Hello. I am visiting the Vatican with a friend on May 6th (Monday), neither of us have ever been. I currently scheduled a tour on Viator with Made in Rome tours for 7:50am that morning to see the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. I am wondering now, though, if it would be smarter to do a tour later in the afternoon - do crowds die down at all? We could do a Walks of Italy Tour that afternoon at 2:15pm instead. I appreciate any advice thank you.
Posted by
Land of La
9265 posts
Go in the morning. Crowds get larger in the afternoon.
Posted by
Utah via SF Bay Area
370 posts
Definitely in the morning. Also, if you want real Vatican souvenirs, buy them inside the Vatican. It’s the only place you can get Sistine chapel postcards, etc. too. I learned the hard way that the main souvenir place is outside the gates and is not part of the Vatican. It sells stuff you can get anywhere.
Posted by
38 posts
How far in advance is it necessary to buy tickets for the Vatican Museums? We will be visiting in late August. Also, we may wind up meeting a guide there. Should we still book our own tickets, or do it through the guide?
Posted by
4 posts
I would like to understand the difference between a Vatican-led guided tour & a tour with a private company (i.e. Pristine Sistine)? It is much more expensive for us to do a private tour, so I'm leaning toward the guided tour tickets that you can purchase through the Vatican website. Is there something I'm missing? Has anyone done both and can speak to why I should go with a private tour company?
-Diane
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
16624 posts
Very kindly, vsinayuk and dbobich, but it's best to start NEW threads with your individual questions rather than tag them onto someone else's thread. The OP will get notices for responses having nothing to do with their own trip - it's a forum etiquette thing - and posters who may have answers might not see your questions if they're buried in an unrelated thread. Make sense? :O)