Roma: Musei Vaticani, Basilica e Cupola di San Pietro con Salita alla Cupola

No fault of the tour operator it was incredibly busy and the Vatican museums were over run. Didn’t make for an enjoyable experience. The St Peter’s dome climb was outstanding, it’s not an easy climb so if you’re a little older (like me) or not in great shape know it will take a little effort. But well worth it. The tour guide was lovely, informative and efficient.

It was very confusing locating the meeting point as I received multiple emails changing location and ended up walking back and forth between the two until I finally got it right arriving late to meeting. Once there our guide Chiara was absolutely wonderful. She made the trip an experience. Her knowledge, wit and humor kept the group more than entertained. She kept us moving but not too fast. There are no words to describe the beauty of everything we saw. To be surrounded by so much history and priceless works of art took my breath away. Definitely a tour I would recommend. Go first thing in the morning as it gets very warm inside with little to no air conditioning. If able I do recommend the dome climb the view from the top is with it

The Vatican is a beautiful place, but doing the tour made our experience a thousand times better. There are long lines inside and out and you just skip them old and get to enjoy the time being there. The climb is no joke if you are of shape or cardio is not your thing, but if you are able to I think it is a must at least once in your lifetime

It was a great tour except the tour guide should’ve told us that the second meeting spot where we met before going into the Vatican museum there had bathrooms, bottled water dispenser, and air-conditioning with a place to sit. We didn’t know or we would’ve headed straight there after the basilica. Instead, we sat outside in the shade in the heat and bought our own water or we waited the hour for our next tour. It was 100° that day so that was really frankly unacceptable and irritating. Poor customer service.

For the review I will break this into 2 parts the St. Peters dome climb and the Vatican. St. Peters/Dome: This was fantastic and our tour guide was Anastasia. She was funny and spoke good very good english/Italian. She gave us tidbits about St. Peters and had a good pace that allowed us to really enjoyed ourselves. Would 100% do this again with her and felt like I got to see everything. Vatican: For the Vatican we had a different tour guide and I don't remember her name. In my opinion I didn't get much out of the things she talked about her and honestly would have rather left her as soon as we got into the muesum so we could explore all the things I found interesting. After about 20-30 minutes I just took the ear piece out and read the placards. I would 100% recommend this to someone else and just tell them once they got into the Vatican to go at their own pace and enjoy what they found interesting.