Touristation Vaticano — Local services in Rome

I booked this before I saw the reviews on Google and was super worried the tour would be bad BUT it was actually really really good! This relates to the tour - from what I've read if you just want Vatican tickets you're better off getting those elsewhere but my experience was of a very well organised tour with the touristnation girls running around to make sure everyone is accounted for, everyone gets a ticket and we all get in asap. Now, it is true that organising the entry and the tickets takes about an hour if you're in a larger group. That would probably be worth mentioning on the ticket somewhere so people aren't shocked. By the looks of things, we weren't the only ones though. I only saw tour guides getting tickets for their groups. If you want to avoid or minimise said wait, opt for a smaller group of not sold out and if you can afford it. That being said we were the only group with an official Vatican guide and the guide was phenomenal! I wish I remembered her name so I can give her a mention here. I also wish the customer service was decent enough for me to feel comfortable to ask. Giving it 4 starts because if you do call with an issue or a question, the customer service is very very bad. I imagine it's extremely stressful for them to be shouted at all day by angry foreign tourists but they totally interrupt you from the very start and keep telling you how it's your fault and yelling at you to stop yelling (which I wasn't actually doing) but not giving you a second to explain what you're calling about. As this is Rome, Italy - I won't mark it down too harshly for that (as I wouldn't do so in Greece or Paris) because the girl was actually trying to help me, she was just super rude and had very poor customer service training. Overall, I would recommend this, but make sure you arrive early and allow for cushion time - the crowds are huge and will cause delay. Also read the description and your ticket info in full. (For St Peter's Basilica you have to meet in the atrium - i.e. after the queue. There are no skip the line tickets, so be careful not to miss your tour...because then you'll have to call the angry people at customer services who might ruin your mood). Also take note of...

This is a deceiving tour company (SCAM AVOID). We arrived at our hotel and they referred us to this company, we trusted their opinion and opted for a "tour of the Vatican" we bought the "tour skip the line" for €70 euro (2 persons). We got there at 10:05 and called the tour company to let them know we were lost (failed to communicate they are located behind the Vatican across from the museum), according to the "tour" time it started at 10AM, they were not ready when we got there and were scrambling to get 24 people together to walk over to the museum. We waited 20 min for the tour lady to get make the line for us to get $17 euro ticket entrance which grants you entrance to the sistine chapel. There are no lines at that time. They leave you after giving you your ticket and that is what is called a "Tour skip the line" they essentially charge you for them to make the line for you while you wait across the isle and watch them get you and 24 others tickets. I highly recommend you avoid this scam company. I should also add, we talked with the hotel who tried to get us a refund, the lady on the phone lied and made up a story to avoid giving a refund. Hope this helps you save your money, time and effort. There are no lines in the morning, especially during covid and even if there are lines, you STILL wait for them to make the line for you to get you a ticket, yes, you wait the end of line while the tour guide gets in line to purchase the tickets. BIG SCAM!

Can't seem to reply to the response below so here it is:

-Tickets where purchased in advanced for that same reason you outlined below, COVID, we ordered the reservation 2 days before through our hotel and paid at arrival. Your manager spoke to our Hotel (email with more details was sent to you) our Hotel tried to help us by calling and getting a refund, but your manager gave a false report of our whereabouts. 24 people in our group saw the tour guide with your logo on her vest go to the ticket booth and bring our tickets. We left the tour office with 24 others, many felt deceived just like we did, we all...

Hi,

We bought tickets through our travel agent before the trip. When we met up with family, we realized we needed two extra tickets. My wife is pregnant, and we were an hour late. We visited the location to inquire about the additional tickets and discussed missing our appointment with the lady at the counter because my wife wasn't feeling well.

Then she spoke Italian to the lady you see here said we needed to buy 4 tickets because she couldn’t merge the new tickets with the old ones. I explained that other locations were considerate of my wife's condition and honored the entrance even though we missed the appointment time. She replied that we needed to buy four tickets.

I told her I would take the risk and asked her to sell me two tickets. She then refused to sell me any tickets unless I bought four. I asked if they would refund two of the tickets if they honored the old ticket time entrance at the door. She again refused to sell me any tickets. She was extremely rude and pretended to speak very little English. When I asked for her name she refused to give me her name and ignored me.

When I took my iPhone out to take a picture of the map in front of her on the front desk, she immediately began yelling at me not to take any pictures and created a scene yelling to delete the picture making us nervous. Suddenly, she started speaking perfect English and demanded to see my iPhone pictures, even threatening to call the police. This experience left a bad impression, making it seem as if they work on commission and don’t care about tourists' needs.

Fortunately, we were able to buy the two tickets we needed around the corner. The gentleman there said pregnant women shouldn’t have a problem, and we got in with the missed appointment at the entrance without buying any additional tickets.

Beware of these kinds of locations; they misinform tourists to...