The Rick Steves Rome Guidebook cautions against the long lines in order to see the Vatican Museum. I just purchased an online ticket online for $26 at www.va.vatican.va. They then emailed me my ticket to print out.
Since this is my first time to Europe, am I missing something? This just seems way to easy in order to skip the lines when I am there. Is there something that I do not know?
You asked: Is there something that I do not know? Sounds like you're good to go. And kudos to you for figuring out this recent change. This has been a relatively recent change and it surprises some veteran travelers to Rome who haven't been their this year. Rick even had to update his 2009 Rome guidebook online to reflect the changed situation, which I think you already know go here to see thatgo here if you want to read a further discussion of this, scroll about half way down
Sure, it really is that easy! Now if you want easy AND cheaper, just go to the museums after 1:00 when there truly is no line to need to "skip" :)
We just did this a couple of weeks ago. You get to enter through the groups line. And I'm glad we did! The other line was SO long! Be prepared for crowds like you've never seen! We did all the major sites in London, Paris and Rome and nothing was as crowded as the vatican....at least in our experience.
