Vatican Museum - Early Entry Tours - Breakfast Yes/No and Official Tour Experience

Posted by kevlarcardhouse on 04/28/22 12:49 PM

I've decided to look into an early entry tour for the Vatican Museum. Our hotel is close to it and previous jetlag experiences in Europe have proven we will likely be wide awake by 5AM for our first few days in Italy so might as well do it.

Does anyone have experience with the following?

I'm leaning towards doing the one without breakfast. A buffet sounds less appealing when traveling during COVID, but also we don't tend to like to eat heavy early in the morning, and that's when we haven't likely eaten a big Italian dinner at 8PM the night before. Plus, it looks like both options start at the same time, so the one without breakfast might give you more time to explore without the crowds? Can anyone speak to this? If the one without breakfast just has you hanging around waiting for doors to unlock anyways, might as well go for the breakfast.
Has anyone used the official tours direct from the Vatican website and had a good experience? There seems to be a lot of talk online about how the direct ones are cheaper than options like LivItaly or Walks of Italy but I can't find anyone talking about whether the tour guides for the direct tickets are also entertaining/informative or merely perfunctory.

Posted by maryslindsey

04/28/22 01:23 PM

4 posts

I took the 8am tour today, (the one without the breakfast). I bought my ticket from the Vatican website. It was great! We got there really early and had to wait until 7:40 before the guard would allow us inside. There were other tour groups there but it was not crowded at all. In the maps room and tapestry room we were able to stand in front of the art our guide was talking about. sometimes we were the only group in the room. I got several good pictures with no one in them. In the Sistine Chapel there was room to move around and we even got to sit on the bench by the wall and look up at the ceiling. Our guide did not go in with us. The “secret” door to St Peter’s was open and I tried to follow a group inside but the guard was checking tickets and apparently my ticket didn’t allow me to use that door. We went to the courtyard by the cafe and walked around, several of the benches were empty. We got a great selfie with the dome behind us. We walked around to go to Saint Peter’s but by then the line wrapped around the square. I’d highly recommend the 8:00 AM ticket.

Posted by Kathy

Minnesota 🎒

04/28/22 01:31 PM

16521 posts

I'm leaning towards doing the one without breakfast.

kevlarcardhouse, as far as I can see, the Vatican doesn't offer an early-entrance tour that does NOT include breakfast either before or after the tour. Can you (or maryslindsey) include the link to the tour you're looking at/taken? If you want one of the Vatican's early options, your best choice is likely the "Prime Experience - Vatican Museums" group tour (1-25 people; € 63,00 pp) that begins one hour before public opening, and does breakfast AFTER the tour. If you wish to spend more time in the museums, you're free to do so after breakfast.

Multiple outside companies offer early entrance-tours without breakfast. They are more expensive but several, such as Walks of Italy's "Pristine Sistine" have seen high marks from RS posters who've taken them. They also tend to be longer, and with small-ish groups. Just to get you started...

https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/pristine-sistine-chapel-tour/
https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy/vatican/early-access-vatican-tour

Posted by Kathy

Minnesota 🎒

04/28/22 01:49 PM

16521 posts

The “secret” door to St Peter’s was open and I tried to follow a group
inside but the guard was checking tickets and apparently my ticket
didn’t allow me to use that door

This is interesting as that door has been closed to EVERYONE, even tours, since 2021. The Roman Guy still has this disclaimer on their website for the Museum+Basilica tour:

"* As of June 23rd, 2021, the Vatican has closed the "licensed guide entrance" to St Peter’s Basilica for all tour companies and tour guides. Therefore a guided visit to the Basilica won’t be possible due to the distance between sites. Not to worry! Your awesome guide give you a detailed introduction of the church and will explain how to visit on your own at the conclusion of the tour.. Hopefully, this changes very soon!"

Same with Through Eternity tours:
"Important: since the passageway between the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica is still closed due to COVID, we will enter the Basilica via St. Peter's Square after our visit to the museums so the Basilica remains part of the itinerary. This means we must pass security again and the tour length could be extended by 45 minutes on average."

Walks of Italy is also not currently offering a tour which accesses the basilica from the museums, as they used to, so I'm not sure what the situation was that you described. Maybe special guests of the Vatican, or some VERY exclusive tour that I've not run across. If anyone knows, please share! :O)