Vatican tour
 

I would like to book a Vatican tour. I want to do one of those who skip the line. Any suggestions?

The Vaticans own tours skip the line as does simply booking your tickets directly with the Vatican. Are you really wanting a tour or just want to skip the line?

I want a tour and skip the line. I have been there before and I am taking my teenage kids now. It is better to have someone explain things to you. I checked in the Vatican website and they are sold out for the dates that I need.

The tours that include St. Peter's Basilica sell out quickly, but it's very unusual for the tours of the Museums (including the Sistine Chapel) to sell out. To check this, I just looked for a tour for four people, and see that there's availability for every day for the rest of May.

The tour that includes the Basilica is sold out for the next few days, but it's available nearly every day after that, except Wednesdays, when it isn't offered, because of the Papal audience. I'm not sure why you're seeing sold-out dates.

Are you looking at dates after mid-July? Tickets are available only two months in advance.

... and if you have a Museum tour, you can go right into the Basilica on your own at the end of the tour (from the Sistine Chapel).

I am a museum hound and have spent many, many hours on my own in the Vatican Museums. However, when visiting with my sister in 2006 we used Context Rome and with my daughter in 2014, Through Eternity Tours. Context Rome was good and usually highly recommended on this board however I felt that Through Eternity Tours was far better. Of course, it always depends on the guide.
The Vatican Museum also offers skip-the-line tours but I haven't tried using them (they also offer a Vatican Garden Tour and a combination Museums & Garden tour).

(And remember - avoid Wednesday!)

Which website are you checking that is showing availability? I'm looking at the first week in June

I don't know how many people are in your group, and that would affect availability. I did my check with four people. I went to the Vatican Museums official web page. I hadn't looked at June, just the next week (last week in May). Here is the situation for June:

https://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va...action=booking

At the moment, there is availability for the 1st through the 6th of June, but not on the 7th, 8th, or 9th.

There's actually more availability for the tour that includes St. Peter's Basilica, which is unusual. You might want to consider that one.

https://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va...endarioMensile

Finally, if you're available on a Friday evening, there are openings on every Friday in June.

https://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va...endarioMensile

This is an ideal time to visit, as it's less crowded. The tour includes the Museums and the Sistine Chapel, but not the Basilica. If you want to visit the Basilica, you can do it before the Friday evening tour. The Basilica closes at 7 PM, and the first evening tour begins at 8 PM.

If you want to change the number of people, click on "Online Ticket Office" and start over.

Absolute agreement with Context Tours. Our tour leader had a degree in some kind of museum management. The group was small, maybe 6-8 people, and we saw all the highlights. She got us seats in the Sistine Chapel. She told us the history of the chapel before hand and just gave us time to savor the experience. Definitely recommend