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Vatican Museum with kids 9 and 13? Tour? Tour Group recommendations

Posted by on

Hi,
I've had wonderful recommendations on here so I am asking again.

We are taking our 9 and 13 year old girls to Rome and will only be there for 3 days in beginning of April (soon!). The Vatican Museum is a must and I have read a lot about taking kids but trying to decide if we should do a tour or not.

I think we would most benefit with a tour to avoid the lines and get the highlights. Would only consider a 2+ hour tour as the 3-4 hour tour would probably be too much. We will probably be jet lagged as I look at the dates available.

What about the Walks of Italy Vatican Highlight tour? That one looks pretty good. Any other recommendations welcome.

Thanks!!

Posted by
1230 posts

My kids that age enjoyed the abbreviated tour with the Roman Guy tour company. I could have spent a lot more time in the Vatican museum, but time in St Peters and the Dome climb were just right

Posted by
16687 posts

Paige, WOI tours are very highly spoke of on this forum and highly rated on other travel sites as well so I think you'd be fine with that. One thing concerns me, though?

We will probably be jet lagged as I look at the dates available.

Please do not even consider visiting the museums on your arrival day in Rome. They are extremely crowded and a lot to take in even when one is NOT jet-lagged. In fact, museums in general are not recommended for arrival days. Those are best spent outside in the fresh air with no more than maybe short pops into a church or two.

Editing to add: The Roman Guy tours, which Jessica mentioned, see a lot of great reviews as well. I will mention that with either company as well as some other good ones, early-entrance tours are a hot item these days as they get you in before the mob so you can see the Sistine and a bit more before the crowd level is insane.

Posted by
11294 posts

"Please do not even consider visiting the museums on your arrival day in Rome. They are extremely crowded and a lot to take in even when one is NOT jet-lagged. In fact, museums in general are not recommended for arrival days. Those are best spent outside in the fresh air with no more than maybe short pops into a church or two. "

I just want to emphasize everything Kathy wrote.

There are few people I hate enough to put them through the torture of trying to see the Vatican Museums while jet lagged - even with a private guide. I strongly recommend against any pre-booked and prepaid things on arrival day, as you may be too tired to even do them, or if you do them, too tired to enjoy them.

Posted by
14 posts

Thank you! To clarify we are not going to go on the day of arrival but the 2nd or 3rd day. I agree that the day of arrival would be crazy and no one would be happy. :)

Paige

Posted by
8670 posts

I would not do a tour; you don't need one to skip the line, you just need a timed entry ticket. If your kids like museum tours then consider a tour; otherwise spend some time thinking about what you and they want to see and just get entry tickets.

Posted by
191 posts

We took the official Vatican tour, with the primary reason being that the exit used by tour groups allows one to skip the long security lines for St. Peters. But there is such an overload of art during the tour, that by the time you land in the Sistine Chapel, it almost feels like more of the same. We also found at the end of the tour that the security guards were allowing individual tourists to exit through the tour group exit.

It's possible we may be in a minority about feeling that the Vatican was an overload of art.

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