Vatican Tours

[DCParky]

I'm sure there have been alot of posts of this, but forgive me for asking again... I'm taking a Transatlantic in December and will be spending a couple of days in Rome before the cruise leaves. Can anyone recommend a group tour of the Vatican that you would recommend? We're looking to see the Vatican and the the Sistene Chapel... Thanks!

[euro cruiser]

Why not simply take one of the Vatican tours? They're the in-house experts.

 

On the Vatican Museums web site you can see the different tours they offer and buy your tickets in advance, avoiding the line. Web site here: http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do?action=booking&codiceLivelloVisita=4&step=1

[kuldalai]

On the vatican website pre-book the escorted Vatican Gardens Tour. You get taken into the delightful gardens then released into the Vatican Museum without extra charge and you will also get into the Capella Sistina.

 

The only way to get into the Vatican gardens is by booking the escorted tour . After all this which avoids queuing, duck around the corner to St Peters Basilica and you can climb up to the top of the Dome for a reasonable fee .

[luckybecky]

Why not simply take one of the Vatican tours? They're the in-house experts.

 

On the Vatican Museums web site you can see the different tours they offer and buy your tickets in advance, avoiding the line. Web site here: http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do?action=booking&codiceLivelloVisita=4&step=1

 

Does anyone know how strictly they adhere to the admission time on reserved tickets? (Not for guided tours, I realize those are at fixed times. I'm just talking about admission tickets)

 

I want to book our admission tickets in advance so we can avoid the line, but I'm not sure what time to choose. If we miss our time frame, what happens?

 

We dock at 8am on a Saturday and have an overnight stay. We are planning to take the train to the Termini station, make our way to our hotel just north of the Colosseum to drop off an overnight bag, and then proceed to the Vatican. Any suggestions about what kind of time frame we should consider for booking our Vatican tickets?

 

Thanks for any help.

[euro cruiser]

I want to book our admission tickets in advance so we can avoid the line, but I'm not sure what time to choose. If we miss our time frame, what happens?

 

We dock at 8am on a Saturday and have an overnight stay. We are planning to take the train to the Termini station, make our way to our hotel just north of the Colosseum to drop off an overnight bag, and then proceed to the Vatican. Any suggestions about what kind of time frame we should consider for booking our Vatican tickets?

I think I'd back into the decision by deciding how much time I want to spend at the Vatican museums. They close at 6 PM; unless you want to spend more than six hours there, I'd go for an early afternoon time frame and not pressure yourself any more than necessary.

 

As for arriving to your hotel, it will be faster and easier to get to the Colosseum area by getting off the train at Roma Ostiense station (two before Termini) and taking the metro two stops to the Colosseum.

[luckybecky]

I think I'd back into the decision by deciding how much time I want to spend at the Vatican museums. They close at 6 PM; unless you want to spend more than six hours there, I'd go for an early afternoon time frame and not pressure yourself any more than necessary.

 

As for arriving to your hotel, it will be faster and easier to get to the Colosseum area by getting off the train at Roma Ostiense station (two before Termini) and taking the metro two stops to the Colosseum.

 

Thanks very much for the reply and the advice about getting to our hotel. :)

 

The reason we are thinking of doing the Vatican first is that we most want to see it and St. Peter's, so we want to put that at the top of our list. After we have spent however much time we need there, then we plan to cross the river and do a walking tour of the Spanish Steps, Trevi fountain, pantheon, Piazza Navona: roughly working our way back towards our hotel. We figure we will just go until we are worn out (with plenty of stops for good Italian wine, food and gelato of course! :D) and when we can't go anymore, head back to our hotel for the night.

 

But I agree with you that I don't want to stress out about making it there in time. A noon admission ticket should give us plenty of time to get there without too much trouble, don't you think? If we arrive early, we could use that time to look around the square or whatever. What would happen if we arrive late? Would our ticket be forfeited? Is there any grace period for tardiness?

 

Thanks again for sharing your expertise!

 

Becky

[euro cruiser]

I haven't had any personal experience with showing up late but I'm sure someone else who has will chime in.

 

If you get over there early you could spend that time in the basilica (St. Peter's) before heading over to the museums.

[cruisemom42]

From what I've read here and on other sites, the Vatican Museum will be a little lenient with the reserved time, but I wouldn't push it too much. In other words, I wouldn't show up an hour late and still expect to get in. It might happen, but they'd be perfectly justified in not allowing it, since the next "set" of reservations would start at that time. (In fact, if it were me, I wouldn't expect to get in if I was more than 30 minutes late.....)

[luckybecky]

From what I've read here and on other sites, the Vatican Museum will be a little lenient with the reserved time, but I wouldn't push it too much. In other words, I wouldn't show up an hour late and still expect to get in. It might happen, but they'd be perfectly justified in not allowing it, since the next "set" of reservations would start at that time. (In fact, if it were me, I wouldn't expect to get in if I was more than 30 minutes late.....)

 

Thanks again Cruise Mom and Euro Cruiser for the advice. I don't plan to be late (in fact, I am the kind of person who is always early to everything!) but just want to be prepared and know what to expect for anything that might happen. I guess we will go with Euro Cruiser's suggestion and book an early afternoon ticket. That way even if we run late getting to Rome, we can still make our ticket time.

 

I can't wait for this! Been wanting to go to Rome for my entire life, and now I'm trying to squeeze every possible minute out of my 24 hours there!

 

Thanks y'all!