# [2008] Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel



## CarlK (Mar 14, 2008)

We are off to Italy in May, and I am waiting to hear whether we can get on one of the tours offered by the Vatican and, if not, I have checked out Context Tours.  But, I have heard that the crowds can be terrible -- although apparently some times of the day are better, or worse, than others.  Do the crowds detract from the experience?  Has anyone heard anything about the tour company, "Italy With Us" and their after-hours tour?  Thanks!
Carl


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## hibbeln (Mar 14, 2008)

With or without a tour, there will be crowds.  Last time we were there was during February (a few years back) which is the "slow" time supposedly, but it is always high time at the Vatican!  Figure that you will be practically cheek to cheek with lots of others in the Sistine Chapel, all looking up (which actually might help because you all kind of hold each other up because it can be awkward to stand there looking up and not eventually topple over!). 

We waited in line for our tickets, and it wasn't all that bad.  But we did a lot of research and went at the "right" time on the "right" day.  Read several guidebooks and get the inside scoop on how the "best" way to get your tickets is now.  I have heard people say they have waited hours in line for tickets (usually leaving one person as the sacrificial line-waiter).

A tour group might very well get you in faster by having pre-purchased tickets so you can line jump.  That alone might make it very worthwhile!

Also read in guidebooks how to get around the big line at the Coliseum (the line isn't actually to get in, it's to buy tickets).  We went to the Palatine Hill ticket office (a block away) and bought our combination tickets there and walked right past the Coliseum line (which was probably over an hour long at that point).  I'm sure there are new and different tricks now.  I heard that soon you will need a combo ticket to get into the Forum!  (It will be a combo Forum-Palatine Hill-Coliseum ticket).

Rick Steve's guidebooks tend to have good advice on this kind of thing.  Look for them in your bookstore or library.


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## bhodgson (Mar 14, 2008)

Go to fodors.com forum on Europe - they have all kinds of insights about sightseeing in Italy. We were there in June and the crowds were pretty extensive and we skipped the Vatican and Sistine Chapel. My sister in law was there in Oct with  tour off of a ship and said it was not too bad.  BIG THING- do not wear shorts or have bare sleeves - they are very anal about this and have signs posted everywhere - you will be turned away from most of the churches in Italy. They can also probably answer your question about the tour company. Fodors was a great help to us in our planning for our month long excursion last summer


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## PStreet1 (Mar 14, 2008)

We were there in April--low season.  The crowds were impressive!  I can't imagine high season.  The Sistene Chapel is incredibly hot:  small area, many, many bodies, no air circulation.  I seriously recommend your getting one of those little folding fans (like Aunt Pitty Pat in Gone with the Wind) for your purse.  I guarantee you'll use it and be grateful.

I also recommend buying a book on the chapel now and actually studying it.  When you're in there, it's a long way up and you really can't see very well--even if you were there alone, it's hard to see.  If you've actually done a bit of homework first, you'll get much more from the experience.  Having a guide telling you what you are to look for won't, in my opinion, be much different from reading from a guide book and then peering up.  Study a bit first.

On that same subject, the art you'll be seeing in the Vatican is, of course, religious art.  If you haven't done a little studying about styles and periods, all those saints and madonas start to look like "same picture, different colors."  A little study helps aleviate that feeling a lot.


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## CarlK (Mar 15, 2008)

I just heard back from the Vatican tour office and, for anyone thinking of this option, they do not take reservations until one month prior to the tour date.  One advantage to this tour is, apparently, you do not have to line up.

Pat, the idea of a fan is a good one, but if it means I will have to carry a purse, then I think I will just sweat. 

The Fodor's forums are very informative, and in fact it was on the Italy forum that I read about the after-hours tour.  One poster gave it a great review, but I am having a hard time justifying the cost, so I was hoping a TUGer might have gone on, or heard about, this tour so I could get another opinion. 

Carl


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## PStreet1 (Mar 15, 2008)

Maybe one of those little battery operated ones that hang around the neck on a string--the kind Walgreens sells?  Seriously, it's gonna be hot!


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## MULTIZ321 (Mar 15, 2008)

Carl,

Another option for Sistine Chapel Tours - http://www.prestotours.com/vaticantickets.html

Also here's a thread from Rick Steve's - The Vatican

A good read if you haven't already done so, is Michaelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by King Ross.  A more scholarly book that may be a bit more difficult to track down is Michaelangelo: The Sistine Chapel Ceiling by Charles Seymour Jr.

