vatican, sistine, St.Peters

The line at St Peters is for security. Everyone has to go through it. I'd get there early (before 9 at the latest) to avoid long lines. We booked our own tickets at the Vatican. Got there at 9, went right in and were ahead of the tour groups. You may wish to book a guide for more information, but we enjoyed Rick's free audio guides which we listened to on our iphones.

http://www.walksofitaly.com/ does a fabulous tour called the Pristine Sistine. Highly recommend! Their groupd are also only 12 people, max, making for a ore private personal experience.

My husband and I were in Rome in April and booked a tour through Roman Odyssey. Raul was informative and wonderfully entertaining. We toured the Vatican and bypassed all the lines to go into St. Peter's. I would highly recommend them.

We used Presto Tours. The man was really knowledgeable. He also stayed almost an hour later than planned to make sure we saw and understood it all. Also got in at 8 in the morning, helped with the crowds.

You can book a tour or entry tickets to the Vatican museums directly from the Vatican. http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do?weblang=en&do You don't need to be on a tour in order to bypass the lines. You can also rent really great audio guides if you don't want to be on a tour. Donna

One tour group that gets highly recommended here is Context Travel. Here's the link to their info on touring the Vatican. Their groups are limited in size to 6 people, and they're led by guides with either a Masters or a PhD in the subject. We're planning to use them for at least one tour when we go back next year. Happy travels.

We used Context Travel in Rome a couple of years ago. I would highly recommend them.