Walking tours in the Vatican

[Gluestickonthefloor]

Hi there. I will be taking my two children to Rome in the summer for 3 nights. I would love to go to the Vatican, but really do not want to queue. Does anyone have a recommendation for a company that does Vatican tours?

Also any must sees for children that will be 10 and 8 gratefully received.

Hi, in the tourist information centre at the Vatican they do a tour. No queues and it was great! You'll find lots of tour guides selling tours in the main square of the Vatican, any of them will be the same really....it's just the price that may be slightly different.

Sistine chapel is amazing and don't rush through there, take time to take it in. After that go into St. Peter's Basilica and after a tour you don't need to queue you can go straight in. I think children would enjoy going up to the top of the basilica. Lift or steps for a few euros.

Would they want to see the Pope? He makes an appearance on Wednesday and Sunday x

The Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel in summer are crammed. I think your children will struggle, TBH. The guided walking tours are 2-3 hours. Even, if you do it on your own, you are funnelled through a long route, up and down stairs, through the main galleries, where you will be shuffling along in a crowd in hot and stifling rooms.

I think the only way you will be able to make this bearable for the children is to book an early access tour (e.g. with Viator) which will still be busy but not as uncomfortably so as during normal opening hours.

Although the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums are wonderful, I don’t think I would do these with such young children in the summer.

However, you can visit the Vatican and St Peter’s Basilica without going into the Vatican Museums and this may be a better option. You don’t need to queue for tickets for St Peter’s but there will be a long security queue.

Probably the must see for that age group will be the Colosseum. You will need to book timed tickets in advance and be prepared for a long security queue.

Hi OP
We did Rome in May last year and booked guided tours through the Vatican website.
In spite of it, the queues were horrendous. There is no space to even pause for a few seconds and admire everything. I had looked forward so much to the Sistine chapel but again there was no room to breathe!!
It was 1000 times worse than the tubes on a bad tube day.
We went with kids too and my very sensible 9 year old even managed to get lost for a few minutes.
I can only imagine it would be hotter in August
Colloseum is something they loved..but again bear in mind it can be excruciatingly hot.
Be ready to eat gelatos to keep you going through the day..
Beautiful city but I would recommend it is best in spring or autumn

Hi OP
Giolitti gelato bar is a must to visit.
The kids will love it.
We went there twice

We went to Rome in April with dc 14 11 and 7. We didnt bother with the Vatican museum after reading about the crowds and queues.
We went to the Pantheon, the Forum, the lift to the top of the 'wedding cake' Trevi Fountain, St Peters and the climb to the top, the collesum and the underground tour (booked through coop culture) and generally wandered around the old centre. The dc enjoyed the colleseum best.

It was so so busy everywhere though, even in April. We were at St Peters at 8.15 to avoid the queue to get in, an hour and a half later the queue was all the way around the square.

I'll second what has been said about the Vatican Museums. Our experience was dreadful. Absolutely heaving, being carried along on a tide of humanity. No chance to look at anything.

St Peters by contrast was tranquil. We actually sneaked straight in from the Sistine Chapel but by the afternoon there was barely any queue anyway. If you're energetic you can climb into the dome of St Peters (and buy a drink at the top!).

Musts are obviously the Coliseum and Forum (It's worth buying the book with overlays that shows what each building used to look like) and the Pantheon. The Trevi fountain is lovely at night. But the best bit by far is the pizza and ice cream!

I did the Vatican tour with Dark Rome/City Wonders, as recommended on a previous thread. At that age, my dc much preferred the Colosseum/Forum.

We also did the Palazzo Valentini Domus Romane also recommended on here, it was amazing.

Depending on how much you want to spend the Eating Europe food tours are amazing.

Take it slowly with kids - mine now still talk about how much they hate Rome! Such a shame but it was far too hot to enjoy. It was like an oven in August and we still had a massive queue for security despite being on a tour! My son was convinced that he wasn’t going to survive . Also the tour we did, even though supposedly for families, went into intensive detail about Popes through history that even the adults in the group switched off. My sons determined that he’s never going to Rome ever again but I’d definitely like to take him, just much earlier in the year when temperatures are lower. There’s not much shade around the coliseum either so might be worth doing either early or later in the day.

We went in April this year and used get your guide(there's a app), they were fab and the tour guides incredibly knowledgeable.

My two are teenagers but there were children on the tours that managed ok, but there is a lot of walking. We did Vatican, coliseum, palatine hill and the forum.

They will like the da Vinci exhibition if it's still on. Use the buses and metro, v easy to get the hang of and will save your feet!! Buses however were v jam packed

We did an early morning tour which let us in an hour before everyone else. Whizzed through to Sistine chapel to see when half empty and then could go back and revisit parts we wanted to see. The crowds just an hour later, wowee.

Booked through this site: www.sistinechapeltours.org/index.html