Vatican Museums, Sistene Chapel, St Peters & Scavi?

Hmm, I've also read that it might be a good idea to do the Vatican Garden tour (which includes access to the museums and chapel). It seems the only available tours are at 10am from what I've seen. Is it worth pre-purchasing these 10am tickets? And if I have a reservation for the Scavi at 1:30pm, will that give us enough time to tour the gardens, Vatican Museums and the Sistene Chapel?

Unfortunately, you can't really plan anything until you know if you are able to get on the scavi tour. If you buy tickets for the museums at 9 am and then get a 10 am scavi tour which will you give up? I would wait until I hear back from them before making any other plans. donna

Thanks Donna, I got a prompt response back with a reservation of 1:30pm. Is that a decent timeslot? Would I want to do the Vatican/Sistene tour before the Scavi or after in this case? Or should I request a different time for the Scavi tour?

I've heard it's better to do the Vatican/Sistene around lunch time as there are generally less crowds. But I've heard that's usually the case more if you want to buy tickets there. If I'm pre-purchasing tickets, does it really matter what time I go? And would it then make more sense to go as early as possible (i.e. 9am)? Or would it be a better idea to still go during the lunch hour slot, spend 2-3 hours in the museum/chapel, then head over to St Peters and do the Scavi tour in the later afternoon?

Hi Jeremy, 3 years ago, we did what Rick Steves said to do and made our reservation for the 9:00 a.m. Sistine Chapel/Vatican time slot. We got up early and were at St. Peter's at 7:00 a.m. when it opened. We walked in with about 40 people and basically had the church to ourselves. It was amazing. We left there and got over to the museum about 8:30 and they let us go right in. Again, we were in the Sistine Chapel with only 44 people. We were able to sit down and just take it all in. Our friends had been there the afternoon before us and said it was like being in a cattle car with so many people. We are going back in late March of this year and I am going to make our appointment this week, as we are at the 2 month out time frame. We will do it the exact same way! When we left the museum at about 10:30, there were literally thousands of people waiting in line. EARLY is the way to go. You won't reget it!

Thanks Stacy! That sounds like a great idea (except my wife won't like waking up that early haha). But it does make sense to get a head-start. Did you do the guided tour? Or did you just do your own thing and or listen to Rick's audio tour?

So I'm trying to decide at this point whether I should just get the admission-only tickets to the Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel @ 9am, or if I should pay more and do the Vatican Gardens tour at 10am. My only concern with the Garden tour, besides it having mixed reviews, is there potentially not being much time to see the museum and Sistine before the Scavi appointment at 1:30pm (it doesn't seem like this time can be changed at this point btw). Any thoughts?

With a 1:30 scavi tour I would try to book the museums as early as possible. If you book a tour directly with the Vatican it will take at least two hours. This will give you time to visit the museums, grab a bite for lunch and then make your scavi tour. After the tour you can then visit the basilica. The scavi tour is very hard to get on and requesting a time change is not really the best idea. I would keep the reservation as is, pre-purchase tickets for the morning (either tickets or a tour) and continue with the day. The museums are always crowded. There is never a time when they're not. What you'll find in the afternoon is that the line to buy tickets is less but inside the museums are still thousands of people. I would skip the gardens tour. While it's nice, if gardens aren't your thing then it will be a waste of time, which you don't have a lot of. If you book the tour that is of the museums/chapel you have the right to go back into the museums right after the tour to visit any rooms not covered on the tour. You cannot leave the museums (to take the scavi tour or visit the basilica) and then return without paying the entry fee again but you can go back inside if you choose to directly after the tour. Donna

Thanks Donna! I signed up for the regular admission entrance at 9am. I noticed there's a guided tour at 8:30am as well, but I figure we'll just research what we are most interested in seeing for the museum and listen to Rick's audio tour once we're in the Sistine Chapel. I've been before and it was memorable, but I feel like I didn't really soak it in as much as I could have. So I'm excited for this upcoming trip!