Hello,
Planning our time in Rome this October.
I believe there is an entrance to St. Peter's dome climb from the Sistine Chapel.
Is it permitted to access the chapel from St. Peter's dome - or only through the Vatican Museum entrance?
We'd prefer to start with the dome tour, continuing through the Sistine Chapel and through the museum.
Thank you for your guidance.
JC
I don’t think you can go from St Peters directly to the Sistine Chapel, but if I am wrong someone will chime in.
My advice would be to do the Vatican museums/Sistine Chapel as early as possible in the day and then do St Peters.
The passageway from the Sistine Chapel to St Peters can only be used in that direction by tour groups. It is one way only.
Echoing Bob and Carol: You can't access the Vatican Museums from St Peter's because the church is free to visit (aside from the dome and scavi) and the museum is not. There is no ticket office in the bypass between the two, which is a one-way-only route from Sistine into the basilica and is used mainly by tours, although reports on tours-only access can vary.
So if starting your day with the dome, you'll have make the 15-20 minute walk from church/St Peter's Square to the museum entrance on Viale Vaticano.
Are tours of the Vatican, ie early Sistine chapel tour and Colosseum tour better through the Vatican tour than other tour groups? We will be in Rome in mid September and have reservations for the necropolis tour.
We visited Rome over 10 years ago and visited the Vatican/Sistine chapel and the Colosseum but just walked around on our own. This time we would like a more informative visit but I am confused with the different vendors. Also, I have read that some tickets have been canceled at the last minute. I need advice! Thanks!
@texas girl. It is the tickets for the colosseum underground tour that have been an issue with cancellations. Not the regular colosseum tour.
Thank you!! I will look at Vatican and Colosseum tours and finally book them! Any recommended vendors?
The Vatican offers some tours itself. They seem to be somewhat less expensive than the tours offered by commercial tour companies. I haven't taken any tours in Rome, so I can't say anything about comparative quality.
There have been numerous positive comments on this forum about Walks of Italy, which offers tours of the Vatican Museums among other venues.
