? about Vatican/Sistine chapel tour
 

Do I understand correctly, I can book a tour through the Vatican itself and if I do I can avoid the lines OR go to a special entrance for guided tours which is not hours long?...thank you

of interest to me, also...

Yes, that is correct. If you search this forum, you will find several threads about the rather frustrating, but worthwhile process. I posted one myself, with all the details, a couple of months ago.

Basically, go to the Vatican website (HolySee.com, I think), find the fax number for Vatican Museums tour (it takes some looking to find it), and fax to them a request including number of people, names, dates wanted.

The problem is that the Vatican will not fax back to confirm your request. You will not hear back from the Vatican until a couple of days before your requested tour, and hopefully you will hear back with a confirmed entrance time. So, if you won't be home to receive the fax, ask that the Vatican fax the confirmation to whatever hotel you'll be at just two days before the tour. (See what I mean about frustrating process?)

You will need the Vatican's faxed confirmation, along with IDs, in order to get into the tour group.

It is the least expensive way to tour the Vatican Museums/Sistene Chapel, I believe, and also the only way I've heard to get a reserved entrance time.

My daughter and I did it last May. We had a reservation at 2:00 on a Monday, we went right in, joined a small group of about 8 others, got our headsets, met our guide, and were on our way to a very nice 2 hour tour.

Try to get in by 2:00 at the latest, so you will be in the Chapel by 4:00. Because from the chapel you can go directly into St. Peter's Basilica, without going outside to get in line again, which saves a lot of time. But the door from the Chapel closes at 4:30, so plan accordingly.

Thanks for the info. I assume after the tour we can stay in the museum proper on our own??? We will be doing the basilica with our RS tour so we won't need to do it again (I don't think)

"Yes, that is correct. If you search this forum, you will find several threads about the rather frustrating, but worthwhile process. I posted one myself, with all the details, a couple of months ago. "

This site is so depressing. People keep asking the same questions over and over because they are too lazy to do a simple search.

OK. I got all the info. I do thank you. I am sending a fax for a reservation...

You are free to investigate the Vatican museum at your leisure, once the tour has ended.

ooops! fax line very busy. We will keep trying.