We took part in an organised full day tour of the Vatican with Romearound tours, who we found to be very good. The tour included the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica / Square. It also included free tickets to the general audience with The Pope, as this was being held on the day we went (Wednesday)

You need a ticket to attend the General Audience with the Pope, although these are free if you contact the vatican, or if you organise them through a tour company. After passing through security (bags are scanned, metal detectors are used etc) you pass into St Peter's Square. Tickets should be checked at this point but as we were part of a group they didn't check them.

When you get to the square there will be several sections of chairs all over the square, separated by aisles / corridors lined with wooden fences. The Pope will travel down these aisles in his Popemobile - so try to get as close to them as you can. We were lucky and managed to get 3 seats at the end of the 2nd row - so had a good view.

At the start of the audience The Pope will appear from beside St Peter's basilica and travel around down these aisles waving to the crowd, before moving up to a podium at the back of the square. From here he will talk to the audience for a while in several languages.

We only stayed for 5 minutes once the Pope started speaking as this was all the time we had before our tour continued but I really enjoyed the experience. I'm not a very religious person but it was great to see The Pope and it was a great atmosphere in the square so I'd recommend it if you have the time.

If you don't want to attend the papal audience but are in Rome on a Wednesday and want to visit the Vatican Museums then go on the morning when the audience is being held - the crowds will be a lot less and there will be no queues to get in.

Everyone we talked to about our upcoming trip to Rome, advised us to get a tour guide for the Vatican. One person highly recommended Grant. We were not disappointed. Grant was very well informed on the Vatican. He told us many facts and pointed out many features that we would not have known about. He did so in a very interesting way. His tour was small ,only 6 of us, so we were able to hear everything, keep up and keep going and ask all the questions we needed to. The time went by very rapidly without a boring moment. This was a once in a lifetime trip so we were glad that we had a wonderful guide while we were there.

The Vatican is a must see if you are in Italy! I was there un July 2008. We did the tour through My Vatican Tour group and I highly recommend them. You book in advance and then get to skip the LONG LONG lines once you are there. The tour is worthwhile and interesting. St. Peter's Basilica is amazing!!!

Through Eternity was our choice of tour agency, and we were not disappointed. Small group (14), well working headsets, very knowledgeable guide about keeping us all together in the vast crowds, art history and general history about the Vatican, Popes and Italy.
She livened the tour with historical antidotes and also spent extra time with the group; an altogether gracious and giving person.
In email correspondence we found the same attitude.
Best guided tour we've been on in all our travels. If they were all like this, we'd go on them more often!