3 days in Rome, should i goto Vatican Museum?

The Piazza San Pietro will give you a view of the Basilica, but the Museums are a rather long walk away from there. You can see the Vatican Museums in a morning if you are looking mainly for the highlights; reserve a time or take a tour so you don't waste hours in line.

The Basilica can take anywhere from 1-3 hours, depending on how much time you want to spend.

You can get a combination tour that starts very early (meetup at 7:30am) and finishes around 1pm, leaving you the afternoon for other sights.

Good advice from Zoe, as always. I do think you should examine your priorities in terms of what interests you versus what you think you should do. The Basilica is amazing and IMO should not be missed and is fairly easy to see. The earlier in the morning, the better, before security lines get too long. Use Rick Steves' Audio tour to guide you through the square and the Basilica. If you are truly a lover of art and history, the museums are worth your time as well. But with only 3 days, you may have other priorities and interests. It is also wise to leave some slack in your schedule for just wandering around and taking in the atmosphere.

I was planning on getting tickets in advance to the museum to avoid the lines, I'm thinking of just visiting the Basilica and st Peter's square, would any of that require pre booking?

Bryan, do you have 3 full days? Part-days are generally taken up with traveling, checking in and out of hotels, getting oriented...

I agree that the Basilica is what most people would call a "must see." (I'm not crazy about the term.) But it is amazing; the sheer scale of it is unbelievable, and the artwork and architecture are stunning. Even non-Catholics and non-Christians are awestruck when they see it.

The museum is good, but unless you're an art student, I'd save it for another time with only 3 days. But with 3 full days, it's doable.

Yes I am leaning toward just the Basilica, is that a pre book thing also? How's the lines?

Basilica is free, open to all (but long lines at some times) -- no tickets. Last year was a special pilgrimage year, so entrance was restricted at times to organized groups, so we just stood in the square and watched the groups make their way to the Holy Door entrance. (We had been inside on an earlier trip.)

The Vatican museum was totally booked the day we went there in June. You need to buy tickets in advance. The main St Peters square has thousands of people, and dozens of ticket scalpers everywhere, but not sure if they tickets are legit or not. It was hectic and crowded and we gave up on it.

When we visited St Peter's, we just walked in, with no lines. We had just come from a tour of the Vatican museum, but after we left there, we were free to come and go as we pleased. You do not need to book the museum to visit the Basilica. There is a security line, as I recall, but it moved quickly.

Personally, I would see the Basilica on a first trip. The Vatican museum can be very crowded, so I'd save it for another trip. There is so much to see in Rome- just having free time to wander is great. There are many beautiful churches to visit. If you really want to do a museum, you might to consider the Borghese Gallery. Are you going to Florence? There are many museums there I liked more than the Vatican museum.

unfortunatly i will be in florence only 1 night, just really a stopover from pisa to venice, (which will be three nights in venice). I did already purchase a ticket to the Accademia the following morning though.

We had seen the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel in 2010, so when we visited Rome again last month and wanted to see St. Peter's Basilica, we bought these 'Fast Track' tickets that bypassed the line:

http://rometoolkit.rgi.ticketbar.eu/en/ticketbar-rome/st-peters-basilica/

Cost 15 Euro apiece, bought online in advance. I know the normal tickets are free, but time was money to me on this trip. On the morning of, we had to go to one of those offices around the square to get the passes, which also came with an audio app for iPhone that didn't work, but I didn't care. On a Tuesday in March we saved about 45-60 minutes by going to the front of the line, and in high season I'll bet it would be twice that, at least. Money well spent.

I would not make a trip to Rome without seeing the Sistine chapel, but you have to decide your own priorities. Certainly St. Peters is a must but you can do that in half a day if you don't plan on the Museums and chapel. I think the Pantheon, the Colosseum and the Vatican are musts. If you have 3 full days (4 nights) then I would do historic Rome for two and one for the Vatican. A couple of other musts for me are: San Clemente and the archeological levels below the church, the Forum and Palatine, San Pietro en Vincoli for Michelangelo's Moses, arguably his greatest work -- certainly in the top three along with the Pieta at St. Peters (which is now hard to see because of security measures) and David in Florence.

Good one, Jane. St. Peter-in-Chains was one of the highlights for us last month.

With only 3 days, I would visit St. Peter's and climb the dome, but skip the museums. I think it's a lot walking to go through the myriad rooms packed with other tourists to get to the Sistine Chapel unless you are really into art and want to see the collections.

Get to the church early (opens at 7 am?) before there are lines for security and multitudes in the church.

I have decided to tour the Square and the Basillica including the trek to the top for the view early one morning and save the museum for another trip. That way i can see more of the city for the rest of that day. Thanks for the help!

How crowded is the basilica in the late afternoon? im thinking of trying to time the visit to the top for dusk
for some good photo ops.

im thinking of trying to time the visit to the top for dusk for some
good photo ops.

Bryan, the dome closes at 18:00 (April 1 - Sept 30, and hour earlier Oct - March) so too early to be able to be up there for dusk unless you're going during the winter. The basilica itself closes a little later (19:00 April - Sept, and 18:30 Oct - March) Late in the afternoon might work well for missing the longest lines.

http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/san_pietro/it/cupola/orari.htm

http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/san_pietro/it/basilica/orari.htm