Apologies for the confusing title, but I could use some help figuring our how to apportion our site visits for our upcoming trip to Rome.

We're going to be arriving in Rome on a Thursday afternoon from Venice, and have a Context Tour of Ancient Rome (Forum, Colosseum, et al) lined up for Friday afternoon, with reservations at the Borghese on Sunday. I was thinking we'd do the Vatican on Saturday, but know it could be a real hassle given the crowds.

We'd prefer not to do a tour of the Vatican, so the question in my mind is do we want to squeeze the Vatican and the Context Tour in the same day to try and bypass the Saturday swarm, or just roll our dice with the weekend visit to the Pope's hood. I'm thinking the latter, but appreciate your thoughts. And if we do tour the Vatican and visit St. Peter's, it should be in the afternoon, correct?

Are you referring to the Vatican when you say the "Pope's hood"?

you really want to check your times for the openings and closing of the Vatican. Normally they close early on Saturdays.
I would STRONGLY suggest that if you do want to tour the Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel that you hire a guide. A guide in this instance is worth their weight in gold my friend for two reasons...first logistically, the lines can be very very long to enter the Vatican Museum Sistine Chapel, a guide will not only help you bypass the tremendous line...but even to be able to get you in at all on that day. You don't know how many disappointed people there are that stand in line long hours and not even get in! Just this past November, I had a guide for our group of 4 and we went straight in without hassle..yet when we emerged after a tremendously informative 4 hour tour we passed folks still in line and our guide was telling them all the way down as we walked "they are closed"...the shock on peoples faces was evident.
Secondly, a guide will be able to help you see the important stuff and "weed" you through the vast vast collection that is the Vatican thus saving you more time and hopefully saving you from "museum overload" LOL
ciao

Hi maingod,

No, I would not recommend trying to do the Context Ancient rome tour plus the Vatican museums in the same day. You will be dead on your feet and not enjoy the museums.

I doubt that the Vatican Museums are any more crowded on Saturday than on Friday.

Also, they are now open from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm, with last entry at 4:00 pm.

I agree with Russ---you need the guided tour at the Vatican not ancient Rome. Both would be nice but I see the Vatican as required.

I'm confused about hiring a guide for the Vatican....Can't you make a reservation for a tour at the Vatican for a specific time?

Doesn't this get you around the lines?

SavTrav, Yes, you can, and yes, it does.