2idocs

Returning to Rome in May of 2022 & taking some first time visitors with us.

Wondering what the Fodor's expert advise for tickets that allow avoiding the bigger crowds?

1. Guided Colosseum tour that includes the underground/arena floor. (maybe Palatine Hill as well).

2. Earliest Vatican tour possible. Is there still a breakfast tour? I'd favor whatever tour gets us to the Sistine Chapel the earliest, since we've seen the Vatican Museum multiple times already.

Thanks

annhig

This is the official [and therefore cheapest] ticket site for the colosseum. For €22 it is possible to buy a guided tour to the main sites of the Colosseum which also includes entry to the rest of the Colosseum, the Forum and Palatine Hill and is valid for 2 days, so you can spread your visit out. Presumably the same tickets will be available for May 2022.

> Full Experience ticket + Underground and Arena didactic tour: Full ticket € 22,00 / Reduced ticket € 2.00 + € 10,00 visit + € 2,00 booking fee / Free ticket and visit for children under 6 (on sale from 21 June 2021 at 4.00 pm and valid from June 26th to September 30th, 2021)Valid 2 days from first use, it allows one entrance with didactic tour to the Colosseum and the Underground (about 60'), one entrance to the Palatine Forum area and SUPER sites. Colosseum entrance from "Sperone Valadier"<

https://www.coopculture.it/en/colosseo-e-shop.cfm

And here is the link to the official Vatican site including a breakfast tour which includes breakfast afterwards and free access to the museums; €52 each but probably a lot cheaper than alternatives:

https://tickets.museivaticani.va/hom...appyHour-Musei

Hope this helps., 2idocs.

2idocs

Thanks.

Are the tours you link significantly different than booking thru Viator or WalksOfItaly? Or are they just 3rd party vendors offering the same experience?
Guided in English?
Does it allow for skipping the line? I've seen some really long lines in past trips!

annhig

The official tours should allow you to skip the line as they are for a specific time. You present yourself at the designated entrance and you are allowed in past all the hoi poloi waiting outside, at least that's always how it's worked for me. They are run by the site itself and tend to be cheaper than other options.

I've never done a tour with Walks of Italy [an independent company] but people here speak highly of them. They do their own tours whereas SFAIK Viator is a reseller. it will make an extra charge for someone else's tour so you're better off booking with the original eg Walks of Italy. A reputable tour organiser will specify the language in which the tour is being conducted or should answer your question about this promptly.

looking at the Walks of Italy site, they seem to offer the same early tour of the Vatican plus breakfast but for about 2x the price.

https://www.walksofitaly.com/vatican-tours/

Traveler_Nick

It's the other way around. Viator is a third party. The official tours are the official tours. Normally I'm fairly sure you can book an English time but at the moment who knows.

The lines are normally people without tickets. Even on the free day I've walked into the Forum area but it meant being at the gate before opening. The same day a couple of hours later and the lines went on for quite a bit.

annhig

<<The lines are normally people without tickets. Even on the free day I've walked into the Forum area but it meant being at the gate before opening. The same day a couple of hours later and the lines went on for quite a bit. >>

The first time we went to Rome with our kids, [approx 15 years ago] received Fodors wisdom was that the best place to buy tickets was at the entrance to the Palatine Hill, advice which proved spot on. The second time, about 5 years later, we managed to pick up tickets at the forum entrance without trouble, though there were long queues as ever at the Colosseum. It will be interesting to see what the situation is post covid when spending time queuing for tickets in a long line is one of the last things anyone wants to be doing.

Mento12

Both the Vatican and the Colosseum should be visited during the week, at opening time ...

Falcio

This is one of the great mysteries of life: what line are Americans always trying to skip?

There is the line to purchase tickets, and obviously all those who have already purchased tickets online on the official site "skip" that line. Queueing to purchase a ticket you already have in your hand would be quite odd.

Then there is the Security line and obviously nobody skips it. After security checks you are inside.
So, where should this mysterious third line end? What do you expect to find at the end of this line?

I am curious because it works: the web is full of re-sellers that offer absolutely normal tickets at inflated prices, boasting they are "skip the line tickets" as if they were somehow better than the other tickets purchased in advance.

2idocs

I'm not referring to either of these lines.

During our last visit to the Vatican, we arrived at opening with ticket pre-purchased.
The long hallway that marks the Vatican Museum was 1 solid mass of people, shoulder-to-shoulder and moved at a snail's pace. It felt like I was leaving the World Cup Finals at the same time as the other 80K fans, and did not make for an enjoyable visit.
Same with the Colosseum.

Since we are taking first time visitors, I want their memory to be of all the great things they saw, not the press of the crowds trampling them if they pause to look at something that interests them.
We're going off-season & mid-week which should help, but any advantage to visit with hundreds instead of thousands is what I was looking for.

alandavid

[QUOTE=2idocs;17292291...The long hallway that marks the Vatican Museum was 1 solid mass of people, shoulder-to-shoulder and moved at a snail's pace. It felt like I was leaving the World Cup Finals at the same time as the other 80K fans, and did not make for an enjoyable visit.....[/QUOTE]We had the same experience. I was pinched in between 2 guides speaking 2 different languages, & could not move more than a few inches at a time.

But in visiting one of the most popular tourist sites in the world, which was not originally designed for visitors, one has to expect crowds.

It's a tough dilemma: These sites deserve to be accessible to all income levels, so its not fair to jack the price up to reduce crowds, but there are definitely too many people at one time.
Can't really go 24 hours/day.
Maybe offer more options to pay a premium feel to get after-hours access? I know they do this a little already