Has anyone on the board done one of the Vatican's own guided tours of the museums? It looks like the tour is only two hours - do they then allow you to browse the museum at your leisure or are you then forced to leave?

It appears that this is the only way to
bypass the lines and I wouldn't mind paying the extra $9 assuming that I would be able to stay in the museums after the tour was over.

Thanks.

topping

In June, my daugter and I took the Context Rome tour of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica. The tour was excellent, with the group being limited to 6 people. The price was about $55 per person, but it was very intimate and we learned a lot.

Yes we did this tour -- you can go right to the entry point vs. the line which was blocks long when we went.

HOWEVER -- by the time we were finished with the tour, there were NO lines -- i.e. late afternoon. Also the case at the Coliseum.

It was well worth doing the tour but there was somje waiting around while we got organized and there are any number of tour groups going at a time. That said -- we did get released at the end of the tour and in fact the hubby and I cut out early to go look around on our own, after the Sistine Chapel part of the tour though.

Our group of 10 did the Vatican's own tour in April. We were less than impressed with our guide, who seemed to be going through the motions. One of our group uses a wheelchair, and he was the only person in Italy who was not sensitive to her lack of mobility.

The next day we toured the Colloseum with Francesca Caruso, who was delightfully charming and totally knowledgeable. We definitely wished we had used her to tour the Vatican. (No, I'm not related to her!) She charged 40 euro/hour for any size group.

[email protected]

http://www.ricksteves.com/news/tourn.../francesca.htm

We did the Context Rome in June with Liz. It was fabulous. Do it.

Topping for Bryce

I went to the Vatican Museum yesterday.I arrived at 9am to find a line that stretched for several hundred yards and so it took over three hours to get in.This apparently is quite common for the 30,000 visitors who come on the average day.I hoped to go on a guided tour but the three in English in the afternoon were all sold out. Note that they do not accept credit cards and the present entry fee is twelve euros,a fair price for an excellent museum.Incidentally the previous day I decided to climb to the top of the dome in St. Peter`s Basilica.The line there took one and a half hours but I really enjoyed the view across the city from 400 feet up.

Bryce - I was in Rome Nov 04 and did the Context Rome tour of the Vatican (and Underground Rome btw). Small groups, very history heavy (you are in Rome afterall!). Mom and I ended the ContextRome tour early (actually it was running 1.5 hours late we were all having such a ball!) to do the Scavi Tour (with the Vatican) at 1:30pm. That lasted about an hour. Highly highly highly recommend it - go on the Vatican website, enter SCAVI. Be patient as being Italian, they take their time emailing your confirmation. Also, be 15 minutes early as they left 10 minutes early with our group. We would have missed them if we scheduled to arrive at the gate at just the entry time.

No one should wait in that appalling line at the Vatican. If you simply go after noon and enter the side entrance (the museum entrance) there is often no line or a very short line.

Any more comments about the Vatican's own guide tours?

Information here:

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/z-In...zi_Visite.html

Does the tour include the Pinacotheca? That's not listed on the webpage.

Thanks!

ttt

we went to the Vatican on saturday and there was a long line to get it....and we decided to go back on monday wewere offered many tours outside walls... we booked on internet through Eternal City Tour (www.theeternalcitytours.com). Robert was fantastic!!!! No line, no wasted time.The best tour of my Italy's trip. We also went to the Colosseum with him the next day. Go to the Vatican, it is a great experience. Julie, Evansville, Indiana