The Vulgate is a much older version and is the original translation into English from the Latin and Aramaic. It's the version we had to site in papers in college.
Since the Bible is fiction, and made up of things taken from several ancient languages, there really is no "best" translation. The King James is the most common in English.
The King James bible is often considered the gold standard by theologians. However, there's lots of debate on this point, and different denominations often have different suggested translations.
The best Bible translation would be "Today's New International Version Bible" as it is written in nowadays English and it makes it easier to read and understand.
