No Ticket for Vatican Museums

Barb,

That would depend on time of day, the weather (heat or rain), etc. June and July are peak season in Rome so you're probably looking at 1-2+ hours anytime before 11:00 AM. After 1 PM the lines drop off. I would try and make it there between 2 & 3 PM for the BEST CHANCE not have a line... and the least amount of people inside the Vatican Museum.

Today is Thursday and it's raining hard... so tomorrow (Friday) there will probably be a longer than usual line... conversely, it's 2 PM in Rome now and I guarantee there's no line today in this weather!

Good luck!
Ciao,
Ron

Thanks, Ron. The last time I was there we had a 1+ hour wait. We'd rather spend our time doing something other than waiting in line. :) I think we are going to get the tickets w/no guide from myvaticantours.com. I believe the cost is 32 euros which includes the price of admission. Just wanted to make sure I was thinking correctly about this.

Barb

Presto tours offers a skip the line no guide tour for 29 Euros. Thier first tour is a 8:45, quite a bit earlier than most tours. We're hoping the 8:45 start will give us a slight head start over the rest of the groups!

We were just in that line 5 days ago(5/27) and the line didn't exist. Literally, we were in in 15 minutes. We were going to go eat lunch first but decided to check out the line and when we saw how short is was and how fast it was moving we got in line and just ate at the pizza shop in the museum. This was on a Tuesday late morning at 11:30. Just remember there are separate lines for the Basilica which you access on the Square and the museum which you have to walk around the outside wall to get to. Good luck.

We had the same experience as David on Weds. May 7th. Arriving around 11:00 am there was only a handful of people in line for security and then we went straight in.

Hi Barb, We took a "skip the lines tour" in Sept and still had to wait 1 1/2 hours to get in with a lot of other tour groups. We were then herded through like a lot of cattle. I like the advice people are giving you to try the afternoon.

Barb,

FYI - We're moving to an apartment one block from the Vatican Museum so we've been spending much time in the area scoping out the shops, etc... The last few days the lines have been pretty much exhausted by 11:30 AM. Of course, as it's now June and more folks are coming to Rome, that could extend but that's the scoop this past week!

Ciao,
Ron

Ron - Do you know why the lines are usually shorter in the early afternoon? Is it that the Vatican isn't air conditioned, so it's much hotter?

Marie - Which company's "skip the line" tour resulted in a long wait? That sounds unacceptable.

Hi Leslie. The Vatican is nice and cool inside, and climate controled for the art etc. Its just that most people seem to want to be early birds, and after the initial rush things settle down. Re the "Skip the Lines" or any Tour for that matter, all that gets you is a chance to use the Tour Group Line instead of the line for individual entrance. If there are a huge number of tours, and there frequently are, the line for tours can actually be longer than the individual entrance. No tour company can guarantee an actual entrance time. Its all dependent upon the volume of traffic each day. This is unlike the Accademia or Uffizi or Borghese where they have specific entrance times that actually mean something.

Tim - Thanks for the explanation. And, you have no idea how relieved I am to hear that the Vatican Museums are air conditioned!! I could have sworn that I heard that they aren't.

We're not the early bird types at all, so we're going with a group tour with 3 Millennia. This company is not nearly as popular as Angel Tours, but we heard good things about the owner, Tony Polzer, and he has been very helpful through e-mail. So, we're going to give him a try for a 1:00 PM tour on 6/27 (a Friday).

I recently questioned Tony about having to wait in line, and this was his response (I appreciated his honesty about the day that there was a wait):

"I personally led our Vatican group tour twice this week and once last week. The one time last week we waited for over an hour. However, the reason for this was that a Cardinal had died and the Pope was the celebrant of the funeral. Due to this the Vatican was in a bit of chaos. Unexpected things like this DO happen and no one can predict them. The two tours that I led this week, one walked straight in the door and the other one we waited for just under 5 minutes (it was raining and more people always go to the Vatican when it rains)."

It sounds like you have a good tour lined up. We found all thru Italy that people lined up even before venues opened, but as the day wore on you could just walk in. That will likely be your experience. If its not already in your plans, consider a visit to the Capatoline Museuem. The views looking down on the Forum were breath taking. Its a hidden gem (not really hidden as its right on top of Capatoline Hill), but we passed this museuem daily walking around and never once saw a line up. Anyway, enjoy your trip. The Vatican Museuem is everything you've hear about and more. Cheers

Thanks for the additional information, Tim. The Capitoline Museum sounds interesting.

Thanks for all the info. I did reserve a skip the line ticket for 1:15 pm on 6/21. We have tickets to the Scavi that morning so we were kind of committed to 6/21. I was in Rome a few years back in June, and I recall the line was long. We'll just try out luck and see. If we have a skip the line ticket (no tour), can we go in the individual line if that is shorter?

Barb

Barb, I'm pretty sure the skip your line ticket must be used at the group entrance. But unless things change, by that time in the afternoon it really shouldn't be too busy. You've made your plans and I'm sure you'll have a great time.

Barb,

ONLY PARTS of the Vatican Museum are air-conditioned. You'll see many windows open throughout your tour. At times it can get very stuffy.

Tour groups are allotted 1300 tickets (or slots) per hour and so they get first priority as those tickets are pre-purchased by the tour operators who each must have "an account' with the Vatican... To "start" an account you must go through months of paperwork, VM approval AND deposit 10,000 Euros; Now you see why they get "first in." These tour groups purchase their tickets based on "times allotted" and so they start in the AM and then continue to FILL the day - this is why the line is ALWAYS longer in the AM; The Vatican has two entry doors and controls the flow of the number of folks in each hour - TOUR GROUPS will get precedence.

Once most of the tour groups exhaust their slotted times, then the line moves more quickly. This is why there is always less of a line in the afternoon! Fewer tour groups are operating in the Vatican at that time of day. The exception of course is "In Season," as the tour groups fill up their hourly slots and then move to the next slot available later in the day. It's classic "Supply and Demand!"

Your 1 PM slot will work better for you as during much of the early times it like a "cattle run" in the Vatican museum! And it's hard to go back to see things when the crush is coming at you!

If you go into the Vatican and GO RIGHT (as opposed to left like everyone else), you'll see some incredible art, like the original Raphael's Ascension! If you get a chance, walk back and explore!

Campidoglio (Capitoline Hill) with it's famous square, buildings, and stairs designed by Michelangelo is a great spot, as Tim recommends, to get a view of the Forum. While you're there, take the elevator for 7 Euros to the top of the Vittoriano for some of the best views of Rome - For a "cheaper" great view of Rome, ride the #115 or #870 bus to Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill)!

Ciao,
Ron

Grazie, Ron. Great tips. We leave on Monday and get to spend a glorious 3 weeks in Italy. Can't wait.

Barb