Hello,
I'm trying to purchase tickets for the Vatican & St. Peter's in June. There is no availability on the official Vatican site. Do any of you know where I could purchase tickets and do a tour that's not to expensive for my 9yr old son and I? Thank you.

Does anyone have any other options for purchasing vatican tours/tickets?

kelly, where are you looking?

I went to the official site, followed the links, and found that most days in June had availability for 2 people:

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html

please come back if you don't succeed with this link.

It does appear the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's tours are sold out, but the Vatican Museums only still have availability. You can visit St. Peter's on your own. You don't really need a tour and tickets aren't required. Your 9 year old would probably prefer going up to the Dome over the St. Peter's tour.

http://www.vatican.va/various/basili...pola/orari.htm

You can also just book entrance only tickets for the museums and rent their audio guide.

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/z-In...i_audio01.html

There are audio guides available for rent in St. Peter's also. Website doesn't have English (it pretends it does, but nothing will happen when you click the link).

http://www.vatican.va/various/basili...audioguide.htm

>>>but the Vatican Museums only still have availability. <<<

I meant the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel tours are still available.

kybourbon, when you say that "tickets aren't required," you are correct. However, the advantage of pre-purchasing tickets is that you can avoid a multi-hour queue to purchase tickets.

Best time to visit the Vatican is in the afternoon, as the cruise tours all come in the morning.

>>>travelhorizons on Jun 3, 13 at 7:45pm
kybourbon, when you say that "tickets aren't required," you are correct. <<<<

You misunderstood my post. Tickets are not required for St. Peter's and you don't need a tour for St. Peter's. You just walk in after going through the security line. If you want to go up to the cupola, there is usually a line to buy tickets for that (not sold online).

>>>However, the advantage of pre-purchasing tickets is that you can avoid a multi-hour queue to purchase tickets.<<<

You can walk into the Vatican Post Office (left side of the piazza as you are facing St. Peter's) and buy entrance tickets for the Vatican Museums and avoid the line too. They do charge the 4€ fee that online booking charges. If tours are available, you can buy those there too. The booth at the opposite end from the stamp booth is where you buy them.

Whatever Kelly's exact query, s/he has disappeared.

Thank you all for you suggestions and links. I was in the middle of a move and getting down to the wire before we fly from the US to Italy on Tues. I think we are going to purchase the entrance tickets online and download an audio guide. Rick Steve's has one have any of you ever used an audio guide? Good/Bad? I think a 3 hour tour of the museum might be to much for my 9 yr old so I'm going to save the tour for the Colesseum . Thank you again for your suggestions.

Be sure to read:

http://www.roninrome.com/%20sites-an...re-book-or-not

and

http://www.roninrome.com/%20sites-an...atican-museums

We had great luck, albeit in October rather than June, of not pre-booking, going to St. Peters first (cupola then the rest of the cathedral) and visiting the Vatican in the afternoon. No lines for us. Ron-in-Rome has some good advice on the topic (linked above).

My TR:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...log-photos.cfm

Funny, I booked online for the end of May. When I got to the museums (our tickets were for 12:30pm), there was NO line for buying regular tickets, but those of us who made reservations stood in line for 10-15 minutes. Of course, I didn't realize the non-reservations lines were so short, because you actually have to go upstairs to purchase them, right outside the actual entrance into the exhibits.

I have downloaded Rick Steves free audioguides for almost every site in Italy. Highly recommend them! And they are free!

>>>Rick Steve's has one have any of you ever used an audio guide?<<<

On ITunes free and maps of the sites you can print to take with you. I haven't used it for the Vatican, but have used it for Pompeii. He has a set itinerary for Pompeii (and map) that you couldn't quite follow because one of the buildings had collapsed and certain streets were blocked off. I carried a splitter so a friend that was with me could share. That was annoying in Pompeii as she tended to keep walking off. Probably wouldn't be much of a problem in a crowded museum.