See this link from the Jesuit Guest Bureau for visitors who want to see the vatican - http://www.sjweb.info/curia/vatican.cfm


Enjoy your trip!

Richard


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## pwrshift (Mar 15, 2008)

You might want to rent _The Agony And The Ecstasy_ movie ... done in 1965 I found it very interesting after seeing the Vatican and Sistine ... but wished I had seen it beforehand.

The trip to the vatican museum and St. Peter's is an exhausting day and the Chapel is the last thing you get to ... but a guard told me there was a shorter 'inside' way to get there if you didn't want to see the entire museum. Unfortunately I didn't realize who huge the museum is and it was packed with no air cond...people pushing, and one even tried to take something out of one of our carry cases.

St. Peter's is the largest church in the world and after leaving the museum we had to line up to get into it too.

Official tours will make your day go a lot faster and avoid lineups. Rick Steve's has them too, but perhaps only for those who sign up for the whole tour incl. hotel/food/admissions/etc.

Don't miss the Vatican ... I'm not Catholic but enjoyed every exhausting minute of the day.

Brian


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## Laurie (Mar 16, 2008)

Can't say anything about the tours - I'm one of those people who, in the absence of any pre-planning, stood in a long line on a hot day, and then squoze thru shoulder-to-shoulder with the hordes. Even so, for me it was still worth it, in spite of the discomfort - I was much more in awe than I expected to be. So, one way or another, I hope you get in to see it.


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## Jimster (Mar 16, 2008)

*Vatican*

First, I would go to the slowtrav.com bbs and check the italy section.  You will get more and better information there than any place else on the web.  Second, you might consider the Scavi tour too which goes under the Vatican and looks at the tomb of St. Peter.  The advice others gave here is good but there have been changes within the last year about tours and registration with the Vatican.  I've been there twice in the last 3 years with the latest being last January.


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## radmoo (Mar 16, 2008)

*Another vote for Rick Steves*

We were in Rome last August and had the Rick Steves book with us at all times.  What a godsend.  We purchased the Roma Pass which is available at info kiosks located throughout the city.  It gives you admission to 2 museums and then discounts thereafter.  It also can be used on subways and buses which we used with ease.  
We did the Coloseum and Forum in the AM, then took bus to Vatican City, had lunch and did the Vatican museum in the afternoon.  I'd say we waited approx 40 mins in line but it moved.  The museum was crowded and I don't think there is any way around that.
I'd also HIGHLY recommend a visit to Borghese Gallery.  You must reserve tix in advance and it can be done online. Again, another Rick Steves tip.
Have a great trip!!!


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## MULTIZ321 (Mar 16, 2008)

The Borghese Museum Official Website with ticket information
http://www.ticketeria.it/ticketeria/borghese-eng.asp



Richard


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## lynne1956 (Mar 16, 2008)

We were there last June and took a tour that started at 12:30pm-no lines at that time of day!  Our friends who took the early morning tour still had to wait over an hour to get in.  I had written ahead to the Vatican and got the Scavi tour (the archeological remains underneath St. Peter's) for the morning, so we needed the Vatican Museum tour in the afternoon.  It was a long day but very interesting.  We hadn't booked a tour of the Coliseum ahead of time, but there were many guides outside who were targeting Americans.  How did they know we were American?    The Coliseum tour got us past some of the lines, but we still had to wait at the Security checkpoint.  Have a great time in Rome!
Lynne


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## Jimster (Mar 16, 2008)

*Borghese Museum*

Yes, the Borghese Museum is great.  My word of advice is to try and book the first tour in the morning because they get behind and you have to wait.  If you get the Rick Steves book (a good investment) also go to the Rick Steves website and print out the comments and suggestions sections for the Italy book.www.ricksteves.com  Often Rick makes mistakes (due primarily to schedule changes, closings, publication deadlines), the comments section adds additional input about his book that may save you a great deal of time and money.  For example, I remember one of these related to a subway stop that had been closed.  Rick advised you stop at one stop but since the publication date the stop had been closed.  So the reader added a comment and suggestion to that effect.  Finally, if you are a Rick Steves fan, he prints new books each year sometimes starting in November of the prior year.  Check his website for when the next year book will be published because he usually runs a week or two week long special on the newest publication from the time it comes out.  If you go to the site, you will figure it out.  This is usually a $5-10 savings on the books.  If you buy enough of his books, this is a good deal.


