Gah! I have conflicting information on this, so I bring it to you, o' experienced Fodorites.

I've read plenty that says everyone waits in line at the Vatican Museums, whether you are with a tour guide or not.

However, I have read a newspaper article (found on the internet somewhere) in which the author says he was admitted early, before the opening time, with his guide.

We also have a potential guide lined up (won't mention his specifics here, but his company has a website) that claims he can get us early entrance. He wants to pick us up at our hotel at 7:15 a.m. for this, and says it would cost our group of four an extra 400 Euro.

My question is - are there really people getting in early? How much earlier than opening time? And is that the going rate?

We were just there. Everyone waits in line including the tour groups. However, the tour groups go in first a bit earlier than the rest, maybe 8:15? We met our tour guide outside the museum entrance at the bus stop at 7:45 and he had already 7 others parked in the line close to the front. We used Argiletum Tours which cost us 44euros a person, including the cost of entrance. The tour only had 9 people and lasted close to 5 hours. I can't see how you could beat that. The tour director was very knowledgeable and took us straight to the Cistine Chapel to avoid the crowds. There weren't more that 50 other people in the room. After we toured the rest of the museum, we had to pass through the chapel again and it was shoulder to shoulder.

Save the money. 400 € for a group of four is a rip-off. Don't go to the Vatican museum in the morning but around lunchtime. Between 12 and 2 there are hardly any lines at all.

HELLO,
400 euros for a group of four is outreageous!!! I have done tours for 25 and 30 euros and they were great. The five hour tour for 44 euros is a great deal and you should consider it. You should contact the vatican yourself to see if they offer early admission to tour groups and what they charge for that. The site is vatican.va

donna

Really-- 400EUR-- is that a typo? Way too much in my opinion. I'd wait in line myself for 400EUR!

My experience was getting a tour from the Vatican directly. It's probably the most inexpensive way to go, and guarantees an entrance time. It's a two-hour tour, and was quite good. It's a challenging process, though. You have to go to the Vatican site, find the fax number and fax a request to them. They do not confirm receipt of your request, and do not reply until about two days before your tour. If you search this forum, you will find a thread I posted with all the details. Good luck! (But don't count on e-mailing the Vatican with a question. I doubt if you'd get an answer.)

Yeah, I typed that correctly. $400 EURO! EXTRA.

I thought the same thing. This is when we decided to drop him. As my husband said, "No. We're not movie stars."

I'm just curious about how he could ask for that.

When I say extra, I mean over and above the 85 Euro hourly rate. And a car/driver rate above that if we wanted transportation.