A tour of the Vatican before sunrise

FOR the first time, travellers can experience the Vatican – the most-booked attraction on TripAdvisor – in quiet solitude, before sunrise, and before it opens to the public. The #Vatican is famously popular, with travellers waiting up to 4 hours during peak season. 

TripAdvisor, the world’s largest provider of bookable experiences, is giving travellers a look at its new ‘Waking up the Vatican’ tour. The tour is available now and allows a small number of travellers to join the ‘Clavigero’, the Vatican key holder, as he unlocks the doors to the Sistine Chapel, Raphael’s rooms, the Galleries, and more, hours before these iconic sites open to the public.

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Easter Celebrations . . .

TOURISTS and pilgrims will flood into the Vatican City on the Saturday before Palm Sunday, cramming inside St Peter's square for the open-air mass. The non-stop services of Holy Week peak in the pope's Stations of the Cross (Via Crucis) and mass at the Colosseum late on the evening of Good Friday.

On Pasquetta (Easter Monday), tradition coaxes Romans (outside the city gates) to feast upon lavish picnics of such specialities as torta pasqualina (cheesy bread, with salami and hard-boiled eggs) and fave e pecorino (broad beans and cheese).

Main tourist sites such as the Coliseum, Roman Forum, Galleria Borghese and other archeological sites and museums keep normal hours. The Coliseum and Forum are open on Easter Sunday and Monday, although the Coliseum will close early on Good Friday to prepare for the Pope's procession there.  Saint Peters' Basilica will be open throughout the Easter holiday, but the Vatican Museums (where the Sistine Chapel is), will be closed on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.

It's free to attend all the masses at the Vatican (Palm Sunday Mass, Chrismal Mass on Holy Thursday, Papal Mass on Good Friday, Holy Saturday Mass and Easter Sunday Mass) but tickets are required.

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Save time and money in Rome

ATTRACTION TICKETS DIRECT is now selling sightseeing tours and attraction tickets in #Rome. Holidaymakers planning a city break in the Italian capital can save time and money by pre-booking tickets to the most popular attractions, museums, and tours before leaving home.

Tickets include skip-the-line access to the Vatican museums, the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum, the Palatine Hill, and Roman Forum

Options also include walking and food tasting tours, and sightseeing by bike, Segway, and classic Fiat 500 cars.

Expected to be among the most popular tickets is the Rome Pass, including a 48-hour hop-on/hop-off bus ticket. The pass is priced at £75 per adult and £58 per child aged six to 17.

Oliver Brendon, CEO of Attraction Tickets Direct, said: ‘Rome is a fantastic choice for a weekend away, but so much time can be spent queueing to get into the most popular museums and attractions. Doing a little research and planning before leaving home can save hours of time that can then be spent enjoying the city.

www.attraction-tickets-direct.co.uk

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Picture Credit: uPiazza San Pietro</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin

Rome looks at 500% tourist tax rise

ROME’S city government is debating a proposal to increase its tourist taxes for visitors during its jubilee year in 2016. Each coach load of tourists would be charged a daily rate of €1,000 (£725) to enter the city centre to see sights such as the Vatican, a 500 percent rise on the current price of a coach permit (€200/£145). This would be in addition to a higher tax on accommodation that tourists already have to pay, which has doubled on last year. 

Tour operators and travel agents are objecting to the proposal. The European Tourism Association (ETOA) said it is extremely concerned by the plans. ‘Imposing a fivefold increase on the existing €200 daily permit is out of all proportion,’ it said in a statement. ‘It threatens pre-paid contracts for travel in 2016 and beyond and is yet another cost that is making Rome an expensive and unpredictable destination.’

The association calculated that, under these proposals, a visitor in a group of 40 people staying in a 4-star hotel would be paying €33 (£23.93) in local taxes a night.

It was suggested that agents might be forced to reconsider how much time is allocated to #Rome in travel itineraries.

Tom Jenkins, CEO of ETOA said: ‘This behaviour seems vicious and irrational, with no regard to practicality or planning. What will these visitors receive in return for this tax increase? That this was announced in the same month as the bid for the 2024 Olympic Games shows that the aspirations of Rome and the reality of their organizational capability live in separate worlds.’

Rome's Holy Year is a ‘year of mercy’ announced by Pope Francis, which should bring thousands of pilgrims to the city.

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Picture Credit: Circular staircase of the Vatican Museums by Livioandronico2013 - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons