Lauratg

Hi,

I will be in Rome, along with my husband and three daughters (13, 16, 20) over the Christmas break, and I'm trying to make an itinerary. On our day to visit the Vatican museums and St. Peter's (Dec-24), I have come up with two possible scenarious, and I would like some feedback from anybody willing to give it.

I suspect that the Vatican museums will be extremely crowded over the holidays, particularly considering that the museums will be closed on the 23, 25, and 26. We are early risers and like to start out on our day's adventures pretty early. Therefore, I thought the early-entrance Vatican museum tour through a company such as Presto Tours would be a good plan -- you get to enter the museum at 8 AM (before it is open to the general public) and, presumably, the crowds will be lighter and it would be easier to appreciate the art and the Sistine chapel without fighting crowds. After the tour we could climb St. Peter's. The problem with this plan is that it is considerably more expensive (115 E more) than plan B which involves visiting St. Peter's on our own when it opens (at 7) and afterwards taking a Vatican sponsered morning tour of the museums. The advantage of Plan B is that perhaps St. Peter's would be less crowded early in the morning and we could climb the cupula as soon as it opens at 8.

Any thoughts? Has anybody here taken one of the before-hours tours? Would you pay 23 Euros more per person for the early entrance (and presumably a smaller tour group)?

denisea

We did an 8am Vatican museum tour entrance with Walks of Italy. I personally am willing to pay for the privilege and a sure thing.

I can say that we went with Stuart who is excellent as a guide and well worth the expense. We went straight to the Sistine Chapel and got to see it before is git crowded, then went back to the beginning and worked our way through the museums, before re-entering the now crowded Sistine Chapel and on into St Peter's where our tour concluded. We learned a lot and Stuart is a masterful tour guide.

I do recomend it! The tour name is Pristine Sistine and is 84 euros per person.

jan47ete

For your tour, are you talking, guided tour of the museums or just entrance tickets?

Cindywho

I also am interested in this information. If you do not do an outside tour, and you enter the museum in the earliest group on your own, are the crowds smaller and an you go directly to the Sistene Chapel then enter the other museum Exhibits?

Lauratg

Thanks for the replies!

Yes, I am comparing guided tour to guided tour. Presto Tour and Walks of Italy (and I am sure others) provide a guided pre-opening tour, but you pay for the privilege. The problem with my situation is I have to pay for five which of course, magnifies the premium!

Cindy, I'm pretty sure that there is no way to get into the museums before-hours without the guided tour. Good question though as to whether going with the earliest group would be helpful.

Cindywho

I guess I personally don't understand why the Vatican would allow private tour operators to put money in their pockets and give access that others don't have. Unless they are getting a cut. Or maybe they believe those tours truly provide a way for people to enjoy more fully the wonders of the Vatican.

I know I may be accused of being naive, but just my viewpoint.

denisea

Cindywho, the Vatican is no different than any other entity in the world. They have priceless art that people want to see, so they will charge for you to see that. I assume that the tours that operate do have to give the Vatican a cut. It's the way of the world, religion associated or not.

Tour or not, you have to pay (in most cases). So, there are some that can't afford private tours and there are some who can't afford admission to the museums, at all. They do have some days when admission is free.

Surely you know that the Vatican operates it's own bank (IOR), overseen by 5 cardinals.

You can get into the museums without a tour but not at 8am. The tickets you buy directly from the Vatican are for entrance between 9am and 4pm. The price ranges from 4-15 euros. There are certain days when admission is free.They do allow museum patrons and donors free admission as well as some professors, some disabled persons and others (all on their website)

kybourbon

>>>I guess I personally don't understand why the Vatican would allow private tour operators to put money in their pockets and give access that others don't have. Unless they are getting a cut.<<<

Until a year or so ago, the Vatican allowed tour groups only between 8-10 and then the general public after 10. That lasted only a year or two. It doesn't seem like all tour operators have access to early entrance so I would imagine the Vatican does get a fee from the tour companies.

CarrieAnn40

My husband and I did an 8am tour that had 6 of us, with Italy with Us http://www.italywithus.com/daily-vip...ican-tours.php. We had about 20 minutes in the Sistine Chapel with no more than about 30 other people, mainly all sitting round the sides, so the chapel really did seem empty and was very quiet. It was also great to walk through the impressive Map Room and all the other rooms, on our way to the chapel, and see them totally empty - take photos now. The rooms after the Sistine Chapel were also empty so we benefitted from that too. Both Map Room and Chapel were heaving when we went back round later.

I think it is certainly worth the extra money as we saw a lot of the museum empty as we headed straight for the chapel and our guide was telling us stuff as we passed through, the chapel was empty, the rooms immediately after the chapel were empty so it was only as we swung back round towards the start that we ran into the crowds and huge tour groups.

worldinabag

The Vatican (and no doubt other establishments) are only too happy to encourage tour groups because I dare say that more visitors could be spirited (oops) through due to a set time duration rather than have "hang around" independents clogging up the corridors. Just a guess....

Lauratg

Thanks guys - I will take a look at Italywithusas well. It sounds as if nobody is disappointed with the early tours. I'm still on the fence because of the extra money. Oh what the heck -- I'm paying off Visa until July instead of June!

I was wondering though, whether St. Peter's Basilica at 7am, and being one of the first to climb at 8am would be pretty cool too.

indy_dad

Plenty ways to skin the cat, but what worked for us was to go to St. Peters first (ascend with no line), then tour inside, break for lunch and then hit the Vatican. At that time there were no lines for entry.

Photo of late afternoon line for the cupola in my blog if interested:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...log-photos.cfm

Late October visit. Self guided w/ guidebook.

Good luck.

Pat_in_Mich

We did an early tour with Walks of Italy (the Pristine Sistine) this past March and thought it was fabulous. We were lucky to be the only ones on the tour.

Lauratg

Wow Pat -- did that mean that you were the only people in the Sistine Chapel? That would be so wonderful!

IndyDad, I actually came up with the idea to visit St. Peter's early in the morning from your blog which I read a few weeks ago(very helpful I must say). Did you find the Sistine Chapel overly packed when you went back in the afternoon?

indy_dad

Well, I've only been the one time so I don't know what normal is. It was fairly crowded. All the seats along the side were occupied and plenty of folks in the middle as well. Plenty of room to move around and check things out though so I guess I wouldn't call it overly packed.

I would recommend reading up on it before you go so you know a little of what to expect and what to look for.

CarrieAnn40

Depending on where you are staying, could you do the 8am tour one morning and visit St Peter's and climb the dome early another morning? You would be finished by about 9am so ready to continue whatever you had planned for that day. It might make for a bit of a long day but you would be able to do both your ideas.

If you decide to do St Peter's first and then go straight on to the museums you will probably be getting there 9.30/10ish which is the normally the most crowded time of day.

Pat_in_Mich

No we weren't the only ones in the Sistine Chapel, but there were fewer than 20 people in there at the time. When we went back through later it was wall to wall people.

doug_stallings

If you can afford it, go for the private tour. The lines can be hours long. I know from hard experience that it's better to do the private tour. The lines for the dome at St. Peter's area also long, but there's no way around that.

Lauratg

Well, I was pretty much convinced to book the early morning group tour with Presto at 54E pp but Presto doesn't book group tours during the winter. Therefore, I would be forced into Walks of Italy for 85E pp. That would make the tour 300E more than the Vatican sponsered tour. That is a lot for us. I have to think some more. Oh, to have unlimited funds . . .

doug_stallings

How much is a once in a lifetime experience worth?