sistine chapel

If you have a mobile device, you can download Rick's audio tour for free:

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours/italy

Is paying extra for the audio tour worth it

If you don't go on a guided tour, I think it's worth it to take the time in advance to download Rick's free audio tour or pay for an audio guide while you are there. Otherwise you'll just be looking around and not getting the full experience of knowing what you are looking at.

If you hire a guide from the Vatican Museums office you'll spend a considerable amount of time at the beginning of the tour learning about what you "will" see when you finally get to the Sistine. No talking above a whisper in the Sistine so guides are of very little use once you arrive inside the chapel.

We had downloaded Rick's audio of the Sistine Chapel prior to our trip. We found a Friday night entry that had only 200 people in the entire Vatican museum. We went directly to the chapel and had it practically to ourselves as we listened to Rick go through each of the ceiling paintings. We had two hours in our group of 200, 1900-2100 and then another group entered at 2100. We had nearly four hours with only a few people in each area of the museum. We sat in awe for over 30 minutes in the Chapel with only a few others in the entire place. Check out on their website and see if they still offer these special entries on Friday nights, starting in the summer I think.

Wow! What a great tip! Thanks, George.