Do people recommend a guided tour vs walking about on your own? Never been there, really don't know the history; would we get more out of the visit with a guide?
If we opt for the guided tour, are we allowed to still wander on our own after the tour? I wouldn't want to be limited to 2 hours, which is the length of the guided tour.
Thanks.
I've been on a personal guided tour and did 2 walking tours. Since its your first time, I recommend a more intimate tour with a guide. Not a large group guided tour. Either of them you do get to get to some places not everyone else gets to go to. Also, I do think that after your tour you can go wonder around no problem.
A far as would you get more out of a guide - is your preference. The Vatican can be overwhelming to some.
You can also do the Risk Steve's walking tour on your own that is really good and goes into great detail and hits all the spots.
Have the Vatican Museums become less crowded? We were there two years ago with a local guide and I remember feeling like a sardine pushed along with the flow. There was no ability to “wander around” nor did I want to try pushing back thru the hordes of people. All I wanted was to see the Sistine Chapel and get out of there.
You are allowed to remain in the museums after a tour ends. How practical it will be to revisit areas previously bypassed or rushed through is a different question. I did what you're asking about in March 2023 (though not on a tour) and it was manageable. But that was in March, two years ago, and not during a Holy Year. If you haven't been to the Louvre, Versailles, the British Museum, or one of the Gaudi sites in Barcelona recently, you will be flabbergasted at how packed the Vatican Museums are.
Because it is more difficult to walk against the general traffic flow, I think you'd be better off not taking a tour so you can move at your own pace and not have to retrace your steps. Note that the Pinacoteca is easy to bypass accidentally. If you want to see it, take a good look at the map you'll be given at entry and find it on your way in, rather than having to backtrack later.
I believe Rick has an audio guide for the Vatican Museums. You'll probably need decent earphones to hear it under the crowded conditions you'll be dealing with.
We were at the Vatican in 2022 for the first time and used the Rick Steves audio tour. I was happy with using this method - just use your own ear pods connected to your phone. You may also need to bring your own back battery to keep your phone charged.
Edited to clarify that this method allowed us to move at our own pace.
Good info above!
One comment? If you take a tour that includes the basilica (the Vatican doesn't offer one of these, only private companies) you can't return to the museums. They access the church through an internal passage that's a one-way route.
I will agree that "swimming upstream" from the Sistine - where the Vatican and some outside companies end their tours - isn't an easy task.
Someone reported recently that his/her combo tour was not permitted to take the shortcut from the Sistine Chapel to St. Peter's. Do we know for sure that was a one-time thing, vs. a policy change, perhaps for Holy Year?
acraven, Walks of Italy's page for their popular "Pristine Sistine" tour states this:
"Note: The special access passage between the Sistine Chapel and St.Peter's Basilica is closed on Wednesdays and subject to other unexpected closures during special celebrations/festivities, including the Easter ceremonies. On such days we will instead explore the magnificent Pinoteca Gallery.Your guide will still give you an introduction to the church should you wish to visit this on your own at a later occasion."
"Please note: starting December 2024, access to St. Peter's Basilica may be limited due to the Vatican's Jubilee Year 2025, which includes special events and ceremonies. These closures are determined by the Vatican and are beyond our control. Thank you for your understanding."
So it could have been due to any one of these situations?
Looks like we'll have to go with the guided tour; general tickets have sold out for the first week of April.
Is there another site to buy tickets from? I'm looking on museivaticani.va.
We had an excellent tour with LivTours, if you’re looking for a private small group tour.
And just echoing what was said above, the direct route from Sistine Chapel to St. Peter’s was a really valuable part of the tour! I didn’t even realize what a timesaver that was until after the fact, but seeing the line for St. Peters that we bypassed, I was very grateful!
Decided to get the guided tour from the official web site. 23 days out, and there weren't that many spots left (zero left for general entry).
Thanks everybody.
We had the same issue in January - the regular tickets were sold out for Jan 2 so we booked an official Vatican Museum tour. The guide did a long advance presentation on the Sistine Chapel using a video screen before we ever went into the museum, and also droned on and on in the room with the Raphael works. It was almost as though she was trying to fill time. If you really like guided tours I’m sure you’ll love it, but in retrospect we should have ditched the group as soon as we got the entrance tickets.
The guided part ended at the entrance to the Sistine Chapel since guides aren’t permitted to speak while inside (thus the long presentation at the beginning of the tour) and we walked all the way back to the entrance/exit by ourselves. We could have continued to explore throughout the museum but by that point we were tired!
Good luck with your trip!
