Vatican tour advice

Haven't taken the tour by museum guides but peple seem to like it. Tour size is about 25, I think.

I took a 7:30 am tour with Through Eternity, group size was six (can go up to 10, I think), and included Saint Peter's Basilica. Tour lasted until nearly 2pm, with a short break in the middle. If you take a tour that includes the Basilica, you can't go back to the museums on the same ticket. Very good experience.

The museums can be very crowded, especially the small Sistine Chapel. Your guide will brief you before entering the Chapel, there is no guided narrative permitted inside the Chapel.

I also did a tour with a group of theologians and college professors with a private guide. It was an abbreviated, focused tour but the guide knew every nook and cranny of the museums and had a great relationship with museum staff which got us through shortcuts and places that were closed to the public.

Bob,

Can't speak for how to do a tour since I didn't do that but can tell you the Chapel is crowded...rush hour in NYC subway crowded. Not much room to move, especially if you have crowd issues; sorta, kinda quiet but not really because when the general din gets to be a bit more buzzy the guards will do these loud library like 'shhhhhh's :-) I've just started working with honey bees and the sound of the hive is similar to the Chapel. There are benches on the sides so if you sort of move in that general direction you can snag one when a spot opens up.

If I were doing it again I'd do the early morning anything. We did the Scavi tour first thing in the morning (highly, highly recommend and a big shout out to Donna in Cranberry Twp, PA for the suggestion) so we couldn't also do the early morning tour of the museum.

Oh, one more thing - seize the opportunity to use the bathroom when you can as they are few and far between in the museum.

All the best for your trip!

Lisa

Hi Bob, I had a very good experience with Walks of Italy early morning "Pristine Sistine" small group tour, which gets you in by 8 AM, before the crowds, and takes you through the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, then directly into St. Peter's, before it gets very crowded and very hot. Excellent guide. Many others here have also endorsed the company and tours, although I'm sure other companies have similar offerings. Of course, time is limited, and once you move into St. Peter's you cannot go back into the Museum, without a long walk back to the entry, a new ticket and much more crowded circumstance as described above. With a group of 5 adults, you may very well find you can be a private tour group at similar cost to 5 adults in a larger group., enabling you to have a more flexible (but still early morning?) schedule. You could seek out a private guide. I suggest you start by calling Walks of Italy toll-free number in the US, their people are very good, and ask about the possibilities. At least for their group tours they offer an RS discount (10 percent I think) and also a senior discount, which you can piggyback.

we loved our tour from Through Eternity tours. we booked a private tour and got in at 8:30 AM, not all tour groups can do this. Our guide, Angela was awesome and took us straight to the Sistine Chapel where we sat for 30 minutes as she quietly explained the ceiling. at that time there were only about 20 other people in the Chapel. it was a great tour. Be sure to request a Scavi tour under St Peters. The Vatican museum handles these , check their website.