Port day in Rome. 2hr or 3 hr Vatican tour? Shortcut exit from Chapel to Basilica?

There will be 4 adults and 2 young kids (age 2 and 5) in our group in mid May. I already have a driver scheduled to pick us up at the Civitavecchia port at 7:30am and take us to the sites in Rome. For the Colosseum, we are willing to see it from the outside so we can spend more time at the Vatican. For the Vatican, we would like to see the museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica.

I’m currently looking at the tours offered by the Vatican. There’s a 3 hr tour for the museum, chapel and basilica. I’ve read there’s a “tour” door from the chapel to the basilica that the tours use to bypass the security lines. There’s also a 2 hr tour for the museum and the Sistine Chapel, and I’ve read the tour ends at the chapel. I think I would prefer the 2 hr tour since I have 2 little ones who may get super bored/tired and to maximize our time to see other sites in Rome. But I would also like to see the basilica and I would be fine if it was without a guide. I would like to avoid going back through the museum and walking around and lining up for the security lines at the basilica.

My questions:

1. Has anyone done the official Vatican tours while there for a shore excursion?
   
2. Is this the best use of our time by going on a tour? Or DIY?
   
3. Would you recommend the 2 hr or 3 hr tour?
   
4. If we decide to do the 2 hr tour, could we use the “tour” door to get from the Sistine Chapel to the Basilica without having to blend in with a tour group? I’ve read that some were able to show their tour tickets to get to the basilica through the “tour” door even though their tours ended at the Sistine Chapel but I haven’t read of anyone doing it recently. Just wondering how strict they are or if it is a “depends on who the guard is” situation.
   

Thanks for all your help!

I've not done a Vatican tour on a day trip from a ship, but I've done one.

Regarding the shortcut into St. Peter's, I believe it's very much a case of "maybe/maybe not" depending on who's at the door that day. They seem to go through periods where they are more strict and then other times folks will be let through. But I don't think you are actually entitled to use it unless you have a tour that includes St. Peter's. So showing a guard your ticket wouldn't work. Your only option would be to try to blend in with another group going through.

Given that you can't count on it, I'd suggest you just book the 3 hour tour. If you can't go through the shortcut, the amount of time you'll lose backtracking through the museum, walking to St. Peter's and waiting in the security line will eat into your sightseeing.

Do sign up for the 3-hour tour. You can always make your excuses and leave once you are inside St Peter's if the kids had enough. Or one or two of the adults can sit with the little kids and gawk at the basilica while the others finish the tour.

I've not done a Vatican tour on a day trip from a ship, but I've done one.

 

Regarding the shortcut into St. Peter's, I believe it's very much a case of "maybe/maybe not" depending on who's at the door that day. They seem to go through periods where they are more strict and then other times folks will be let through. But I don't think you are actually entitled to use it unless you have a tour that includes St. Peter's. So showing a guard your ticket wouldn't work. Your only option would be to try to blend in with another group going through.

 

Given that you can't count on it, I'd suggest you just book the 3 hour tour. If you can't go through the shortcut, the amount of time you'll lose backtracking through the museum, walking to St. Peter's and waiting in the security line will eat into your sightseeing.

Thanks for the suggestion. Have you been on the 3 hr tour? Is the first 2 hrs for the museum and Sistine Chapel and the 3rd hr for the Basilica? If that’s the case, we could book the 3 hr tour and leave the tour after getting into the Basilica.

Do sign up for the 3-hour tour. You can always make your excuses and leave once you are inside St Peter's if the kids had enough. Or one or two of the adults can sit with the little kids and gawk at the basilica while the others finish the tour.

Thanks for the suggestion. We will probably do that and leave the tour if necessary.

I have a different opinion.

I would go with a two hour tour.

Even for an adult a three hour tour can be long and for those two children you really should limit it to two hours.

If they are upset and you are distracted it really won't be fun for you, for them or for others on your tour.

Keith

If you want to see St Peters book the 3 hour tour so you can use the side exit from the Sistine Chapel. It will save you a 30-45 minute walk back to the front of the museum and to St Peters.

In October we waited over 2 hours in line to get into St Peters as it requires a separate security screening and there is no timed entry like the museum. Entering through the Chapel avoids that.

Rather than a Vatican sponsored tour which can be 10+ people, hire a private guide. We have done the Vatican sponsored tour and it was good. But a private tour is much better and probably not much more as you pay for the group and not for each person. We used Rome With Marissa recently and she was great.

Also if you are there on a Wednesday St Peters is closed in the morning for the Papal Address and the museum is crazy crowded in the afternoon.

Been there twice, one with the Vatican tour and one with a private guide off the street. Both worked out fine. Make sure you take the door way at the back of the chapel on your right hand side if you want to go to the Basilica. That will take you to the Basilica. The exit on the left will take you back to the museum. Husband took that wrong exit on our first visit and we lost him for several hours that afternoon. Everything worked out fine the second time. Did not see guards both times.

We tried to get the tour door when self touring and my husband tried to get by the guard twice without any luck. He was a very large, intimidating man. We had to walk all the way around (a very long walk) to get to the Basilica. It may be variable with the guard. The next time we went to the Vatican we had a guide that got us through the door and the guard checked her credentials. We paid for this private guide for two hours and it was well worth it (if not just the short cut through the Sistine chapel to the Basilica).

We got the Vatican guide through our driver (RomeInLimo) because we had our kids (8/8/10) and it was a long day and the Vatican guide was able to streamline the tour. It was worth every penny.