Vatican tour with child

Many tours are available but have never heard of one for kids. It might be difficult - takes about 4 hours to see the museum and basilica.

If I were doing this with a 10 year old child, I would give a lot of thought to what I wanted to see and would battle the crowds to do just that including the Sistine Chapel. This is a punishing trip for a kid given the crowds which make it hard for anyone small to see more than a lot of backs and butts.

Maybe one of the early morning 'beat the crowd' tours would be sensible?

The early morning tours only beat the crowd to the Sistine Chapel for about a half hour or so, actually entering the Museums after 8am. The tour stays ahead of the crowd for a short time, then it's backs and bums for the remainder.

I took one of those tours and would do it again, but you should be prepared for lots of crowds after that first hour.

I really hope to take our 2 granddaughters to Rome soon! They already love art and have a strong interest in mythology. There seem to be several sane sounding tours especially for kids. Here are some examples:
http://www.walksinsiderome.com/en/tour/treasure-hunt-at-the-vatican-for-kids.html
https://www.contexttravel.com/cities/rome/tours/vatican-for-families

Another company gives some pre visit ideas for parents and grandparents such as having the child read some books of mythology and major religion stories to help prep them for the visit. They suggest a do it yourself quest or an EARLY morning guided tour. They even remind the adults to be sure to have the kids get a good nights sleep the night before. The suggested time for these kid tours seems to be about 3 hours. https://www.walksofitaly.com/blog/vatican/vatican-for-kids

When we finally get to take our granddaughters, perhaps next year(!), we'll probably do a quest tour ourselves, they are soooo ready.

Enjoy your spring trip with your granddaughter! Do you need a hotel recommendation? We have a favorite near the Vatican City wall and transportation.

We took our 8 year old. She really enjoyed it. We took a 15 member group tour. We took the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel Tour, we took the first one in the morning. She had no problems seeing the paintings when walking around. It was not very crowded. She did enjoy the museum. Her favorite part was climbing to the top of St. Peters Basicilla, which may not possible depending on your level of physical fitness. She is 10 now and remembers it fondly. She found the restrooms on the roof funny and odd. We had a snack on the roof in the shade. Our trip was in July. Since your trip is in March, you should not the crowds as summer. Be sure to check the Italian holidays and open and closing dates for places you want to visit. Many places will have reduced hours off peak season.

We used gelato as a reward for not complaining during the day. There is a large shop with 150 flavors that we wanted to go to but did not. Before your trip, make sure she can carry her own luggage up and down stairs. My daughter had her bag completely filled with "necessities."

Before the trip we practice packed and I took them on a walk to a park that had lots of stairs and had her carry it up and down by herself. She complained about how heavy it was. She had to carry her own bag. We came home and went through it and she lost more than half the weight due to too much stuff. We went with the lighter bag and she was able to carry it. She did not need every shirt, every pant and socks she had. She did not need three jackets in summer. We also took "forced marches" a few miles up hills carrying a backpack loaded with what she would have to carry, water bottle, guide books, umbrellas, and ponchos for the group. Over several weeks time she became used to the weight and did not complain about the weight on the trip.

We had to make her drink water because she has a tendency to become dehydrated.

She had to order one meal by herself in Italian. We started a few words a week, and by the time the trip came she was able to order off the menu. No, it was not spaghetti!