MandyD

I only have one full day in Rome - Tuesday, September 30th - and my husband and I want to take a group tour of Vaticam/ St. Peter's Basilica. Unfortunately, the three tour groups most recommended (Scala Reale; Through Eternity and Rome Walks) - do not have any tour of the Vatican on that day. Any other recommendations? thanks for your help.

swalter518

Get the Rick Steves Rome guidebook which has detailed walking tours through the museum and St. Peters.

Lizzie518

And there are usually several people standing outside St. Peter's just dying to give you their own personal tour.

amp322

There are guided tours available from the Vatican Information Desk area. You just show up at the time posted. I agree with the other posting of just using a guide book, also. It is possible to just read your way through the Basilica.

RufusTFirefly

Haven't used it myself, but good old Gray Lines has a tour.

http://www.grayline.com/destinations.cfm?action=europe

bookchick

I also took the American Express tour, it last a half day, and was very good. I'd recommend it.

Buon Viaggio,
BC

jal716

We just returned from Italy. Had planned on using Rick Steves for Vatican tour. When we got there, I was somewhat overwhelmed. We ran into a tour guide in St. Peter's and did a free tour with him and then a paid tour through the museums. It was the best thing we ever did. Basically, all tours of St. Peter's are free. Some tour operators give these free and hope to sign you up for other tours that aren't free. Our guide was from a company called Icon. There web site is www.IconTours.com and the email is [email protected]. You can also meet at 0930 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings at the Obelisk in the center of St. Peter's Piazza. It is the tour guide holding the BLUE FOLDER. The tour of St. Peter's is first and it is free. The guide gives lots of neat info that isn't in many books. The museum tour is fantastic. Our guide gave about a 30 minute "class" on the Sistine Chapel prior to going in the museum. He then took us through the museum and highlighted a lot of very interesting things. There were around 30 people in the group that day. His name was Doug and he is GREAT!!!!! He also gave us recommendations for restaurants, bars, and other tour operators in Rome. We were so happy that we met him on our first day because he made the trip so much better. The tour is 26 per person plus price of the museum. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

travelchik

DId you try www.enjoyrome.com I just used them and was very happy.

jody

We did the American Express tour on the recommendation of BC. There were only we 2 and another couple, the guide was a retired Art history professor who has written some books on ROme and all together it was a wonderful experience.

malanh

I've got a tour of St. Peter's on my website at exseminarians.com/rome.
I know Douglas from Icon who was mentioned in a previous post. We've corresponded on a lot of details about the basilica. You can usually find him in the shadow of the obelisk at around 10am. If you miss Douglas, the English Guides give free tours M-W-F that leave at 3pm from the Vatican postoffice. Check at the information desk there(Left side of the basilica)

Marbie

We did the Scala Reale private tour of the Vatican. Try inquiring into that. It worked out great for us. We did the 1 pm tour, it covered all the highlights, and we were able to wander and shop prior to the tour. The tour went until 5;00 pm, and left us in St. Peter's to explore on our own.