Kendra

Which would you recommend? We have a good guidebook that has a detailed tour of the museums and St. Peters but I'm now wondering if we'll enjoy it more with a guide. We had resisted booking a guided tour because we'd like to visit in the afternoon (when it's supposedly less crowded) and most of the tours leave in the morning. Thanks.

jabez

We wished that we had a guide last year. We will have one this year.
I agree with the afternoon having small lines.
We went at around 1pm and saw many tours.

Nike

I have read often that the available audioguide is excellent

rshersnow

I went in using the DK Eyewitness book last year and thouroughly enjoyed and learned. It's more about being amazed anyway.

caroline_edinburgh

I've never felt the need for a guide. If you have a good guidebook that's much better IMO as you can go at your own pace & linger over the parts which interest you, or speed up through the parts which interest you less.

mamc

After 3 trips to St. Peters and the Vatican, we had a guide for each on our last trip. Both were fantastic and we learned an incredible amount in the process. We had used audio guides before and also used both the Eyewitness guide and the Michelin Green guide to plan our visits but I am so glad we used a guide - it was definitely worthwhile.

Lorac1127

We had a guide who was amazingly knowledgeable since he was an Art History graduate student. He brought not only the art to life but also the artists and their lives.

We have come to appreciate really good guides because they offer another dimension, their educated perspective and can usually answer your questions.

nevertooold

As someone who is also deciding which way to go, I would ask both MAMC and LORAC if you would be kind enough to advise as to which tours you were both fortunate enough to use. Many thanks.

nini

We were there last May and joined a group and had a very knowledgable guide. Used ear phones and would have not had nearly as good of a tour with the guide. The cost was not much. It was very crowded at that time.

JoeTro

We had a guide for St. Peters - maybe 1 hour or 1.5 hours. One of the best things I have ever done. She was really remarkable, and very kind as well. I strongly recommend a guide for at least this.

WillTravel

The Vatican is so big that you really need to start in the morning anyway, irrespective of the crowds. I liked the Enjoy Rome tour I took. Next time I go, I'll probably do one day on my own, and one day with yet another tour.

Aleeta

Kendra: I would suggest a guided tour - there is so much to cover - plus having a formal tour gets you access directly into St. Peters instead of standing in the lines which can be very long. I did the tour last November and it really helped. On my second visit then I'd like to take things at my own pace.

Jun04ItalyHoneymoon

Although we're usually not huge guided tour of museum people, we were very happy that we had booked a guided tour of the Vatican. We got so much more out of the experience using the guide. We did the Vatican Scavi tour also, which I highly recommend. It truly was the highlight of our stay in Rome.

Lorac1127

nevertooold, we took a tour of the Vatican museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's with Scala Reale. I believe they are now called Context Rome. I highly recommend them.

damama

I'm not sure if anyone here mentioned the tour given by the Vatican itself. Has anyone done that one? How far in advance did you book?

Kendra

Update: we got back from Italy last week and ended up seeing the Vatican Museums and St. Peters on our own. It was the right choice for us because we were able to go at our own pace (which is usually faster than tour groups) and really concentrate on what we wanted to see. We had Rick Steves Rome guidebook which has a good self-guided tour of the museum and the basilica. I also read In the Footsteps of Popes by Enrico Bruschini before we left.