VATICAN TOURS

We did not take the entire Vatican tour, just the Sistine Chapel and that was well worth it. You can't possibly know what you are looking at by just reading from a travel book. The local guides are very knowledgeable and make the experience more fun and interesting. Also, we got into the chapel as one of the first groups when talking was still allowed. Apparently after a certain time (I think it was 9:00 am) no talking is allowed and the guards are very strict about it. I saw people ejected for conversing with each other!

I would book a tour just to skip the line. The Vatican usually has a very long line and unless you go on an early tour you will need to wait in this line. We didn't want to go on a formal tour, but did purchase the skip the line tickets. You basically meet with a tour group and once inside you are free to go off on your own. It was perfect. We had to wait very little to get in the museum.

we enjoyed our vatican tour with angel tours. approx 4 hours long passed all the lines. would do this again, no problem. good luck:):)

It's my understanding that you do not need a guide to skip the lines anymore - you can purchase tickets directly through the Vatican.

You can purchase tickets but the benefit of the tour is going to the front of the very long security lines. We did not do a tour and just went very early in the day. The line took about 45 minutes but we thought that was very reasonable. We saved a fortune by not doing the tour and we still got to see everything, eavesdrop on the other tours, and have a decent seat for Mass. Get a tour or go early. Either way - have a great time!

We used Through Eternity Tours for our visit to the Vatican this past November. The guide was awesome, they keep the group small and made it very personal. We also used this particular tour group for other tours while in Rome and found each tour to be well worth our money. I'd definitely recommend a private tour and would check out Through Eternity.