Going from Sistine Chapel back to Vatican Museum

The Sistine Chapel is part of the Vatican Museum. So once inside, you can go wherever you want.

This was discussed here recently but I can’t seem to find it, maybe someone else can help. Googling it….
Can you go back to Vatican Museum after Sistine Chapel?
Just make sure to ask what door to use to exit the Sistene Chapel so that you don't end up outside. Once you have left the Museum, you cannot re-enter without standing in line and paying. The different rooms, halls and hallways are usually so crowded that you will not want to try it anyhow...

In February I walked into the Sistine Chapel and then went back into the Museums to hit the Pinacoteca.

Thank you very much, all!

We want to make sure we are able to leisurely spend time in the Vatican Museum gift shop (it is massive!)
Looking at tours. Should we just get a tix for Vatican Museum and Sistene Chapel and visit St. Peter's later?

I can't find where tours that include all 3 sites can still get to the Vatican gift shop. Please advise!! Thank you.

Hello,
We absolutely loved our visit to Vatican, and we are glad that we made the trip.

To answer your question, here are a few things I think could be helpful (please note that my experience is limited; we visited Vatican just once, and without a tour guide):
- Vatican is massive indeed, and it is exhausting to visit Vatican, both physically (long walks, stairs, having to look up until your neck hurts, etc.) and mentally (so many things to look at, people not being so courteous, etc.).
- Sistine Chapel - You will be looking up at the ceiling for some time. I think Rick Steves' audio tour of Sistine is about 30 minutes long.
- The line to get into St. Peter's Basilica is very long, unless you get there very early. I do not know much about skip-the-line deals with tour groups, but I saw some tour groups stuck in the line for very long time.

That being said, I personally think it would be more feasible to get separate tickets and visit St. Peter's later (get food in between!). Also, for most tour groups, I think they wouldn't allow too much time for shopping at museum stores, since they have spots to hit and come back for the next tour. Maybe private tour guides can accommodate your plan?

Hope this helped.

Personally, I wouldn't want to pay for a guide's time while shopping in a museum store. I think splitting the Vatican Museum (and shop) and St. Peter's into two visits is a good idea if your trip is long enough to support two visits to that part of town. However, in many, many museums it is possible to enter the shop separately, without paying the admission fee. Perhaps that's possible at the Vatican? If so, a tour that combines the Vatican Museums with St. Peter's by using the access door between them would be a good option.

Note: I have no clue where the shop is located. It may be closer to St. Peter's than to the Museums.

I have taken two tours, one private (pre-COVID) and one group (May of this year). Neither tour was flexible enough to go back to the museum and certainly not to shop in the gift shop. My private tour, I wanted to postmark a postcard from the Vatican Post Office and I had a really hard time getting the guide to even agree to let me take 15 minutes to do that small task.

The Vatican Museum has phenomenal works of art. However, there is no crowd control, so it is one of the most uncomfortable and unpleasant museum experiences. The early entry tour with a good guide has fewer. crowds and someone to help you hit the highlights. The Walks of Italy tour we took in May was excellent.

Thanks all. I think we will split it up. We have enough time to do this.

The shop is right before you exit the Vatican Museums and no re-entry possible. It is massive/2 stories.

The tours usually drop you there after museum/Sistine Chapel tour.