Skip the Line: Semi Private Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel Afternoon Tour

Cancelled in an email night before. Us and other couples showed up to their no show. So they squeezed us in to another tour at 3:45. Our $400 plus semiprivate skip the line tour for no more than eight people was 15 people who stood in line for an hour waiting to get in. Our British tour guide with a fake Italian accent then spent twenty minutes detailing the replica of Peter’s boat. Then we stood outside in the sun for another half hour while she explained the painting we would see inside of the museum using her umbrella as a pointer on posters outside the entrance. Finally we were inside, but we had wasted so much time getting there they closed the chapel so that never happened. It couldn’t have been any worse. That included us hanging out near the Vatican for six hours waiting for the 3:45 group. Try to talk to them; forget it. They’re sorry. We had previously toured with our kids in private that included underground the Vatican and wanted to repeat what we had seen. No such luck. LOOK ELSEWHERE

Not the most professional tour. We were told IN WRITING that this was to be no more than 12 people and to be 15 minutes early for check in. We arrive at the check-in spot 20 minutes early and no one from the company arrived until 5 minutes before we were to leave. Only 6 (3 in my group and 3 from anther) u”had signed up for the 8:30am tour. When the tour company finally showed they asked our names and then proceeded to ignore us and stand for 15 more minutes while they tried making phone calls. After much proding, Lydia finally decided to take us to our tour guide at the museum and rudely told us to just go ahead and write what we want to in our review online. Evidently they did not want to tour with a small group and convinced us with the 9am group and made our group 18 people large. We know this is true because we compared our booking info from our phones .That makes a HUGE difference when trying to navigate, not get lost, and communicate with your tour guide. Our tour guide was pleasant enough, but tried diverting us through the museum to see plates and flatware to avoid the crowds rather than stick to the main concourse. Very disappointing. Doing my own research before hand, there were so many interesting stories and facts just never talked about on this tour. If I could do it over, I’d buy the tickets myself and tour on my own. Stay away from this tour company. Late, rude, and only care about getting your money.

The private arrangements is the way to go. Our guide was SUPERB in every sense of the word. She knew her history and gave our group (6 of us) a world of insight into everything. This is the only way to go!

The visit also included a. Skip the line for St Peter's Basilica. Our guide was very interesting, we were able to enjoy the main rooms with the Raphaels, the Sistine Chapel and especially access without queuing to the basilica. It's incredible because no photo captures the immensity of the places and the richness of the collections.

Good tour, very thorough. Took the tour with an English speaking tour guide and you could tell that he was extremely knowledgeable, however his Italian accent was super thick so unfortunately it was difficult to understand a lot of what he was saying.

Wonderful Vatican Museums Tour Our Guide Eugene was very knowledgeable, through the works of the Vatican museums, he made us feel the essence of renaissance, Michelangelo, Raphaello, but also the classic sculptures of ancient Rome. He told us things that made us really enjoy the tour and the marvelous Sistine Shapel. Highly recommended tour. Great