I am trying to find a one day tour of the Vatican and St. Peters for our trip to Rome in May. I haven't been able to find a tour for 2 people nor one that we can join for a reasonable price. Everything I've found seems to be over $250 Euro.

Can anyone recommend a tour operator that meets you at the door with your entrance passes (no or minimal waiting) and gives a good tour in english? It does not have to be private we are more than willing to join a group.

Grazie,
Audea

The Vatican offers its own tours for the museums for about 23 euros total, including admission cost.

It was great. Tour is done in your native language. There are about 20 people in the tour, using headsets. No lines.

Negative: you fax your request and hope you get the appointment. I don't know that I've seen anyone post that they have not gotten their appointment.

Here is their site address...

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/z-In...zi_Visite.html

dave

audea-I'm also looking for Vatican tours and found many of the private companies to be VERY expensive, so we also be booking a tour through the VATICAN by fax, hopefully will get my confirmation before I leave.

I faxed a request in February for a tour the first week of June. I never heard and don't know if I faxed too early or they were saying "no". I cannot find an answer to how early I need to fax the request. Can anyone give me an answer?

patcaro, The answer is there on the Vatican Museums' guided-tour page:

>>For guided tours of individuals, an advanced booking is needed from one month to one week to the date of the visit.<<

In other words, a February request for June is *way* too early, and my guess is that as other requests come in, yours is going to go to the bottom of the pile.

Also, the Vatican Museums often only fax their reply a few days (or even the day) before the tour. Did you also give them a fax number in Rome where they can send their reply?

Zerlina, thanks for the info. Guess I jumped the gun a month or so. I'll refax closer to the date.

Have you not googled this?

I found many (too many to list here) by just putting "vatican museum tour" into Google. Most seem to be in the 50-75 euro range for a semi-private tour. More if you want private, but certainly not 250 euro.

we are actually heading to rome this evening, with a vatican tour booked for saturday. we got a recommendation for a guide from a friend -- the guide is associated with a group called "rome-museum" (rome-museum.com).

i will post a review of this particular guide/site once we get back, but i can say that the guide (50 euros/hour for a two hour tour -- vatican only) has been very responsive via e-mail. and, i just got confirmation from rome-museum that tickets are confirmed, and our voucher is in hand.

On the tours that are done by the Vatican (the faxed ones), you normally hear back the day before the tour.

We originally faxed in our request in September for late December. We updated the request in early December due to a hotel change.

Requested date was for Dec. 26, received the faxed reply at the hotel on the night of the 24th.

So, you have a good shot of having what you want, just be patient and try not to worry too much. I admit,it would be nice if they could give you some advance information.

dave

Hi folks, this is my 1st post, so bear with me. Will be in Rome the 1st week of May with my girlfriend and am planning a Vatican visit, so would like to use the Vatican's own tours. If I may ask (particularly daveesl) what sort of info did/do you add to the fax form? Just a request followed by the obvious (date, time, # of visitors, return fax # etc.)? I reviewed the Vatican site daveesl gave but it's sparse on details.
Unfortunate that they don't give more details or a sample form. Just don't want to leave out anything.

Thanks,
Dave

you can join the tour group"Discorver Rome" for a three hours tour of the museums and church, everyday the tour meets in piazza risorgimento in front of Foot Locker at 9.00 the cost is 30 Euro plus entrance. it's done by english native speakers and will have headphones, waiting time should be minimum considering that from next month reserved groups should no longer wait in line. you can ask for Canadaian Jason to sign up.

On a side note: my first trip through the Vatican museums was a lesson in planning - I arrived a couple of hours before closing and spent the first hour in line. Inside, a mob scene - I didn't even attempt the Sistine Chapel or Rafael rooms, instead escaped to the relative calm of the pinoteccha and the greek and roman sculpture, all well worth the trip. (In fact, I recommend that to anyone - especially the Pinoteccha - paintings galleries, where you'll find some of the greatest religious works in the world, including some Rafael altarpieces. And rarely anything like a crowd.)

The next time my friend and I arrived a mere 40 minutes before opening, and were behind about30-50 people in line. We went straight to the Sistine Chapel once we got inside, and had about ten minutes there all to ourselves, which is a great advantage for truly enjoying the effect of it. Just an hour later as we louped back through the chapel it was already jam-packed.
So my advice is, if you're doing a tour, book the first one of the day. Besides partially beating the crowds, you'll also be more attentive and less likely to poop out before the tour winds up.

Then you can go have a nice, relaxing lunch (restaurants near the Vatican often have English-speaking staff, if that's important to you) and be refueled to see St. Peter's Sq and the Basilica.

Of course, remember to dress properly - basically, for all churches in rome, and for the Vatican Museums, be sure to have shirts with sleeves (men and women), no short pants, and no miniskirts. This is a RULE, and you don't want to be turned away. Besides, people in Rome tend to dress with a sense of self-respect and a little style, so do that for almost all touring save climbing around the Forum.

