Vatican City Travel Forum

Hi everyone,
Our small group of 8 people will visit Rome August 21-22, 2009. I have found several online tour companies that offer the so called "skip the line" tours or just "skip the line" museum ticket vouchers to the Vatican museums. From visitors' reviews, it appears, though, that because so many people get scared by the long queues at the Vatican box office that this "skip the line" line often is as long or longer than the regular line to get the tickets without prior reservation. Do any of you have a knowledge if it is really necessary to book the tickets in advance in order to avoid the long queues? Some visitors indicate that in the afternoons there is little waiting in the general ticket queue. We will be in Rome on Friday and Saturday. Is it harder to get into the Vatican museums on those days than on week-days? Any insight and advice for visiting the Vatican museums on Friday/Saturday in late Augugst would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Tuzik

You are right about so many people buying tickets in advance to aoid the queues that the opposite effect can occur.

It is largely a matter of chance, and no-one can predict whether you will be lucky or not. The day is not really relevant, because Rome is fullof visitors every day throughout the year. Those without tickets tend to get there early so lines are generally longest first thing in the mornings. But if you happen to be visiting when many other tourists decide to visit in the afternoon, then queues will be long then as well (and in August, standing in an afternoon queue will be very hot).

Accept the fact that you will probably have to queue whether you buy in advance or not, then decide on whether you want to take the chance.

Yes, you might be lucky...or not! I was there in June and didn't queue for that long.
By chance I decided to go there by the end of the day and not so many people decided to show up that day :)

Get ready for extreme heat and for a lot of (possible) waiting! All will pay off in the end.

Thanks to all who responded. I sort of had that same feeling that it's hit or miss. We'll probably book a tour just to make the most of it. Has anyone booked directly with the Vatican museums. I understand that it's just recently that they added online reservations. Is there anybody on VT who has booked the Vatican museums online? Please share your advice.
Thanks.
Tuzik

I know from other forum posts that lots of VT-ers have pre-booked, but they most proably won't see your question on this thread. Try re-posting it on the Rome forum (and perhaps asking which is the best agency to use).

It really depends what period you go to the vatican. In low seasons months (january and febrary) there are no lines due to the fact there are no many tourists in rome. In June and July it is the opposite and you need a reservation if you want to skip the line. You acan book online, there are several companies but the one we use for our international partners (I work for an american construction company subsidiary based in milan)is THe ETERNAL CITY TOURS www.theeternalcitytours.com they are professional and reliable.

Thanks for everybody's help. I did browse through the Rome forum, and got very useful information from the member HITTHEROAD. He recommended THROUGHETERNITY Tour Company in Rome. I booked our tour with them after having checked other references as well. This company comes highly recommended even though they don't offer <to skip the line>. I will book my admission tickets directly through the Vatican Museums. This whole <skip the line> thing seems to be a little bit questionable since the <skip the line> line can be as long or longer as the regular line. I settled on this option because it looks like crowds are always big, so it helps to have a tour guide who will help us sort through a lot of stuff worth seeing and make our visit efficient. THROUGHETERNITY employs history teachers and historians to conduct their tours. Also, they make it mandatory to purchase headphones in Vatican, which makes a lot of sense with the kind of crowds visiting the Vatican Museums every day. It assures one can hear everything the guide will be saying. Not all companies do that.Their guides meet private tour groups at their hotel, another plus. I have read about a lot of frustrated people who failed to meet their guides in the huge crowds gathered in front of the Vatican Museums. Also communication with them was so seamless, so efficient, it made me feel good about booking with them. At least based on that they came ahead of other boutique tour companies that claim employing PhDs and history teachers and providing personalized services.