Help with planning Vatican tours, please!
 

We finally rec'd confirmation for our Scavi tour! We arrive in Rome on a Thursday in January, staying until Monday.

Our Scavi tour is set for Saturday, 9:15 am. I know the museums close at 1:45pm...winter hours...but what about St. Peter's and the Sistine Chapel???

We planned to take a guided tour of the Vatican, but I'm confused as to what we can see when. Could we do the museums AFTER the Scavi tour on Saturday? Or should we book the guided tour for Friday to cover St. Peters, the Chapel AND the museums---leaving just the Scavi tour for Saturday?

Can someone help me? I don't know why I'm having such a hard time figuring out the hours for the different Vatican sites.

I may have answered my own question.

Going through all the tour company sites, I find in January most of them don't even offer a Vatican tour on Friday or Saturday.

Context Rome looks like the best bet...they offer a Friday tour at 8:15 am. It appears to cover everything the Scavi tour doesn't. I really wish it started later (jet lag, ya know!).

Anyone know of another "good" tour that would fit into this schedule?

JeanneB, I'm glad you got your reservation for the Scavi tour! I remember you previous postings about it. I had that same 9:15 reservation on Sat. At first, I was disappointed that I couldn't get a tour on Sat, since the Vatican museums close early, as I thought it would be nice to do it while I was right there.

Icon Tours does have a tour at 12:15 or 12:30 on Friday. That's what I ended up taking, and I was glad to have done it on a separate day from the Scavi, as it turned out to be a long tour. It was scheduled for 2-1/2 hours but was MUCH longer, as the guide (who was excellent) gave an expanded description about the Sistine Chapel because the entire group was so interested in it.

These groups are bigger than Context Rome's, they can be 20-25 people, but they are also much cheaper (25E), and the guide made sure everyone was at each stop before starting his explanations, so I think everyone could hear him fine. I also did one with Icon of the Forum/Colosseum and had a similar experience. If you want the much smaller group, you would need to go with Context Rome.

OK, I just realized you're talking about January. I don't know if Icon Tours has fewer tours in January and doesn't do one on Friday. Good luck!

When I went I just picked up a tour from outside and it was fine, small group, English language only, knowledgeable guide. It lasted about 1.5 hours and then we just doubled back and wandered round by ourselves.

Re: the "pick up" guided tour.

Did this include St Peter's, Sistine Chapel, AND the museum(s)?? I'm thinking
this might be a good option since the crowds will be much smaller in January...we might have our pick of guides.

I never understand why people think they need a guided tour for St Peter's basilica or the Vatican museums. I recommend doing it on your own - a decent guidebook will give you all the information you need on the basilica and the museum galleries are quite well captioned. The museums (which include the Sistine Chapel as the last stop) are *very* extensive : I think a tour would be frustrating as it would be unlikely to fit in with your own tastes as to what you want to pass through quickly or what you want to examine in more detail.

If you go to the gift shop on the left side of St. Peter's Square (left, if you are facing the basilica), you can sign up for a tour given by young American priests studying in the Seminary there. They know the Vatican history really well and are very entertaining. They can also speak to some of the inner-workings at St. Peter's and obviously have an in-depth knowledge of the Roman Catholic Church. The tour is free and probably one of the best! I highly recommend it!

kateny:
That's very interesting. I've never heard of the priests' tours. Can one get a tour right then and there (assuming availability)? Or do they give you a time to come back? Is it best to arrive right at opening time?

Jeanne,

I wonder if you might want to visit the Vatican on two separate days? It's alot to absorb. The Sistine Chapel is part of the Vatican Museums, so maybe on Friday you might visit the museums (with our without a guide). Usually, the Sistine Chapel is the last thing you see in the museum, and then you can exit to St. Peter's Basilica. See it on your own, and decide if you want to book a more detailed tour for Saturday.

On Saturday, for the Scavi tour, be sure not to bring a back pack with you. They require that you check it, and they don't do so at the Scavi office.

Probably the best thing about booking a guide for the Vatican museum was not having to wait in the long line for tickets and having her "guide" me right past the extensive Egyptian and other collections that would have caused me to linger and not get through the museum in a timely manner :-)

SusanEva

We actually just showed up in the afternoon after touring the Vatican Museum ourselves and it coincided perfectly with the 2:15 start time of the tour. I believe that they only have that one time, but it might have changed by now.

I was recently in Italy during the first two weeks of Nov. and did the context rome tour of the Vatican. It was wonderful and in my opinion worth the extra expense. Hope this helps.

If you time it right you don't need to queue for the Vatican museums.

How does one "time it right"? Should we be there right at opening?

I've walked straight in at lunchtime. (Found this with other popular tourist attractions too.)

I would play it safe and get there before the Museum opens. That way you can spend the morning exploring the museum, get some lunch afterwards, and then have plenty of time to explore St. Peter's, either on your own or as part of a guided tour.

If you decide not to go with a guided tour, the audio guides for the Vatican museums are excellent. They provide information on so many of the exhibits that it would take days to listen to all of it. It's in depth, at your own pace, and you can choose what you want to hear about and in what order. The tours by the priests sound interesting too.

kateny:

I agree. We'll try to get there at opening time.

But your post reminded me of one of my original questions:

Does the entire Vatican close at 1:45pm when they're on winter schedule?? Or is it just the museums? Is St. Peter's open later?

From their website:
St. Peter's Basilica is open daily, Apr-Sep 7:00-19:00; Oct-Mar 7:00-18:00

For the museum:
Hours - Closed on many holidays, check the Vatican Website
Mar-Oct 8:45-15:20, Exit 16:45 Saturdays 8:45 - 12:20 Exit 13:45
Nov-Feb 8:45 - 12:20, Exit 13:45
Closed Sundays, except the last Sunday of the month which is free.

Thank you!!!! I hadn't realized St. Peter's had a separate website.

So, seeing that the basilica is open until late afternoon, we COULD do it all in one day if we wanted. Scavi tour at 9:15, then the museums until 1pm, then lunch, then St. Peter's.

I think we'll probably do the museums and St. Peter's on the day before the Scavi tour, but it's nice to know we can be a little more flexible.

This year we rented the audio tours and they were surprisingly good. If you can't hook up with a tour group after you Scavi tour, consider these tapes.

You can't go wrong with Context Rome. They're a first rate outfit and their tour guides are very knowledgable. They will ask you what you want to see at the Vatican, then match you with a small goup with similar interests and put together a tour that corresponds with your interests. We used them last Christmas and were very pleased.

Context Rome was a serious consideration for us, but based on a friends recommendation, we decided to try one of Icon tours private guides.

We just got back from 8 soggy days in Italy, four of which were in Rome. We had the absolute best experience at every turn. Our Icon guide was the high point, it was less expensive then Context Rome tours, and we did not have to deal with other people being in our group. Icon does have group tours, but they could not guarantee a specific group size in email.

We spent 3 hours in the Vatican with an American named Douglas . It was miserable waiting in the line in the morning wind & rain, but Douglas managed to get us past the ticket line. We decided to meet with Douglas again the following day for a walk through the city monuments. Lucky for us it only drizzled for this. We have been to Rome 2 times before, and this was the most unforgettable.

The audio guides we had used on previous trips inside the Vatican dont even begin to compare to the experience of having a really good guide who knows the art.