Rome vatican tour

[frcia]

Has anyone toured the Vatican lately? If so, can you still by-pass the line with a private tour guide? If so does anyone have any recommendations?

 

Thanks

FC

[cruisemom42]

There are a few agencies that are "legally" allowed by the Vatican to skip the line. Others will tell you that you can skip the line, but in reality they are just having someone else from their agency stand in line for you while you are doing something else nearby (usually St. Peters).

 

Either way, the end result is about the same.

 

If you book the Vatican's own tour of the museum, you will also be able to skip the line for substantially less than for a private tour.

 

Finally, if you book your own reservations in advance through the Vatican (this service was started last year), you can also skip the line.....if you prefer, as I do, to do the museum on your own.

[chipmaster]

Has anyone toured the Vatican lately? If so, can you still by-pass the line with a private tour guide? If so does anyone have any recommendations?

 

Thanks

FC

 

 

This past summer we did private tour who secured a private guide. The lines at the time were 100 meter or more longer wrapped around the building. We met our guide across the street, got our radio receivers and walked in thru a second line with no wait. Then waited 5' for our guide to purchase our group ticket and began our tour.

 

Didn't at all appear our guide had/was waiting in line for us.

 

Unless you have a long afternoon to leisurely stroll the museum a guide is a good idea as the place is simply HUGE

[frcia]

If you have the name of the legal tour operators, could you email them to me?

frcia@aol.com

 

Thanks

[Aramis]

We did a Viator tour, met at their location (as our hotel was around the corner) and were dropped off 100m from the entrance to the Vatican Museum and walked straight in, at no time did our guide talk to anyone other than security and the ticket area staff inside the museum. The queue was a few hundred metres long and this was first thing in the morning (Summer).

[cruisemom42]

We did a Viator tour, met at their location (as our hotel was around the corner) and were dropped off 100m from the entrance to the Vatican Museum and walked straight in, at no time did our guide talk to anyone other than security and the ticket area staff inside the museum. The queue was a few hundred metres long and this was first thing in the morning (Summer).

 

Viator is not a local tour operator; they are the "middle man" so to speak in many countries and they deal with several different local agencies in Rome. It's the local company name that you need to know.

[cruisemom42]

If you have the name of the legal tour operators, could you email them to me?

frcia@aol.com

 

Thanks

 

I no longer know the answer to this as I haven't taken one of the private Vatican tours for several years (the last time I went I did it on my own). I would post your question on the Rome forum of tripadvisor (sister site of CC). I know they have local experts who can provide the info.

[mayor1777]

We are using MyVaticanTour.com Has anyone used them???

 

Ernie/Kimber

[Aramis]

Viator is not a local tour operator; they are the "middle man" so to speak in many countries and they deal with several different local agencies in Rome. It's the local company name that you need to know.

 

 

GREENLINE is the company:

I was pointing out that there are options that do jump the queue and what we had done and that we had not experienced any delays, holdups and the likes as per your comments. I only STATED that we had used them without a problem or waiting.

[cruisemom42]

GREENLINE is the company:

I was pointing out that there are options that do jump the queue and what we had done and that we had not experienced any delays, holdups and the likes as per your comments. I only STATED that we had used them without a problem or waiting.

 

I did not mean any offense, I just wanted others reading this to understand that Viator may work with several different local agents, and not all local agents are the same. For example, I booked a walking tour through Viator last November and was very unhappy with the way it was handled (canceled with no notice) by the local company. Viator then rebooked me on a different tour with a different local operator. So, while I might recommend the second operator, I definitely would not recommend the first.

 

Also, I don't believe I said anything in my post about hold ups or delays. :confused:

 

Different tour companies employ different methods of "skipping the line" but for the customer they seem to work out about the same; i.e., not waiting in the long ticket line. I've only read a few posts indicating otherwise; most people are happy with the private tour operator they chose.

[Aramis]

I agree regarding Viator, we did 4 tours with them and the Vatican was the only one which I would re-do as price, guide and speed were excellent.

 

The Rome by Night with Dinner was a bus covered in advertising (very hard to see the sights and take photos) and the food - interesting. Orvieto and Assisi was great but poor organising in Assisi meant we waited around for our operator and then had to leave in a hurry to the bus without any free time, and Christian Rome again had too much waiting around. On all occassions only about 15 people.