Entry to St. Peter’s from Vatican museums

This is a great trick that used to work beautifully. There is a door for group tours at the back of the Sistine Chapel that you could sneak through. My understanding is they no longer allow it and you have to go all the way around the Vatican walls.

Yes, your tour will probably take you that way and you'll avoid the second security line. At least ours did in December 2023.

The word on the street lately is not to count on being able to use that passage. I guess availability to tours has been erratic so I would have a plan B for getting into the basilica.

acraven's response on this thread:
"The Vatican itself sells (less expensive) tours just of the Museums, but they have not in the past allowed tour members to take the back door into St. Peter's."
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/vatican-city-itinerary-ca1ac064-0870-4e6c-bf71-04400d55cb36

And Donna on this thread:
"Our guide said it’s never a sure thing that you can use it so I guess we were lucky. We visited on a Tuesday."
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/2-days-in-rome-vatican-st-peters-and-colosseum

Lastly, from an expert for Rome & the Vatican over on TA:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187791-i22-k14584160-Buying_Attraction_Tickets_for_Rome_and_the_Vatican-Rome_Lazio.html
"As of this writing (late 2023) there is a passage going from the Sistine Chapel to St. Peter’s Basilica. The passage has been available to some third-party tour groups but was not always available to tour groups booked through the official Vatican Museums website. It is also normally unavailable to people who are not on a tour. The use of this passage has been very erratic in 2023, so you should not count on being able to use it, which means that to get to St. Peter’s Basilica, you would have to exit the museums, walk around the Vatican walls, and go through the security line for the basilica."

And another Rome expert on TA:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187791-i22-k14649645-St_Peters_Basilica_access_with_Vatican_Museum_Tickets-Rome_Lazio.html#119821480
"I was just in Rome and there was no entry to the basilica via the passage being allowed so I would plan the day to include waiting in the security line for the basilica."

In September 2022, were had a private guide, on a tour that did include St. Peter’s after the Sistine Chapel, and the attendant at the back door of the Sistine Chapel checked our guide’s credentials as we went thru the door with him. If your guide wasn’t going with you, it would seem you wouldn’t be allowed to pass through on your own.

Ten years earlier, based on advice from Rick Steves’ guidebook, we were able to slip thru that door on our own, even though, even then, it was intended for groups, and not for individual visitors. It was clear in 2022 that the door was being monitored much more closely, and everyone attempting to use it was being checked.

We just did a private tour and were able to use that door but they checked the tour guides ID and how many of us there were. So sneaking in may be difficult.

We did a tour a long time ago and it did not include St. Peter’s, but our guide walked us through to the entrance from the Sistine chapel. I guess just check to make sure your tour includes that.

We did a tour of the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and St Peters a few weeks ago. We were able to use the passage but they did check the guides’ credentials. Our guide said it’s never a sure thing that you can use the passage so I guess we were lucky. He noted that the passage is closed on Wednesdays.

We just got back from Rome and did the Pristine Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum Tour and yes, we were able to access St Peter’s Basilica and bypassed the security entrance. Great tour! We were the first to enter the Vatican Museum and by the time we got to Sistine Chapel, crowds were not bad at all!