My wife and I will be in Rome in May and would like to take a guided tour of the Vatican.
I don’t mind paying for an informative tour, or going in a group. I have seen Presto and Icon tours on the message boards. Any advice on which we should use?

If you are looking for a "once in a lifetime" experience and don't mind spending about $700 for 2 people, I absolutely recommend the after-hours private tour done by Helen Donnegan and Italy With Us.

We just returned and I'll be posting lots more about this in the next couple of days. It was FANTASTIC!!!

Sorry, can't spend $700.
Looking for more like $160 for 2.

We used vatican and beyond for a private tour for our family of 4. It may be a little more than your price, I'm not sure since we were more people, but it was worth every penny and then some. They use some slight of hand to avoid the lines, guides spoke completely fluent English (1 with an accent, 1 without) and even my 16 year old thought it was fabulous. We also used them for a 1/2 day tour of ancient Rome, which we all thought added tremendous meaning to what would have otherwise been a pile of rocks.

My husband and I are going to Rome in February and we are taking a Vatican tour with Angel Tours. They received good reveiws on Tripadvisor, and I saw at least one good review here.

I can recommend Context Rome for native English speakers with expertise at the Vatican Museums and St Peter's. Groups of not more than six, priced right in your range. Search on this forum for more recommendations -- Through Eternity, Three Millenia, other organizations have satisfied customers on Fodor's.

Make sure you the day you plan a tour is not on a Church holiday. Some parts are closed on those days including the famous chapel.

B,

I also used Context Rome for 2 tours, Arte Vatican, and Antique Rome. Excellent, like a seminar, groups limited to 6. I felt it was well worth the $.

You can also arrange a tour with the Vatican itself (and you get to skip the line). You can find the fax number on their website and they fax you back a confirmation. The only problem we had was that they faxed the confirmation back to us just a few days before our tour, so we were already in Italy. You might see if your hotel can arrange it, some friends did this with no problem. I can't remember what they charge exactly, but it was very reasonable, something like 25 euros each.

I have to say, the after hours tour was truly amazing. You can't imagine what it's like to be the only people in the Sistine Chapel. Well worth it, if you have the money or can cut back on something else.

We used Rome Walks and had a fantastic VAtican tour. www.romewalks.com

I was in Italy during Christmas and It was one of the most amazing vacations i have been on. We started our trip with a weekend in Rome and we did use Presto Tours. Our guide at the Vatican and the Colosseum was by far the smartest, most experienced and most knowledgable guide we have ever had in our many trips to Europe. His Name was Michael-about 50 yrs old i would say. Our experience with Presto was superb and i really do recommend them. Another bonus with Presto was that we skipped the long line which had to have been atleast 1 hour long. We walked right in and didn't have to wait at all.

As Ninkette wrote, you can arrange a tour of the museums and Sistine Chapel with the Vatican at a cost of about 23 euros, including admission. We did this last year and it was great. You skip the line, your guide is from the Vatican and the tours are excellent.

What many people do not know is that instead jumping through all of the hoops using the fax and hoping to find out if you got the tour a day before your desired time, you can email them and get an answer back quickly, usually in a day or two.

[email protected]

Send them # in party. Dates of desired visit (check Vatican website for open dates), names of attendees and language.

Vatican website...

http://www.vatican.va

Museum opening dates and hours...

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

Never go on the last Sunday of the month, it is free and therefore jam packed.

http://www.througheternity.com/
We really enjoyed their tour of the Vatican.