Looking for recommendations for skip-the-line tours of the Vatican museums/Sistine Chapel/St. Peters’s and Colosseum/Forum/Palatine.
What prices can we expect? Should we book with tour groups or directly with venue? How soon in advance for a September trip? Thank you!
Posted by
Chicago
2325 posts
I'll just relate our experience at the Vatican/St. Peter's on a Tuesday morning last April. Keep in mind this was about 10 days before the Pope died, so there were added crowds I think in anticipation of his demise. At any rate, it was overrun--reported to be between 40,000 to 50,000 on the day we visited.
We set it up months in advance with The Tour Guy, cost about $140/pp, supposed to be a 3-hour tour of the Vatican and St. Peter's. Now, we visited the Vatican in 2010 so I knew upfront it was going to be tall order indeed to fulfill that. As it turns out, The Tour Guy farmed out our group of 20 to another company, and it was chaos from the beginning, more or less cattle-herded through the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel.
After 3 hours, we had barely finished the Vatican, leaving no time for St. Peter's. No sense in arguing, so we got out of there, and I did send an EMail to The Tour Guy, and received about a 25% credit, but it would have been 50% if we used it as credit for another tour. Uh, I don't think so...
Advice to give? Really read through all the reviews. Maybe a night tour without the crowds might be better, although I know it would be more pricey. Ours just was pretty much a debacle from start to finish.
Posted by
124 posts
Our family had an amazing experience with local family company Miles&Miles, using them for several private tours for our family. We found them originally in Rick’s guide book and have recommended Roberto and family to many friends who also highly praise their service. A private tour is pricey, but we learned so much more about what we were seeing than we could have on our own.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
10126 posts
I just had a tour with Roman Vacations yesterday at Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and Forum. Small group (just 3 of us total), great guide, and cost just under $80. I signed up through get your guide.
I felt I received great value.
Posted by
Rome, Italy
320 posts
My personal favorite tour company in Rome is Walks of Italy, and I've only had excellent experiences with them. That being said, they aren't miracle workers, so if you choose to book a Vatican Museums tour in the middle of the day, expect that it will be incredibly crowded. I would recommend booking the earliest tour you can stomach.
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
18106 posts
Book through third-party operators (GetYourGuide, Viator, Walks of
Italy) rather than directly.
I'll disagree with this because if there's some sort of issue with the tour or tickets, you want to be dealing directly with the operator and not a 3rd party clearing house. You don't want to get stuck in the middle of a finger-pointing battle. Use one of the recommended operators, such as Through Eternity, Walks of Italy (which is not a 3rd party), LIV tours, etc. other forum posters have used and reviewed positively.
ALL entry tickets and tours - including the Vatican and Colosseum's own - are 'skip the TICKET line"; no one skips the security-check lines.