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## CarlK (Mar 17, 2008)

Thanks for all the feedback and the great information -- very helpful!  We have decided to treat ourselves and take the after-hours tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel (http://www.italywithus.biz/).  I don't know how they do it but they have a maximum of 30 people with one guide for every 10 people and they are able to get access after hours.  I am waiting to hear back about the Scavi tour (http://www.vatican.va), and I plan to make reservations at the Borghese Gallery.  Jimster, you were right about the possibility of mistakes in guide books.  After checking Rick Steves' website for updates to his Italy 2008 book I found that he had the wrong phone number listed for the reservations system for the Accademia, the Uffizi, etc. in Florence.  For anyone who is interested, the correct number, when calling from the US, is 011-39-055-294-883.  However, I have also found a website for reservations to the Uffizi:
(http://www.b-ticket.com/b-ticket/uffizi/default.aspx).

Thanks again.  All this planning is a lot of work!

Carl


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## nerodog (Mar 22, 2008)

*the tours of St. Pauls are great...*

hi, I did the St Pauls cathedral tour and it was very informative.. it was a guide right at the front of the cathedral... I dont know if that is still current.We walked around the SIstine Chapel on our own and read our guidebook... I remember thinking how small it was inside. Beautiful but I had imagined it to be much bigger  before I had visited.


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## Jimster (Mar 23, 2008)

*St. Peter's*

For the record, I think you mean St. Peter's cathedral.  St. Paul's is in London.


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## nerodog (Mar 23, 2008)

*you are right, LOndon on  the mind !!*

Thanks Jimster... Too much of LOndon on   the mind for next month !!!


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## MULTIZ321 (Apr 3, 2008)

Carl,

I just found this additional information about Vatican tours at the Lonely Planet Thorn Birds Italy Forum site
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1583685&tstart=0

Perhaps too late for you to use since you've already made reservations, but I thought others might also find the info useful.


Richard


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## CarlK (Apr 3, 2008)

Thanks Richard!  We were just confirmed today for the Excavations (Scavi) Tour below St. Peter's Basilica.  This tour has had positive reviews on the Fodor's Italy Forum.  For anyone else interested in this tour, here is the link:
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/i...uffscavi_doc_gen-information_20040112_en.html

Hope that long URL works!

Carl


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## Jimster (Apr 3, 2008)

*Scavi tour*

I think you will enjoy the Scavi tour.  Here is one other piece of advise about that.  As you are near the exit of the tour, you will come into the area of the papal vaults.  The first time I was there I merely looked a bit so the second time I went back and was surprised to see a small gathering of people at one end.  I immediately recognized what they were gathered for- the vault of Pope John 22nd.  I suggest that as you exit the scavi tour and as you entered the vault area (you can't miss it), you look for the tomb of Pope John if you are interested.  I am not catholic but I still thought it was worth the look.  If you are catholic, I'm sure you will too.


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## MULTIZ321 (Apr 11, 2008)

Carl,

I just received an email from Rick Steves travel company about Free Italy Audio Tours

Perhaps you can use them for your trip.


Richard


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## CarlK (Apr 11, 2008)

Amazing!  And, you can't beat the price.

Thanks Richard.

Carl


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## Jimster (Apr 11, 2008)

*RS Tours*

Just for the record RS offers several free ipod tours of Versailles, Paris, etc as well.   Again the price is free.


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## gresmi (Jan 13, 2010)

Would not suggest skipping the Sistine Chapel or Vatican Museum for that matter. We did it the old fashioned way - got off the plane, dropped our stuff at the unit, and headed directly for the Vatican. Yes, we waited in line in the morning. When we got out of the entire Vatican, the lines were much shorter. May want to consider going at least late morning or early afternoon. Don't deny yourself the Sistine Chapel or Vatican Museum, for that matter. You've gone around the world to get there.


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## DeniseM (Jan 13, 2010)

Please note that this thread/question is from March 2008.


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## gresmi (Jan 14, 2010)

[Rude remark deleted - please review the TUG posting rules regarding courtesy. - DeniseM Moderator]


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## Denise (Jan 14, 2010)

*Scavi Tour*

We did the Scavi tour last March and it was one of the highlights of our trip. We had written ahead for a reservation but had not heard back by the time we had left for the trip. We just showed up at the office the day we arrived and they put us on the next tour (it was "off season/March).


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