ellen75005

Greetings Fodorites,

My husband and I will be in Rome on November 9 & 10 at the tail end of a trip to northern and central Italy. I've read the threads on this forum about visiting the Sistine Chapel, but most have been during the summer months. My question is, even in early November, should we expect crowds and long lines? Would we have a significantly better experience by spending $200 on a guided tour? The 7:30 a.m. Walks of Italy tour looks good and it gets good reviews, and I often like the information from a good tour guide vs. going it alone, but is it worth the splurge? Grazie - I'd really appreciate your thoughts.

Ellen

Alec

Whether $200 is money well spent is up to you. True, it's good to be first in the chapel before it opens to the public, but with good planning you should be able to spend time at leisure without feeling squashed (as it happens in main tourist season). I once went in January and while the chapel wasn't empty, you could sit on beaches around the walls and study the paintings at leisure (I suggest you take a good pair of binoculars). But this was before Pope Francis and significant rise in visitor numbers, and with a Holy Year being declared for 2016, I expect it to be quite busy even in November.

Alec

Ignore the bit about Holy Year. It doesn't start till December 8th 2015.

annhig

no need to buy an expensive private tour, IMO unless you are completely crowd averse. Whenever I've been [only in winter so comparable I think] it's been busy but not unbearable.

Do book your ticket in advance to the Vatican museums through the Vatican website, so you don't have to join any queue which happens to exist. you can also book a guided tour through them, or hire an audio guide when you get there, but that will mean that you can't then use the back door exit to the Sistine chapel to gain access to St Peter's without walking back round the vatican walls and going through security again.

annhig

sit on the beaches, eh, Alec?

That's a good trick!

bvlenci

I think that buying tickets to the Vatican Museums in advance is worth the slight extra cost, because it allows you to skip the tour. It may turn out that it wasn't necessary at that time of the year, but consider it insurance.

As far as when you're inside, Mondays tend to be more crowded than Tuesdays, because they get the overflow from the Sunday closing of the Vatican Museums. This would mean that the 10th might be better than the 9th. The early afternoon, when a lot of people are still at lunch, is probably the best time of day.

topeater

My husband and I were there in March this year and did the early tour with Walks of Italy. We had a great experience. The group was very small, about 10 people and the information was so helpful. I really loved that they had headphones, so you could wander around the Chapel to look at what you wanted, but you could still hear the tour guide giving information. It was great getting into the Chapel before everyone. At the end, you walk through it again after it has been opened for a while and the difference is amazing. The guide also provided so much information about what the different paintings represented. Having more information made the experience so much richer.

ellen75005

Thanks to all of you who have replied so far! bvlenci, I would never have thought that Tuesday would be better than Monday for the reason you suggest, but it makes sense.

annhig, "you can also book a guided tour through them, or hire an audio guide when you get there, but that will mean that you can't then use the back door exit to the Sistine chapel to gain access to St Peter's without walking back round the vatican walls and going through security again." I'm not sure I understand what would cause us to have to go through security again...could you elaborate? Thanks much.

Ellen

Alec

There is a long security line to enter St peter's Basilica, even though the line moves fairly fast. If you use the 'group-only' exit from Sistine Chapel, that brings you directly inside the secure area of St Peter's and you can walk straight into the basilica. But if you have a hired audio guide, you can't use that exit but have to return it to where you picked it up to get back your deposit, and then walk around the outside walls of the Vatican to St Peter's Square and join the line for security, which can add significantly to the timescale (45 to 60 min) as well as physical exhaustion.

annhig

thank you Alec for explaining that to Ellen. I suppose that once you had returned your audio guides to the front desk you could walk back through the museums to the Chapel and exit by the back door but that would probably take just as long, if not longer, than the walk round the walls.

sssteve

We did the "Pristine Sistine" tour with Walks of Italy a few months ago. We felt that it was worth every penny (89 Euros to be exact). At the end of the tour, as we walked out of the St. Peter’s Basilica, the line just to get into the church was about 4 hours. Being on the tour we entered with no line.
The tour includes the chapel (twice), the museums, and St. Peter’s Basilica.
If you can afford it - do it!

ellen75005

Thanks again to all of you who have weighed in on this question. We've decided to take the Walks of Italy tour. There seem to be so many advantages; knowledgeable guide and beating the lines to name a couple. We're really looking forward to it. We've reserved a hotel not far from the Vatican, so the early start won't be too rough!

sssteve

Ellen:
The meeting place for the tour is right in front of a cafe-bar where they serve coffee and food.

bvlenci

I hope you'll write up a trip report, or just a little summary of your trip, and mention how the tour went and whether the museum was crowded. I've been there only once in November, 20 years ago. It was a free Sunday, and the crowds were far beyond my comfort level. Since then, I would never consider going on a free Sunday (the last Sunday of each month, unless it falls on a Catholic feast day.) I also wouldn't ever again go on a Saturday, or in the summer on any day of the week.

I'm sure you know it Ellen, but for the sake of others, beating the lines doesn't require a tour. You can beat the lines by buying your tickets online at mv.vatican.va .

Alec

True, but once inside, you have to share the precious space with 100s of others at what is undoubtedly the high point of their Vatican visit. The only way to get Sistine Chapel almost to yourself is to book an early tour that lets you in before the generic public.

ellen75005

I will definitely write a trip report, at least about our visit to the Sistine Chapel. This is part of a three-week trip to Italy; we fly into Venice, then start a roots trip of sorts to Emilia Romagna (Parma, Modena, Bologna), Siena, Perugia and finally, Rome. We were lucky to obtain dual citizenship with Italy last year, so we're going to scout out areas that we might want to spend a few months in when we retire.

romeanditaly

Ellen in the vatican musem the line in november are not so long.
the best time to don't have line is around 2.00 pm,200 euro is little bit expensive you can find also a good tour guide 160/170 euros for the visit.
there are also the chance to buy a skipe line tickets for 25/27 euros per person.
enjoy Rome
Stefano

annhig

<<We were lucky to obtain dual citizenship with Italy last year, so we're going to scout out areas that we might want to spend a few months in when we retire. >>

how lovely, ellen.

good luck with your researches.

sssteve

ELLEN75005:

I would like to hear about the part of your trip which is to Emilia Romagna (Parma, Modena, Bologna), as I am planning a trip there myself. What are your plans in that area?

For anyone interested in the description of our visit to the Sistine Chapel (and the rest of Rome as well) it can be found in my following web page:

http://www.travel.stv77.com/cruise2015/cruisemed.html

It's ostensibly about a cruise from Barcelona to Rome, but the last third is about our visit in Rome at the end of the cruise.