Hi: Reading Rick's book, it seems that booking a tour is the best way to avoid lines at the Vatican Museum when we visit Rome 3/16 through 3/19. Has anyone here had luck booking the tour for 31 euros offered by the Vatican on its website? It seems that you can't book any sooner than two months before the date you want to visit. How was the tour itself --- was the content informative, and was the guide fluent in English? Thank you.
Posted by
Pa and Italy
4152 posts
I have booked the tour through the vatican website several times with family and friends. It's very easy to do. You can only book about 60 days out but usually there are plenty of spaces and you shouldn't have trouble getting on a tour. I enjoyed the tour and thought the information was very good. I especially liked the information given on the artwork in the Sistine Chapel. They take you to the coconut courtyard where there are posters of the ceiling and the last judgement. They explain the artwork and what was going on politically when they were being painted. It's very interesting. After the tour you have the choice of going into the basilica or returning to the museums. I always go back into the museums to see some of the rooms not covered on the tour. Donna
Posted by
Seattle, WA
1317 posts
As an alternative, if you don't want the tour you can purchase tickets with a reserved time slot on the Vatican's website as well. Assuming they haven't changed it in the last 2 years since I was there, you use the same entrance (on the right) that the tour groups use. Then you go upstairs to the ticket booth and exchange your vouchers for tickets, and then you're free to wander the museum at-will.
Posted by
Madison, WI, USA
153 posts
I booked through the Vatican and did the gardens tour. The tour guide wasn't so great for us, but it was really interesting to see the gardens and we are glad we did it. On the flip side, the Vatican is massive inside and we were exhausted upon completion since we didn't really breeze by anything. If you don't like your tour, you can always ditch your tour guide (on the indoor tour, at least) :). On an aside, one area that most guides don't show is the contempory x-ian art museum (even Rick gives it a short shrift) - this is right before the chapel and most people walk as fast as they can through it, which is a shame as it is filled with post-renaissance master's works
Posted by
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
101 posts
Hi Sandy - I just booked a Vatican Tour for 2/10 and it ended up being 34.50Euro per ticket + 1.50Euro for the mandatory headphone rental = so it was a total of 36Euros. It turns out this is the cheapest tour I could find as my choices were very limited due to the winter hours and our Scavi tour. I booked it directly on the website and was immediately sent a PDF confirmation to print out and bring to the entrance. It has all been very painless so far :) I will say we did take a Vatican tour back in 2008 with Angel Tours and they were fantastic. They were pricier at about 50Euros a person (that included the price of the ticket) but I felt for the almost 4 hour tour it was pretty reasonable. Either way - I would suggest using a tour for the Vatican - there is just so much to see that it helps to have someone show you the highlights and guide you around! Have a great trip!