Sounds like you had a great time. Thanks for the line update. Always great to hear first hand experiences. I hope you will do a full trip report when you return home.

Donna

>>I've seen the line go all the way down the street and around the corner.<<

When? Every report on TA this year is that there have been small queues.

You were very lucky, zzmom! We missed doing the scavi tour, but did a tour of the museum, and explored St Peters by ourselves. Enjoyed everyone minute.

Update on the line: we were there of a Saturday at about 10.30 a month ago, and the line was very long and slow moving. I'd say (at an estimate) that we would have waited about 1.5 hours to get in, and the queue was getting longer. Not too bad I guess, but considering the heat it wouldnt have been much fun! We felt very lucky that we were able to skip the queue (we went straight in when we flashed our tour booking tickets).

Cheers,

I visited the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's this June and had absolutely no line (went on Tuesday, June 9 at 1 pm). Actually I didn't encounter lines at any of the major Rome attractions. I was in Rome from June 7-11. I encountered the same lack of lines in Florence too (even to see the David).

We had a line of about an hour in June. I think it was on Monday the 15th.

Hi, we also have the scavi tour booked. Do you mean that after the scavi tour, you just go straight ino St. Peter's? Do you have to have a ticket to get into the Vatican, and if there is a line, do you have to wait? Do you have to wait if you want the guided tour? I'd appreciate any info, there doesn't seem to be a lot on the scavi.

"The Vatican" for most people means 1. the Vatican Museums (including the Sistine Chapel); 2. St. Peter's Basilica; 3. the Scavi tour of the excavations under the basilica.

After the Scavi tour, you can enter the basilica without going through the security line.

If you want to visit the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, it's a separate ticket. You can book a timed-entry ticket to the museums to avoid waiting in line (although reports are that the lines are short or non-existent this year, particularly in the afternoon) or you can book a guided tour of the museums, either the museums' own tour or a tour offered by an independent operator. In either case, you also skip whatever line there may be.

Yea personally I absolutely hate waiting in long lines also and having a guide really enhanced the experience.

when i visited, there was a large cue for St Peters, but nothing for the museum. What did annoy me were the touts for tours saying " you can skip the cue" etc to many unwitting tourists who believed the cue that they saw in front of them was " The Cue" to get into the museum.