Tour of Vatican
 

Does anyone have an oppinion on whether taking a tour of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel museums is better than just walking through on your own? The tour I'm looking at says it guides you through St. Peters, The Vatican and The Sistine Chapel in 3 hours. Any info would be great!

It will always depend on how good your particular guide is (I once had one who was very knowledgeable but her English was incomprehensible). In general, I think I guided tour, especially of the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel on the first visit is a great idea. If it moves too quickly through some areas that interest you, you could try to go back.

St Peter's itself offers guided tours in English at least once a day, maybe more often. I had a British guide who was excellent, showing us the highlights in an hour, then we were free to wander.

I took a Vatican tour with Enjoy Rome. The guide was a young English woman and very informative. I certainly got more out of the visit than I would have on my own.

IMO a good tour is better, but definitely research the company you are looking at. Do a search on the board.
Have a great time in Rome.

We took a tour - there are over 1000 rooms in the vatican museum and you could easily get lost or off track. When you finish the museum tour, they will end up at the front area for St Peters and generally, there is another guide ready to take over if you want to have that experience. As non-Catholics, we found the tour of St Peter's to be great.

Greetings! We just returned from our honeymoon in Italy - we did a private tour with a Roman woman - who's English was perfect! She is certified and licensed... would do it again in a heart beat! Loved every second of it.... Definitely do a tour - it was so busy there we wouldn't have been able to see all we did! Definitely recommend a private tour over a group.

You would never see all of these sites you want to see in 1 day let alone a year! I have always done it independently (3 trips) and most Italian tour sites now rent out ear phones in your language, so you can pick and choose.
Tip: Do St. Peters in the AM when the dome and cupola open. It is a winding climb on a very narrow spiral staircase
that takes about 1/2 hourto the top, but very worth it if: you are fit, it is a clear day, and you don't mind sharing air space with individuals who don't believe in deodorant! Otherwise take the lift to the terrace over the entrance of St. Peters where all the big statues are. THEN decend and go inside and see the Michaelangelo Pieta, altar, etc. The next trip this July we are going to a new option, the subterranian tour of the ancient grave sites and town UNDER St Peters that was recently opened for tourists. also Nero's villa near the Coluseum (also underground). THEN see the Sistine Chapel and a few of the galleries like the Map Gallery. By now you will have your fill of Tour#1 of Vatican City.
Rome has been really hot (temperture) lately, so plan accordingly and no shorts or tank tops in church!

We just returned from Rome and loved the tour of the Vatican that we took with Rome Walks. Young, American guide, classic history major from the States, made the tour fun and so very interesting. I understand that there groups are never more than 6-8 people. We also took their tour of the Ancient City the next day... which was just as wonderful.