Friday Nights at the Vatican

The pros are that it's much less crowded during the Friday nights. The cons are that it's only available Friday night, you must visit the basilica before or on another day and not all the galleries are open.

The bypass is for tour groups and the guards check tickets. I wouldn't count on using the bypass as a way to sneak into the basilica.

Donna

" Sneaking into the Basilica ...." Sounds a wee bit dishonest ..... And this is the Vatican? Hmmm,

If we do the day times maybe we can seek into the Basilica as Rick mentions and save some time in lines.

William, you're probably talking about "sneaking" down the back stairs which are reserved for tour groups? Do NOT bank on this option as whether you'll be allowed to do that or not very much depends on the whim of the guards on any given day. Tourists without tour badges have been turned away from this exit so it's not something I'd make a plan around.

Sometimes I wish he'd take that bit of advice out of his book as it's not a given that it'll happen.

We did the Friday night Vatican Museum Tour in May and would strongly recommend it.

If some gallery was closed, I could not say that I felt deprived. There was so much to see and enjoy. All of the major rooms were open. And we were shown a ceramics room which is normally closed during the day. You can stay longer after the tour and explore more if you want,. We waited for seating to open up in the Sistine Chapel so we could sit and enjoy the view. At the late hour, we were tired and ready to leave, but we were more than happy with what we saw.

The crowd was definitely smaller than in the daytime. And it was much cooler. I would imagine that during the day, it must be stifling with the noon heat and all the extra people. You do lose natural light as night approaches, but there is more than enough lighting to see everything and to take photos.

We went to the Basilica at about 5 pm before our 7:30 pm Vatican Museum tour. At first we were put off by the long line up, but it moved surprisingly quickly. The line up stretched to the end of the Square, but only took 30 minutes. I suggest that you ask somebody at the front of the line to find out how long it took them to get there from the back of the line.

I did mean bypass over sneaking into the Basilica. Is there a place close to the museum for a quick bite before entry?

There is a cafe across the street from the museum. We went there for gelato while waiting for our entry time, but they serve all types of food. And I recall a snack vendor near the entrance.

This is a major attraction. We took the Metro and there were all sorts of restaurants from the Metro all the way to the Basilica and from the Basilica to the Museum. We ate at a pasta place before going to the Basilica. It was good but not so memorable that I can give you a name or address or worth your time to search for it. You can easily find a place to eat.

Do yourself a favor and don't eat near the Vatican. It's like any other tourist area with expensive food that isn't all that good. If you can go several blocks away you'll find much better food at much better prices.

Donna

Our experience was much like funpigs. We waited in a very long line to get into St. Peters, but it moved quickly. We got in line at 1830 for our 1900 reservation at the Vatican and were a considerable distance from the entrance. I don't think they check your reservation time. We were able to go into the Sistine Chapel, we found a seat and stayed about 45 minutes. As far as the crowds... I have nothing to compare it to as it was our first visit.

The only thing to watch for is your transportation back to your hotel. We were done at 10:30, and the metro was all closed up. We eventually found a bus that took us where we needed to go, but it took some doing.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the darn Metro shutting down early at 9:30 pm! I think it may be like that all summer because of repairs (except maybe Saturday nights). We were running around trying to figure out which bus to take back to Repubblica. We finally figured it out and it was our first of several unpleasant crowded bus rides in Rome.

At the same time, after dark can be a very nice time for a stroll in Rome!