Combo Tickets: Santa Maria Maggiore & St. Peter's Basilica Entry

The audio guide was announced as available the day before along with the tickets, and it could be accessed via the start button in the Dex app. However, it was apparently tied to the exact time slot for entry into St. Peter's Basilica, which was considerably delayed due to the massive crowds. Even though we arrived very early, nothing worked afterwards. What is that about? It's not top-secret information, just curated and otherwise freely accessible knowledge. It is also completely incomprehensible that after paying for three people, you only get one audio guide on a single device, which cannot be transferred to the other visitors whose tickets also covered it. It is simply infuriating and ruins a significant part of the visit. Not recommended.

This service did not meet our expectations. An extremely long line of nearly two hours does not match the high ticket price. The service only provides an audio guide and a minimal reduction in the line. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Even though the staff who assisted us were very attentive and kind, the service itself felt like a rip-off to me.

The fast-track tickets worked properly, and the line for people with advance tickets was easy to find. However, you shouldn't expect to get right in; despite the fast-track tickets, it was a half-hour wait in the blazing sun! The audio tour was disappointing; even at maximum volume, the sound was still too quiet and poor quality, and the content was just vague rambling instead of interesting facts.

We were really looking forward to visiting St. Peter's Basilica and booked tickets online for that reason. At the indicated entrance, everything moved quite quickly at first, but then we suddenly came to a complete halt. After an hour and a half in the blazing sun, the security line stopped moving entirely. We decided to call it quits because we could see that after security, we most likely would have had to queue for another 2 hours just to get inside. A waste of money. Unfortunately, we only got to see St. Peter's Basilica from the outside.

St. Peter's Basilica is impressive and well worth a visit. The audio guide is really well made. The rest, unfortunately, was a bit questionable. Nobody showed up at the agreed meeting point. Instead, the ticket was just sent to our phone. We had no idea where to go. Communication was handled via WhatsApp. The "no-wait" entry still took quite some time. There was nobody there to explain anything in advance. The audio guide finally started at the entrance portal. From that point on, we were satisfied. The guide mentioned the crypt, but we weren't allowed in there with our tickets. By the way, admission to St. Peter's Basilica is free.