St. Peter's Basiclica

Mommy2,

I think June will be crowded. I went two times to Rome in the month of December. It was a "comfortable crowding," but nothing like I'm sure the warmer months can be.

Usually, a guided Vatican tour will lead you out to St. Peter's after visiting the Sistine Chapel. Unless I'm wrong about some tours.

That's the way it was for me two years ago during a Vatican tour. We were led out and around to St. Peter's after The Sistine Chapel visit, and she left us on the terrace. No security lines to go through again. But, there were guards at St. Peter's doors' entrance eyeballing patrons.

If you go on a separate day, then you'll have to wait in line, go through security, similar to a TSA one, then you're good to go. Be mindful large back packs, bags and umbrellas won't be allowed. They will have to be checked in the lower level (security and restroom area)

Water bottles were okay'd, but guards asked they be put away in bags. No obvious food items were allowed.

We took a tour that combined the Museums and to Basilica for 50 euros. But it was lousy crowded even in January with other tour groups. I'm skeptical that the line to St Peter's would be shorter in June the start of the peak travel season. The church closes at 7pm and the entrance to the dome at 6pm. I noticed that the line to enter St Peter's moved a lot quicker and was shorter after 6pm in January.

I have also read good things about that 8pm tour. We did a 7:20am tour for the same crowd avoidance reason.

For St. Peters, The security line at 10am on February 22 (as we were leaving) was daunting - wrapped halfway around the entire square. Must have been thousands of people. We had done an early morning Sistene Chapel tour that got us into St. Peter's directly from the Vatican Museum by about 8:45, I think. But, we sacrificed additional less crowded time in the Vatican Museum. Our guide noted that because St. Peter's is free to enter, EVERYONE goes there. She was very firm in pointing out that we should see everything of St. Peter's that we wanted to see before we walked out of the exit, as there was no getting back inside without going to the end of that line.

So, I hope 4pm is a better time. We did climb the dome, so once you get in, maybe do that first if it's something you want to do. Your daughter may like that. We had no line for that at 9:40am or so, but it does cost 8 euro to do all stairs and 10 euro to take the elevator part of the way.

Usually, a guided Vatican tour will lead you out to St. Peter's after
visiting the Sistine Chapel. Unless I'm wrong about some tours.

Not the evening tours, unfortunately. The basilica closes before they begin.

Wish I had a good answer for you on the 4:00 time but I haven't done Rome in June. The top attractions WILL be very, very busy, and I'd rather take the chance getting in line before the church opens in the morning (which is what we did) to both shorten the wait and avoid standing in a queue in the summer heat.

My most recent experience was that the security line was also half-way around the square at 4:30 and took about 45 minutes, waiting in hot sun in October, 2017. There may have been fewer visitors, but also fewer security staff working than at other times of day. In addition, the portion roped off during 5:00 p.m. mass was fully half of the church.

I was there on a Thursday in July and we waited about 20-25 minutes in the security line at around 2 or 2:30pm. ETA: This was the line to get into St. Peter's itself, not the dome.

Not the evening tours, unfortunately. The basilica closes before they begin.

Oops, yes, Kathy, thanks for the catch. I forgot St. Peter's closes early unless a Mass is going on.

Thank you everyone for your kind replies. I found a St. Peter's Basilica fast pass with Audio tour for around $20 each. That is worth my piece of mind knowing I won't have to queue for an hour in the sun. Although it doesn't get us past security any faster, it is still worth it.

I believe what that audio tour/pass gets you is the ability to use a separate, shorter security line.

How/where did you book your June tour? I'm trolling online a couple of times a day to book a Vatican/Sistine Chapel tour on Monday, June 3. The official site only offers tours through April?

The official site I'm referring to:
(https://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do?action=gototipovisitapertag&tag=museibigliettiingresso&weblang=EN)

Thanks.

Hi Gbrennan - night tours are available on Fridays. That works for us. Hope this helps. Here’s the link to where it is on the site: http://m.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani-mobile/en/visita-i-musei/scegli-la-visita/musei-e-collezioni/musei-vaticani-in-notturna.html

How/where did you book your June tour? I'm trolling online a couple of
times a day to book a Vatican/Sistine Chapel tour on Monday, June 3.
The official site only offers tours through April?

Just checking back to see that you got your tickets booked? Your problem back when you were "trolling" was that you were too early: daytime "Open tour" tickets (what you'd linked) hadn't gone on sale in early March for June yet.

Anyway, Just wanted to make sure all is well and you were able to book what you needed :O)