Sistine Chapel and then Scavi Tour
 

I would like to see the Sistine Chapel and am trying to book that and the Scavi Tour for the same day. I have already booked the Scavi tour on a Saturday at 3:15PM and wanted to know if I were to get advanced tickets to the Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel (http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va) for, let's say, 1PM on the same day would I be OK?? The only reason I ask is because my plane arrives at 830AM that morning and I want to give myself enough time to get through customs and get to the hotel to drop off my luggage (I was granted an early check-in by the hotel)......Since the Chapel is at the end of the Museum, what do I have to do to get back to the Swiss Guard entrance to get to the Scavi tour and about how long would that take me to get from the Sistine Chapel to the entrance to where I need to be for the Scavi tour??


Thanks everyone, your help has been AMAZING in helping me plan this trip.....

We did the Scavi tour several years ago and it was awesome. You will not have enough time to get through the Vatican tour and then to the Scavi in my opinion with the time frame you have listed. The lines are endless later in the morning, as are the crowds on the inside and chances of you getting there before 11am would appear slim. We were talked in to a "tour" before our Scavi tour and we ended up racing through, bumping people out of the way to get to the end point. We saw nothing in our fury to get to the end and then get over (barely in time-they almost let others go in our place) to the starting point for the Scavi tour. We are returning to Rome next year and top on our list is an early morning start at the Vatican and a leisurely tour through.

I wasn't going to do a tour of the museum/chapel, I was going to do it on my own and if I pre-order the tickets I won't have to wait in line to get in. I know it's pretty crowded inside ususally but I was planning on just briskly walking around the museum and going mainly to the chapel in the back....Is there any easy way to get back to where I need to be for the Scavi tour or do I have to leave and go all the way back around?? Thanks.

Not a chance. You will be pushing it with a 1pm Tour of the Vatican Museums/Sixtine Chapel. The Scavi Tours requires that you be at the gate, at a minimum, half hour prior to the assigned time. That would place your prior tour at a disadvantage for "unavoidable delays", one of which is a loooong security line to gain access to the area where you need to show your Scavi Tour reservation so they can let you in. The entrance to the Vatican Museums is in the back area following the walled encircle. Once done, you will need to go back for access to St. Peter's Square.

BTW, are you scheduling all these touring and sightseeing for the arrival day from a transatlantic flight?; just curious.

rywith22- you need to recalibrate your expectations; it is not "the walk in the park" you decsribed. Lines, Lines, lines, people, people, people.

OK rywith,

IIWY, I would try to get a slightly earlier booking for the Vatican museums/Sistine Chapel. that's because you have to be at the entrance to the Scavi tour about 15 mins before it start, and you have to get from the Sistine chapel to that entrance, which could take 20 mins or so if you aren't able to exit the chapel by the Groups exit, which takes you straight onto the pavement at the from of St. Peter's.

if you CAN use the group exit, it's a short walk down some steps to the front of the Basilica, to get to the Scavi tour office, you jsut walk ALONG the front the Basilica, and go through a barrier at the far end, turning right - the office is under a porchway about 50 yards ahead. if you are stopped by the Swiss Guard, you show them your reservation from the Scavi office.

if you can't, you will need to walk all the way back round the Vatican walls AND get back through security - which could take a LOOONG time. therefore you should aim for a booking for the vatican for 12 noon at the latest.

HOWEVER, if you have another day that you could do the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, I would. the museums are huge, and very tiring. to do that and the Scavi tour is a huge ask on the day you arrive - you will feel exhausted and short-changed. if you want to enjoy seeing the Sistine Chapel, why rush yourself so much? I see from your toher thread that you have 10 days in Rome -can you really not find another day for seeing the Vatican?

in the week that we were there in February, we went to St. Peter's twice - once to do the Scavi tour, after which we spent a leisurely hour wandering around the Basilica itself, and a 2nd time, early one morning, to climb the dome before the hoards got there. [we'd seen the museums and Sistine chapel on our first visit, and didn't fancy doing it again]. you may be able to do the dome AFTER the scavi tour if the queues aren't too long. [turn left under the portico at the front of the Basilica, but don't go outside onto the pavement.]

the trick is to do as much as you can without going outside the precincts, so that you don't have to get through the security barriers again. when we arrived at about 9am, it took us less than 5 mins. when we came out at about 10.30, the queues stretched from the barriers right across the front of the building to the other side - about an hour's wait. strangely, if you have a scavi tour booking, they don't search you at all - you just show your reservaton, and you're in.

hope this helps,

regards, ann

ps - click on my screen name to see my report of what we did in a week.

oops - just re-read the above. English is my native tongue - honest!

and a bit of it was wrong. you would not have to get through security after walking back round the vatican walls en route to the scavi tour entrance, but it is a long walk back round the walls.

sorry about that!

There is no way I would ever follow your plan for my arrival day. You flight could be late. If traveling from the U.S. you might feel shell-shocked with jet lag by mid afternoon. Any number of things could happen to alter your plans. I'd rather not worry about all the possible mishaps.

Now I'll try to be helpful.

