The only tour we can find of the Vatican that fits our schedule is by Through Eternity but is only 2.5 hours. Will that be long enough? They have a longer one the day before but it starts at 10 and our cruise doesn't dock until 9 so that's impossible.
Posted by
FallsCurch, VA, USA
10 posts
Paula,
Have you tried Viator.com? we used them last September and their tour was very good. we had to meet them at 9:30 AM at the entrance of the Vatican Museum.
Enjoy your trip.
Posted by
Wilmington, DE, USA
712 posts
Used Viator in Sept and had the opposite experience of the person above. It was awful. We still had to wait in a long tour group line to get in and then was inside with the MOBS of other skip the wait tour groups. We were rushed through everything. Lost my husband and some of the rest of our group before getting into the Sistine Chappell. My husband thinks they should learn from Disney how to do crowd control. I keep reading about the Angel tours on this web site. You could also get tickets directly from the Vatican. We did not have luck getting those before we left, but have read posts of other who did get them.
Posted by
boston, ma, usa
11 posts
Angel tours is the best!We just got back last week and thought they were great. Small groups and great guides and if you go on their 9:00 vatican tour you bypass all the lines and walk right in. We took them for the Vatican and Colliseum and were very pleased.
Posted by
Kelso, WA, USA
221 posts
positively take an Angel Tour, Rick doesn't list them in the book and he should. They are native English speakers, albet Irish or English, very informative and inexpensive. they have a great web site, we did the Vatican tour and colosseum tours just last week and they were wonderful. There was a strike the day we took the Colosseum tour so we couldn't get into the Roman Forum area, we got the tour anyway with the colosseum and lots of info about the forum and they gave us all our money back for the inconvenience of discovering (no fault of theirs) that the strike had closed entry to the forum area. Try and get Eileen for the Vatican tour, she took us for 3.5 hours!
Posted by
Charleston, SC, USA
5 posts
Have to agree with the others reguarding Angel Tours. We just returned from Med Cruise and used Angels while in Rome and were very pleased.
Posted by
Flagstaff, Az, usa
75 posts
I was going to use Angel tours for my trip but had to cancel but they were great at responding and information. They do a great FREE tour of the Pantheon every night at 7pm. As for the Vatican the Scavi tour is awesome but if you have scheduling problems you may if you can afford it look into a private tour of the museum. The Vatican also does tours of the museum if you go to their website you can fax them a request and see what happens.
I believe the reason why Rick doesn't list Angel tours is that they are not a "licensed" tour company . In Italy it seems to be a big deal to be licensed. But they do have a good reputation and I enjoyed the Pantheon tour very much.
Posted by
Western WA, USA
67 posts
We just returned from a month in N. Italy. We used ICON Tours to see the Vatican in Rome and we were very pleased. Our guide was a young English woman named Joanne. There were only 4 in our group, and she managed to scoot us thru and around the huge groups quickly and easily. She was extremely knowledgeable and could answer any question asked. The tour was at least 3 hours, maybe 3.5, I don't remember exactly. I would definitely recommend ICON tours, which we found via earlier posts here.
Posted by
London
6 posts
We just returned from Rome and took a Vatican tour with Jason from Roman Odyssey tours. It was the best tour I've ever taken. We came across him by accident while walking through the Forum, where he was giving a free tour (which he says he does on nice days). He's been rated as the best tour guide in Rome by the New York Times. He is from New Orleans and very knowledgeable. Check out their website http://www.romanodyssey.com/