Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel guided tours

Not Bookable typically means that tickets are not yet on sale. For the 13th - 15th, start looking tonight [3/13] around midnight your time - check several times a day for the next few days. Some regular tickets are still available for your first week - as are tickets for tours in languages other than English.

Many thanks

We have used City Wonders before and they were decent. Walks of Italy is another good one. If you want a private guide, look no further than Sonia Tavoletta - she is a highly sought-after private guide and very reasonable and knowledgeable. You can email her at soniatavoletta63@gmail.com.

We used City Wonders for their “early entrance” tour and we were indeed among the first people inside the Sistine Chapel. It was so nice to be there without the crowds—- we had a good 15 minutes with only 20-30 people in there before others started arriving.

Thank you so much

I don't know when Lola took the City Wonders tour. Prior to this year, there were tours entering the Vatican Museums an hour or so before they opened to the public. They were the best path to an enjoyable visit. As of this year, such early access (before the public opening) is no longer possible.

A tour may be very worthwhile for the commentary provided by the guide and the guide's ability to navigate through the usually-mobbed museums, but you will not have an hour inside the museums before the hordes descend.

I haven't taken any guided tour of the Vatican Museums, but I would look first at what the Vatican itself offers, because its tours are quite a bit cheaper than the commercial offerings. I confess that I don't believe I've ever read a review of one of the Vatican-operated tours on this forum (as opposed to quite a few positive comments about commercial tours, especially Walks of Italy's "Pristine Sistine"). That puzzles me.

@acraven I am seeing some Vatican Museum/Sistine early morning tours advertised (7:15/7:30 meeting time) with a couple tour operators. Is there something you have read/seen that would suggest these tours cannot go in before the regular opening time?

Yes. Everything I've seen indicates the tours cannot actually enter the Museums until the opening time. It seems the tours use the time before 8 AM for introductory comments about what their clients will be seeing.

kmh1, please see these previous threads:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/question-regarding-walks-pristine-sistine-tour
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/vatican-early-morning-tours-2024

So no, that 7:15 tour noted does not get into the museums any earlier than the general public at 8:00, although they may gather near the entrance well in advance. If it's this tour you're looking at, please read the itinerary and reviews.

https://www.walksofitaly.com/vatican-tours/pristine-sistine-chapel-tour/

It doesn't hit the Sistine Chapel until well into the tour. - just before it heads to the basilica - and i'm seeing reports that it's very busy at that point. That doesn't mean it's not a good tour but I wouldn't book it with the expectation of getting in before other tours/the public nor a peaceful visit to the Sistine. In fact, I haven't seen any tours which enter before the public (there's lots of outdated info out there) outside of the very expensive "Key Master" or "Alone in the Vatican" tours. If anyone else knows something different, would love to know about it so please share?

PS: "Skip the line" means nothing more than avoiding a ticket line. With pre-purchased, timed-entry tickets or a tour, everyone skips that line. No one skips a security-check line at any attraction which has one.

Many thanks to you both, @Kathy and @acraven. Any thoughts on a tour starting at 4p? That may be the best I can hope for anyhow, since many of the early tours are booked for my dates.