What's the best way to tour the Vatican museums? First, find someone who can organize your tickets; secondly, book a private tour with a properly licensed tour guide. A private tour goes at your pace and the tour guide will adjust their delivery for you knowledge level and interests. The Vatican museums were not busy in these times during CO I'D, and we found an amazing guide for the day in Chara, whose encyclopedic knowledge of Roma and the Vatican was punctuated with an awesome delivery and a good sense of humor. We saw all the highlights, through a three hour tour of St Peter's Basilica and the museums, and she left us right before the Sisteen Chapel with ample instructions on how to spend the rest of the day in the museum, where to get the good coffee at the end of the tour, and how to get back to our hotel. She was, in a word, the perfect tour guide.
Hints for booking. Pre-book the tour before leaving, and get the skip the lines version. It will save some time. I'm sure the effect is bigger when there are lines; even so, I saw a few instances where we went through rope barriers to avoid lines. To me, the highlight of the tour was not the chapel itself (although that was impressive), but the other art along the way. Keep an open mind and spend some time exploring! read more