately leading to the Sistine Chapel. I don't know if tours take you places you can' go on your own- but i didn't feel like we were cut off from anything without it. Just depends on whether you have the patience to follow a guide around and how much info you need!

We took the the Vatican tour and it does not give you access to anything different than if you were on your own.

Good advice. May I ask a related question? Is the waiting time to get in much shorter with a booked tour? We're going the last two weeks in September.

Yes, with a booked tour (we used Odyssey Tours and they were great) you pretty much avoid the line -there is a special entrance for tours & we walked right in. The line was long & if your time in Rome is limited, the tour is well worth it.

There have been changes to the Vatican Museums ticketing and entrance over the last year.

Several years ago, when we visited the Vatican Museums, the ONLY way that you could skip the line was to take the guided Vatican tour. We enjoyed it, but it's only 2 hours long, which seemed long enough when we booked it, but turned out not to be. On the tour, I felt very rushed, and we couldn't stop to see pieces that I wanted to spend more time with (whether they were discussed on the tour or not).

In the last year, the procedure has changed. You CAN book timed-entry tickets in advance without being required to take a tour. And yes, this allows you to skip the line! We did this when we visited the Vatican Museums last fall, and were able to visit the museums at our pace. We mostly followed the Rick Steves Vatican Museums tour, with additional information from the Rome Blue Guide. We love paintings, so we also visited the pinocateca. If you want to see that, I would suggest visiting that at the beginning, not at the end - Rick advises to visit at the end, but that means a lot of backgracking.

Problems with the headphones: (1) you can't fast forward through stuff you're not interested in, like you can when you're reading; and (2) you have to backtrack back to the front of the museum to drop them off, and can't then enter St. Peter's from the "back door."

Not all tour companies can bypass the line at the vatican. A lot of them will station a person in line to wait, holding a spot, and when you get there you simply join him in line.

With the vatican tours you will bypass any line outside and just go in to the security check point. This is the same if you buy timed entrance tickets. You go to the left side of the entry door to the guard, show your reservation and they let you inside.

With the vatican sponsored tour you have the option after the tour to re-enter the museums. The tours don't take you anywhere that you cannot go on your own, they just have a guide who can explain the history of the artifacts you are seeing.

Donna

Thank you so much. My first time on this site and did not dream I would get so many in one day! All so informative, too. Perhaps someone out there could comment on private tour companies vs. Vatican tours? Also, on the MP3 downloads; e.g. Rick Steves'? (As opposed to the rented headphones, I mean.)

Regarding tour offered by the Vatican; Our group size was about 12 people. We were able to ask questions anytime and was informative. Main reason we chose this tour was that we were able to ask questions about what we were seeing. After the tour you can always go back and walk thru it again.

To those of you who took the Vatican tour, what time of year did you go? I am concerned about the group size. One of our friends was in a group of 45 people, back of group, could not hear, rushed along, etc.

We are going at end of July!

Peggy- I noticed through my time in Italy that anytime there was a tour group, they almost always had earphones so that they could hear the guide, no matter where they happened to be standing. I wonder if these weren't available when your friends went? I only experience them once on a tour in Tuscany so can't comment on how effective they are at the Vatican, but if your concern about group size is about being able to hear, that might solve the potential problem.

Peggy, are you sure that your friends were on the tour offered by the vatican? The vatican tours only use the headsets and they only take groups of 25 or less and it is usually less. Everyone on the tour has a headset in order to hear the guide. Perhaps your friend was on another tour offered by a private company.

Donna

No, my friends were on a private tour, I believe. Had to stand in line for two hours, even with the group. They are encourageing us to do private but we do not want to spend the $$, even though it is a once-in-a-lifetime (probably) for us.

Thanks for responding. Now I know more about the Vatican tours.

I would just book the vatican tour ahead of time. you will know your schedule and be able to bypass the line outside. You will have headphones to clearly hear the guides and have the option of returning to the museums when the tour is over. The price is really good at 31 euros which includes the entrance fee, and the tour lasts for about 2 hours. Try to get an afternoon tour that way you won't have to deal with all the big tour groups that go in the morning.

Donna