vatican & colosseum

Rick Steve's app has a great audio tour for the colosseum. It doesn't allow you to skip to the front of the line. Getting a Roma Pass does that. Regarding the "vatican" I can only guess you are talking about the Vatican Museum. That place is much to large for standard tour. You can rent audio guides after you enter the museum. I don't know if they are in good. Most people I saw in the museum were just using books as their reference material. If you can get a good book that walks you through the museum, that might be the way to go. In order to skip to the front of the line, reserve your Vatican Museum tickets ahead of time through their official website, and then pay when you pick them up. If by "Vatican" you mean St Peter's Square, or Basilica, use the RS Audio App for that. He gives a nice tour of the square and inside of the church. "Admission" to both of those places is free and there is no way to skip ahead of the line to get in the church.

Thanks Brent! Do you know which of the tours will take me to the Sistine Chapel? From what I've been reading, it looks like the tours all basically go in one direction, and all end up at the Sistine Chapel - which I also heard is a very long wait in a long narrow corridor with no air (we're going in July). Do you have any suggestions on how to tour that area of the Vatican? What I was thinking - and am wondering if its even doable - is to pre-purchase tickets off of the vatican offical website (how do I know if its the official site?) to skip the line, rent the audio guide and/or purchase the RS book for the museum part. But does that mean that we wn't get to the Sistine Chapel? Thanks so much!!!!

All tours, walkthroughs, and random visitors will end up at the Sistine Chapel. Unless of course, you are me. I went through 2 weeks ago, just after they had closed the Sistine Chapel for the Papal Conclave. But pretty much every single room in the museum has a sign that with an arrow pointing you to the direction of the Sistine Chapel. It's impossible to miss and you don't need to be part of any organized tour to see it. My wife and I just picked up the free musuem map and wandered around on our own. Unfortunately for us, the hallway to the Sistine Chapel was closed and locked. But you should be just fine.

I haven't been anywhere in the Vatican museums where there is no air.

Sorry - I meant air conditioning.

We were lucky to find a student tour guide for the Vatican for half the price of an organized tour company. She was great. don't hesitate they are really good. We purchased a Roman Pass for the colosseum and palatine hill etc The bus made many stops and you kind of went at your own pace, I really enjoyed it. I just love Rome.. Try to visit the area of Trastevere for dinner a a stroll along the Tiber river. There are great shops. You can take a city bus from almost any of the tourist areas in the city center.