We will be in Rome March 24 - 29 and probably can only do 1 tour and are deciding between these two. Either a Vatican Museum/St Peters/Sistine Chapel 2.5 hour tour or a Colosseum/Forum 3 hour tour. They are about the same price, so that's not a consideration. Both tours have availabilities on those dates.
I'd love to hear why you'd choose one over the other. Also, what time of day and day of the week is most likely to be less crowded? Thanks!
You can do both of these DIY but if preferring a tour and you have to choose only one tour, the Colosseum/Forum probably needs more of a guide's explanation than St Peters/Sistine Chapel, if you do any kind of reading/research before the trip the things in St Peters will be more obvious and Rick has a tour of the Vatican Museum on his audio app, the Church things will be more obvious to you in a DIY situation than the Col/Forum things.
Thanks Kent! Yes, we have RS Rome book and would also get the audioguide for the one we do on our own.
Last summer we did tours of both the Vatican/St.Peters/Sistine Chapel and Colosseum/Forum. We got the most value out of the Vatican tour. The Vatican Museum is a zoo and it is very easy to get lost in the crowds and miss the most important works without someone to help navigate. Our guide was outstanding and brought to life both the history and the modern day role of the Vatican. If you can get the early entry tour, I would recommend that. We took the tour in the mid-morning as this was the only time we had available. If had to do it again, would have opted for the early tour.
The Collosseum/Forum we could have done on our own with the RS guides. If you go to the Colosseum do so early in the morning. It gets crowded and the Forum is hot in the afternoon. Bring plenty of water as there is no place to buy water in the Forum except and expensive vending machine.
Have a great trip.
Sandy
Thanks for the time tips, Sandy!
Are you leaving on the 29th? If not, the night opening of the Vatican Museums (with happy hour, cold supper buffet, and concert) is really wonderful. You have the from 7:00 - 11:00 with very small crowds and at a very reasonable price. But, it's only Friday.
I'm sure you already know this: you'll be absolutely blown away and truly amazed at what you're going to see at those places!
Thanks Robert, it looks like the evening openings start in April.
Laura - bummer about Friday evenings! Sorry to mislead you. You don't say who is traveling - everyone would enjoy the Coloseeum/Forum, the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel may be a bit too much museum for some. That wouldn't stop you from seeing St. Peter's though. With a good guide book (RS works just fine) you wouldn't need a guided tour of the Colosseum/Forum so your time is your own.
Hi Laura,
We did both tours with Walks of Italy at the end of February. We went to the Vatican/Sistene/St Peter’s on Tuesday and Colosseum/ Forum/ Palatine Hill on Wednesday. They were fabulous experiences and we highly recommend Walks of Italy. With that said, my husband and I just discussed which one we would prefer to do with a tour if we could only choose one, and feel that the Vatican/St Peter’s would be best with a tour, with the Colosseum/Forum on your own listening to or reading Rick Steve’s guide. We took the advice of others to visit the Vatican on any day other than Wednesday and chose a 9:45 am on Tuesday. Even off season it was crowded (shoulder to shoulder) and we appreciated not having to be in charge of our own visit since there is so much to see. Early entry may be worth the extra cost!
Enjoy!
Sheila
Laura, We will be in Rome on our own May 2-6 before joining the RS South of Italy tour 5/6 afternoon. We do not want to overlap the RS Rome sites. We booked Walks of Italy Caesar's Palace/Colosseum tour for May 3 morning (Friday) and WoI Pristine Sistine before hours for May 4 (Saturday). Sunday we are doing Eating Italy tour through the Jewish Ghetto. You have the same number of days as we do, so both tours you mentioned are very doable. Why not do both as they are very different? We do not want to overdo and plan more than one tour per day. We have no plans for the rest of those days--just wander and enjoy the city. We have RS guidebooks and Audio Apps for whatever else catches our interest.
We had a guide for the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, which was a help since there is so much there. We did the Colosseum/ Forum on our own with the Rick Steves' audio tour, and that worked well. We were only there for a day and a half, and managed to do both with no problem.
The Vatican etc. is more of a must see so we are doing the Pristine Sistine tour with Walks of Italy because we will get in early and it won't be as crowded so I can enjoy it.
The Colosseum- I am booking tickets through the Colosseum and using Ricks app for an audio tour.
