Someone just posted this website on another forum www.rome-museum.com/index.htm
Click-on 'Booking Tickets'.

It seems to be a tour company that will get you in with the tour groups at either 0815 or 0930.

The Museums now open at 1000 for the general public but are open for tour groups from 0800-1000.

So this company buys your ticket 13e plus 2e for the Vatican Presale Fee and pockets 8.50 for providing a registered tour group to get you in early.
There is no guided tour for this 23.5e service.

If you want a tour with them click 'Booking Guided Tours' for 33e total cost.

I wouldn't book the Vatican sponsored tours they offer because you can book those thru the Vatican yourself.

But their pre-10:00 tours will get you in early with their tour group.

So for 10.5e you get to jump the general public queue and get in before that herd.
The tour group queue can be pretty long also but moves fairly quickly. Regards, Walter

Has anyone used this company for the 930 guided tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel? Is it worth it to pay extra and not have the hassle of either standing in line or waiting until the day before to know if you get a confirmation for the Vatican sponsored tours?

Thanks!

a

ttt

ttt

I used this last week, got in with the 8:15 group. We disbanded as a tour group once inside. Totally worth the extra money to skip the long lines.

Wife and I walked up to the Museums Friday before last around noon with no intent of really going in, but decided once we realized there was NO LINE WHAT-SO-EVER to go ahead in. Must of been lucky.

We showed up at about 11:30 on Wednesday morning. The line was very long (a couple of blocks at least) and although it did seem to be moving pretty rapidly, we were still in line for about 40 minutes.

We had 3:30 reservations for the Scavi tour, and ran into VERY LONG lines to get through security there. We arrived about 2:45 PM so we would have plenty of time to be at the excavations office by 3:15. We just barely made it in time.

In the last couple of years I have been twice to Vatican Museums. We went around noon and there was NO line whatsoever. We just walked to the ticket booth and entered. Maybe now with the entrance to general Public being moved to 10 AM , I would go around 1 PM.

I'm confused about the above comment on security and the Scavi tours. Did you mean you went through the Vatican museums first and that's what nearly made you late? When we did the Scavi Tour last summer, the entrance to it is to the left facing St. Peter's, and there was no way to get hung up at all at security.

Since the Vatican entrance rules changed in January, I don't think we will know how it affects lines for the busy summer season yet.

Is it a good idea to be there with hundreds of tour groups or go later in the day? In past years, the best time was later in the day. Now, perhaps, the herds are there from 8:15 until 10:00.

You can still book a guided tour through the Vatican for 23.5E (at 10:30, 12:00, 2:00) and skip any lines.
http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/z-In...zi_Visite.html

i booked the 8:15AM tour with Rome-Museum because the Vatican sent no response after many fax attempts to get on one of their tours.

As soon as we got our tickets with Rome-Museum we disbanded as a tour group and were free to go independently. Many times I found myself totally alone in the galleries, it was surreal. The Sisitine Chapel was semi-crowded at about 10AM but not jammed.

The AM line was very long 2 weeks ago to buy tickets without reservations. I did not see the afternoon lines.

Bookmarking -- good to know

On this 8:15 tour were you able to rent the audio tours or were you on your own, information-wise, after you disbanded?