Audea,

We just returned from Rome and used Icon for our Vatican/St. Peter's tour. We wanted to spend as little time waiting as possible and enjoy an informed, fluent English-speaking guide devoted to our group only. The cost was 198 euro for three hours for our party of three. If we desired additional time beyond the three hours we were at liberty to add time (for an additional fee).

It would be difficult for someone to 'meet you at the door' for a Vatican tour because you can't get to the door without going through the security line first. The scholar Icon set us up with was a delightful young lady named Morgan, who met us outside the palazzo where we had our apartment (usually they would meet you at your hotel) and we took the short cab ride over together. I would emphasize again how very easy it was to find her in our tiny square, whereas it would be much more difficult to locate someone in the bustle outside the Vatican.

PLEASE NOTE THAT NOBODY CAN AVOID THE SECURITY LINES, so when you see or hear "no waiting in line" what is meant is the ticket line. EVERYONE has to go through security; on our day this took about 35 minutes but the line moved fairly quickly and during the interim Morgan kept an eye out for pickpockets while providing interesting background about the Vatican and asking what we most wanted to experience and why. This time did NOT count as part of our three-hour package, which began only after we actually entered the museum. Since we were with a guide there was no wait at all to purchase our tickets (13.50 euro each) immediately after passing through security. It was interesting that while in the sercurity line we kept meeing people who had used Morgan in the past for this and other Icon tours. All greeted her warmly, obviously thrilled to see her again and dismayed that she was with our private party and not free to accept their eager offers to immediately engage her or join our group. She handled all requests with great tact and professionalism. As our tour progressed it became every moment more evident why she has so many fans.

The Vatican was actually not nearly as crowded as I'd expected from reading posts from others. Morgan did a great job of unobtrusively allowing us plenty of opportunity to absorb what interested us while managing our time efficiently--we never felt rushed in any way. I was impressed at her ability to delicately balance providing enlightening iformation and fully answering questions without ever overwhelming with too much. Even with my background in art history she was able to add something fresh and new to several works, which was really delightful. The Sistine was the only crowded part, and that day the guards were unfortunately rather lax: people of every nationality were lounging and sprawling, talking loudly, videotaping and snapping away (WAY too many idiots using flash) with total disregard for any sense of respect or propriety. But even these distractions could not undermine the glory of Michaelangelo's restored works.

Overall our experience with Icon and the Vatican itself was excellent and Morgan certainly exceeded our highest expectations. When we finished St. Peter's she helpfully asked if we needed any recommendations for lunch, shopping or where to find a cab, etc. (she lives in the neighborhood).

We would use this company again with absolutely no reservations and Morgan has three new fans to greet her when we see her in Rome again one day.

Hope this doesn't sound silly...

About the tours with headphones mentioned here-are these pre-recorded, or is the guide speaking to people though the headphones so he/she does not have to shout?

Hello Veloguy...

The fax to the Vatican needs to include:

Your name and others in the group.

Your dates you'll be in Rome.

Your preferred and secondary days and times (be sure to refer to the Museum opening hours guide on the Vatican website)

Your language

Your email/home phone

The name of the hotel you will be staying at and its fax number.

Some folks have also added in their own fax numbers, but be sure to note which fax is which.

Normally, you will receive a faxed confirmation to your hotel the day before the tour. You must take this fax with you to the Vatican.

Some folks have reported that they received their confirmation much earlier, at their own fax numbers.

Remember, the Vatican Museum entrance is around the corner from St. Peters. When you get to the Vatican Museum you will se a gigantic line queued along the wall. To the right side of the door where this giant line is entering you will see an empty queue area. There will probably be a couple of guards there. Walk up to the first guard, he has the days list. He lets you right in.

After you enter the museum, go to the right side, you'll see several ticket windows with nobody in line. Those are for you.

After you pay for the ticket, you'll be put in a waiting area. Your guide will meet you and your group here. Usually about 20 in the group.

The guide speaks your language and hands out radio headsets. The tour takes about 3 hours and you end up in the Sistine Chapel.

Now, from the Sistine, you do not exit the normal exit, this would put you in the line to enter St. Peters. Instead, look to the back wall to the right side, you'll see a little door. Go through this, follow the steps and you are in St. Peters, no lines, no hassles.

Hope that helps.

dave

OOPS, I meant to say...go to the LEFT side after you enter the museum.

dave

I will be in Rome during Easter week and plan to take a tour of the Vatican with Angel tours. It is 3 hrs and the cost is E25 plus E13 admission. The group is limited to 8 to 15 people, but they also will do private tours. I've heard good things about this company and they are recommended by my B&B.

Dave or anyone -
If you take the Vatican guided tour do you have to exit at the Sistine Chapel or can you wander around on your own after the tour?

Well actually, you don't have to "stay" with the tour at all. You just have to return the headset before you enter the Sistine chapel.

I've heard that many people pay the additional fee for the tour, then just go off on their own. It is worth the extra few bucks to not have to stand in line, that's for sure.

The tour guide doesn't actually track who is with them after you leave the main area. Several times during our tour we were several rooms away from the main tour group.

Hope that helps,
dave

Yes it does - thanks a bunch!