Assuming your flight arrives on time and all goes well, you might be at you hotel by 10:30 or 11:00 AM. Allow 30 minutes to check in and refresh. Since I don't know where you are staying, let's allow an hour to reach the Vatican Museums, which means arriving at the museums around 12:30pm. Therefore, 1:00PM reservation might work.

Once in the museum, DO NOT check your coat or get an audio guide. Follow signs directly to the Sistine Chapel. The Chapel is located at the other end of the museum complex, so even a direct route will take some time and take you through a variety of galleries featuring sculptures, tapestries, the Map gallery, and so forth. This may go slowly or quickly depending on the number of visitors blocking the way.

If you reach the detour for the Stanza Rafaello before 2:00pm, then I think it is safe to consider a brief 15-minute visit to these rooms if the museum doesn't seem crowded. Next stop is the Sistine Chapel. For your timing, I would want to arrive at the Sistine Chapel no later than 2:15pm and leave the Chapel no later than 2:45pm.

Follow the exit signs in the Chapel, but take the GROUP exit to the RIGHT. This exit leads to a courtyard beside the entrance to St Peter's. (If you took the exit on the left, you would have a 10-minute walk back to the museum entrance, a 15-minute walk around the Vatican walls to Piazza San Pietro, and a lengthy security line there.) From there it is a walk of a minute or two to where you must check in for the Scavi Tour--the mirror location for your arrival courtyard on the other side of the basilica.

I assumed your tour is at 3:15, but if you have an earlier check-in time, you'll have to adjust these plans.

Viajero2, yes that was originally my plan but I am really tempering my thoughts a bit because of that....annhig, that is exactly what I was looking for, thanks a lot. I wonder what I have to do to get to the Groups exit, but I think I'll heed your advice and come back on another day. Yes, it is 10 days, but as you can see from my other thread I have a TON of stuff that I'd like to do so that is why I was trying to do this on the same day but I really don't want to short change anything either. I'm not really interested in the Vatican museums at all, I just want to see the Sistine Chapel for the ceiling. It's really ancient Rome that interests me to no end....So thanks again everyone, I got exactly what I needed.

groups exit is described in my post, but better to think about this for another day

ellenem
Your post makes it seem easy to get through these "Group" doors....As far as my flight goes, it's a non-stop flight, so shouldn't that take care of any kind of delays? Is there usually delays for flights that are straight through or were you guys talking about delays regarding customs and travel to the hotel?? (Which is Hotel Grifo, btw, near the Colosseum).

Ellenem, that's a great plan and exactly what I've been trying to figure out for my visit. Thanks!

"As far as my flight goes, it's a non-stop flight, so shouldn't that take care of any kind of delays? "

What if your flight takes off 2 hours late? What if there is an unexpected head wind on the flight? Delays can happen any time. Are you checking luggage? I've had good luck at FCO with luggage, but have heard stories of 90-minute waits for luggage, never mind lost luggage. Even with a private car, there might be bad traffic, turning a 30-minute drive into a much longer one. What if you or your traveling companion were unable to sleep on the flight and arrive tired, groggy and cranky? All of these are considerations for an arrival day after a trans-Atlantic flight.

Those are all valid concerns, of course I didn't think about the head winds or the delay in getting my bags as possibilities....Talk about a connundrum. :) I had thought about the grogginess factor too and it is a big concern but I'm gonna get something from my doctor and I hope it helps me and my girl sleep.

Given your interest in ancient Rome, you might want to spend a little more time than you're planning in the Vatican Museums. They hold a number of important Roman statues -- including the Prima Porta Augustus -- as well as mosaics and frescoes.

Weren't your original plans to arrive on the day before your Scavi tour?

Fra, yes that was my plan but I made an honest mistake. :) The flight I am taking takes off at 4:45 EST from Miami on the 19th and we arrive at 8:45AM Rome Time, I forgot it was an overnight flight. So, now the Scavi tour is the same day as I arrive. The other stuff I had planned for the 19th was not booked or anything.

Way too much for one day, IMHO. The long overnight flight, no rest, a stressful time-frame, and then touring two of the most important sites in Rome, which will be a blur to you. Why do it that way? For your arrival day, I'd suggest you walk in Rome and see the Pantheon, the Trevi, the Spanish Steps, just things that don't have to be scheduled.

Cutting through that group exit does not always work. We have seen the guards stop and re-direct people who were not with the groups. Tourists who have paid for the group tours have a little colored sticker so the guards can tell.
We have also seen a tour guard "shoo" people away who tried to exit with her group.
It seems to depend on what guards are on duty.

I agree that I will probably come back another day and go to stuff that isn't scheduled, like what PeaceOut recommends.

I do think you are smart to take fodorites' advice, and you will enjoy your first day more, if you ease up on your schedule and just give yourself time to walk and get acquainted with awesome Rome. I arrived around 10:30 a.m., went to my hotel, got settled and refreshed, met my daughter at 2:00 (she trained in from Florence), and we walked first down the Spanish Steps, then all over the neighborhood, ending at the Trevi Fountain at night. I was not tired, just excited to be there. But I would not have enjoyed a museum and paying attention to details!