Shart

We are planning our trip to Italy for this June and understand that there are ways to avoid the long lines at the Vatican and that we should get a guide. Has anyone gone recently and can advise where and how do we get the tickets in advance. Is there a way to arrange for a guide in advance. I thought I read that there are tours of the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel for about two hours and that is what we would like since our time is limited. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Mildred

Hi Shart

This has been a good site for me.
selectitaly.com/museums.php?ref=ggl.

Tulips

We hade a private guide, but had to stand in line anyway (very short line luckily). Guides do not get priority at the Vatican Museums (they do at other sites such as the Colliseum).
If anyone else has different information, I would be interested to know about this too.

Eloise

The only guides that get priority at the Vatican Museums are the Vatican Museums' own guides. There have been different opinions expressed; some people have been happy with their guides, others have found them difficult to understand due to pronunciation problems on the part of the generally Italian-speaking guides who also offer the English tours.

You can book here by sending a fax:

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

Why pay SelectItaly US$ 50. when you can send a fax yourself for a few pennies? And the $50. fee does not even include the cost of the tour, which you have to pay there!

kleroux

The only time we experienced rude and totally unhelpful guides in Rome was at the Vatican. We arrived a few minutes late for our tour, we could see the tour walking just ahead of us, and the ticket taker would not let us join them.