Hello,

I have done the vatican sponsored tour of the museums 2 times and liked it both times. It is about 2 hours long and ends just before the Sistine Chapel. They give really great information about the artwork in the Chapel and you go through many of the most popular rooms like the map rooms, the tapestry rooms and the Rafael rooms. For us it is a perfect tour. Not too long and not too short.

For your first time there I would definitely suggest the tour. The museums are huge and you will want some sort of guidance. If you don't want to do the tour with the guide you might want to do the audio guide.

Donna

My daughter and I have just returned from 2 weeks in Italy. While in Rome we did 3 tours with Rome Walks -the Vatican Tour, Ancient Rome and a Twilight Walk. I cannot recommend them highly enough. On the Vatican Tour there were just 6 of us and it was with Guen, a very experienced and knowledgeable PdD art student. The tour was in the afternoon and went through the Vatican Museums and ended up in St Peter's at about 4.30pm. Guen gave us enough (but not too much!!) information and because there were only 6 of us it was easy to ask questions - and also easy to hear her! Friends went with a very large tour group and they didn't even dare go to the toilet because they would have lost their guide!!!

Hope this helps. This is my first reply on TripAdvisor.

With a 13 and 15 year olds you need a tourguide who would fascinate the teens and hold their attention. I know from personal experience that the docents at Rome Walks would be perfect for the job. It will cost more; however, the tour is at least four (4) hours long, includes the Vatican Museums, the Sistine and St. Peters. Money well spent, IMO.

I have to say my kids who are now 14 and 17 would get extremely bored on a 4 hour tour no matter how good the guide is. It is overload especially in a place like the vatican. I would suggest keeping the tour to about 2 hours, 3 at the most to keep the kids interested and happy. I have not used or heard of Rome Walks so I cannot comment on them.

donna

Hi Tudorsrule

We very recently (3 weeks ago) visited the Vatican, and did the Vatican run tour of the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums. The tour lasted just short of 2 hours, and covered the major highlights of the museum, etc. The guide was very knowledgable, the only criticism anyone in the group had was that we kept losing her in the crowd as she was so short! There were several teenagers in the group, and they all seemed to be interested in the tour. Language didnt seem to be an issue for anyone.

We'd definitely do the tour again, then probably head back to cover parts of the museum that were missed. This is where the guide book comes in handy! For us having the guide was brilliant, and really aided our experience.

The best thing about this tour is that you get to skip the long queue, a big positive!

Thanks so much everyone. I feel we will benefit from a tour but knowing my children, I guess I have agree with several posters that a 4-5 hr tour (regardless of the guide) would simply be too long. I think I will go with a Vatican tour for this site - a couple final questions on that

1. Does the Vatican tour (Museums including Sistine Chapel) end just outside the Sistine Chapel (presumably since nobody - including the guides) are allowed to talk once inside?

2. Are you able to 'double-back' to see any items in the Museums once the official tour is over (does the double-back need to be done before you enter the Sistine Chapel).

3. Any recommendations re: guide book to use?

Thanks for your feedback on Rome Walks. I was considering them for an Ancient Rome tour - but then saw several negative reviews. Now I don't know??? What was the Twilight tour like?

Once your are finished with the Vatican tour, you can see the Sistine Chapel and make your way back along the other arm of the Long March corriders back to the rest of the Vatican Museums and spend the rest of the day there visiting the rest of the enormous collection. I have done that and stayed until the Musem closed.

There are part of the Vatican Museums like th Painting Museum that the Tour doesn't even go near.

If we tour the Sistine Chapel and then the other areas you mention, can we still go back to the Sistine Chapel and leave through there (I understand that if you exit via the Sistine Chapel you will emerge in St. Peters Square? or at least 'somewhere close' to that so you don't have to walk around to the main St. Peters entrance and queue again)?

Vatican run tours - what line-up should we go to when we arrive (the web site seemed to mention we get the tickets after we pass through security)? I don't want to needlessly line-up outside if I don't have to.