I am already booked with a tour group for a Vatican tour, but I'm still confused about tickets and times. Through Eternity tours mentioned that you can purchase tickets for a specific tour time. This sounds nice because I don't want to wait in line forever. My question is: is this really necessary? Isn't the point of using a tour group so that you don't wait in line? How long is the wait with a tour guide from a service like this? TIA.
Kristen
Posted by
Raleigh, NC, usa
76 posts
I hope you have booked your tour with Through Eternity. You will not regret it. We took three tours with them last November - the Vatican, the Forum & Coliseum and also the Twilight Tour. They were all fantastic and each tour guide was wonderful. The Vatican tour was awesome, guide was very knowledgeable and it was very beneficial to be with a group - no waiting as I recall. Another great thing about Through Eternity is that they limit the number of people in a group. We'd see groups of 30+ people and I don't believe I would have enjoyed that. Have a great time!!
Posted by
Seattle, WA
1317 posts
To answer your question about wait times. The way the Vatican works is that tours get a separate entrance. If a bunch of tours all show up at the same time, there's still a line to wait in, as well as a line to pass through the security detector.
I'm guessing that Through Eternity either has something hooked into the Vatican's reservation system (since you can now individually purchase reservations) or they have the guides hold the spot in line while the tourist can wander around until it's time to go in.
Wait times really just depend on how crowded the museum is at any given time, but with the recent improvements to the museum's hours, etc, the legendary horrific waits of the past have been greatly reduced.