A Friday in Rome - Question about Night at the Vatican

Is this a 'day trip' or an arrival with just the one night in Rome?

If the latter, what are you doing with your luggage? When can you check in to your lodging?

I think most will agree that the Colosseum and Vatican on the same day is an "ambitious" schedule.

My vote, all $0.02 worth, is Vatican 1st.

Thank you for your reply! We are just taking a day trip from where we are staying in Umbria. Updated original post to be more clear.

Huge crowds, hot temperatures, packed itinerary. Doesn't sound real appealing, IMO. I might choose one or the other if you are determined to do a day trip to Rome.

You don't say whether you want to try to see the Vatican museum, or just the basilica. Trying to see the museum greatly complicates things; I would skip. Just seeing the basilica and rest of Vatican is easy; no tix or planning needed; just show up. I would suggest giving it a try when you get to Rome in the morning. If you are still in Rome into the evening, Trevi fountain and Piazza Navona are fun then. Enjoy your trip!

We want to visit the Vatican to see the Sistine Chapel.

My family (including two kids 14 and 18) just came back from our trip to Italy. We went to Colosseum and Vatican museum on separate days. I booked early admission tours (meeting at 7:30 am outside of the museum) for the Vatican museum because I wanted to try to give the kids as good of a chance as I can manage to see Sistine chapel). Even with the early admission, the chapel was packed. I can only imagine what it's like during the day. I am not sure if my kids really enjoyed the chapel or the visit to the museum all that much to be honest, even though we had a great guide. So unless your kids are art nuts and expressed desire to visit the Sistine chapel themselves, I would suggest that you consider skipping the Vatican museum on this trip. Perhaps you could extend the Colosseum visit to cover the forum and palatine hill, or visit the Capitoline museum while you are there. If it's art museums that you want to visit, consider booking a visit to the Borghese, which is exquisite and has a good crowd control.

https://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do

Pretty sure you have to buy the Museum ticket ( and walk through the museum) to get access to the Sistine Chapel. Unless there is some change since a few years ago, there is no 'Sistine Chapel only' ticket or shortcut.

Thus earlier comments that trying to do your 2 primary destinations in one day is extraordinarily challenging

I'd not subject the kids to the museum in August it's too crowded.

Find something fun for them to do to remember Rome.

My kids really want o see the Sistine Chapel. I know we have to have museum tickets. My question specifically is, should we go in the morning or during the evening hours? Are the crowds less in the evening?

You should check first what is avaible for your date.

You should check first what is avaible for your date.

By the way that plan seem...well...optimistic ? Im in Rome now, its crowdy, hot, getting one place to another is not as easy or fast it seems....

should we go in the morning or during the evening hours? Are the
crowds less in the evening?

I think the concern here is what you're trying to cram into a day, especially so with children along? As you already know, Rome is likely going to be stifling in August. You will have put in some hours/shoe leather by the time you hit the Colosseum at the hottest time of the day. To add St Peter's and the Vatican Museums on top of that, your youngest child (not to mention the rest of you) may very well be done in before 7:00 PM. I know that we probably would be, and we're pretty good at covering ground on our sightseeing days!

Without early entrance tickets tours the museums will be a zoo by the time you could get there in the morning. I've not done a Friday museum night but I'm seeing recent comments those have become plenty busy: there are a number of those on the "Walks of Italy" reviews for their Friday night tours.

A long shot but what the heck... Any chance you'd consider tucking toothbrushes in your day bag and staying the night in Rome so you can split your visits to Rome's two most heavily visited attractions?

I have not been to Rome (buyer beware) :-) but am going this fall so have done a little research and perused the forums. If I read you correctly your main question is: morning or evening. I hope this link gets you to the article which advises evening. https://www.eatingitalyfoodtours.com/blog/best-time-visit-vatican/
One day adventures often make the best memories! Enjoy Rome!

I have been to the Friday evening hours of the Vatican Museum -- seemed to be less crowded than others say about daytime hours. But yes, you DO have to walk all the way through the museum to get to the Sistene Chapel, and it's a long haul, especially when it's hot out and you have been on the go since early morning. We were very glad to be able to take a quick Metro trip back to our hotel at the end -- that ride all the way back to Umbria may be rough. If you don't want to add a Roman hotel room, at least make sure you spend some time during the day resting in cool places with cool drinks.

Can’t imagine doing both in one day in Aug. with kids. When we were there two years ago in Aug for a few days we skipped the Vatican. From everything I read it was a zoo then & there is really no air conditioning to speak of in the museum. I knew my kids would not be happy & they are teens. Just be prepared for the heat & crowds and no real break with cold air conditioning like at home.

A few years ago during October, we did a Friday night tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel. We splurged and went with City Wonders to take advantage of the small group size of 20 people per guide, dinner on site at 6 pm, and supposedly less crowds. It was still crowded in the Sistine Chapel. The previous night, we also did the Colosseum by Night tour which we enjoyed much more. We didn't have children with us but I would think that might be more interesting for the kids at their age than the Vatican Museums. To each his own though.

As of today, tickets are available for every Friday night in August at the official Vatican website.
https://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do?action=booking&step=3&aaaamm=20188&numeroPartecipanti=6&codiceLinguaVisita=ENG#calendarioMensile

I'm with you-I can't imagine being in Rome or nearby and not going to the Sistine. I did like the idea of biting the bullet money-wise and staying overnight in Rome and seeing the Colosseum the next day.

As of today, tickets are available for every Friday night in August at
the official Vatican website.

And Friday, Sept 7th as well, and was available last week when I checked for another poster.

I haven't done this yet (just got my ticket for the end of July) but the Vatican has a new Friday night program. You can enter at 7:00pm, there's a concert at 8:00 (preceded by 'happy hour' at separate price). then you have the museum and Sistine Chapel until 11:00pm. Evidently this is new this year. No details about the refreshments or the music. Advanced reservations necessary, and if available. You also tell them what time you will pick your ticket up. You bypass the lines and it looks like a very delightful evening ahead! I'll report back but would be interested in hearing from anyone who has done this.