Vatican Tour in Late November

The Vatican Museum is always busy when it opens. There are tour groups that your tour group will run into after 9am and the general public. It is too crowded to enjoy. A lot of people show up unprepared tying to enter with bags and forbidden stuff (listed on the website). this causes a slow down on the security screening that everyone goes through. So if you want see it at a slower pace pay the $212.

I paid the money back in April for a private Vatican tour guide (thru the Vatican website), did the first thing in the morning and I was so glad I did it this way, well worth the money.

We went with City Wonders and a group of about 25 people with a guide speaking through our headset. It seems a shame the Vatican permits so many people at once. It was like a cattle run until we got into St. Peter's. I cannot see how having a private guide through the museum and Sistine Chapel would have improved our experience very much because it was just a sea (pun intended) of people moving quickly through on the way to the Sistine Chapel.

Visited Vatican 10 years ago with private guide (9 of us), not tour, mid-day. Crowds were unbearable. He would shout to meet next at....... and we leaped frog thru the crowds. My memory is a long long way to SIstine Chapel.

Now, last year late October, we returned to visit St. Peter's at 8 AM, no line and we remained ahead of the crowd and had a pleasant visit. When we left maybe an hour later, the line was unbelievable.

Beware of english speaking pick pocketers, will approach you with a question.