St. Peter's Basilica, The Climb!

Well, first of all you will have to join the queue to go through security to get into St. Peters, however, after that, it's pretty simple. If I remember correctly, just after where everyone stops to take pictures of the Swiss Guard, make a hard right to into the long hallway to the ticket office to go to the top. Take the elevator to the roof and then you make the climb. I think they close at 7.
As far as getting there from Termini, you didn't say where you were coming from-if from the airport, the track right next to the Express can take you to the San Pietro Station which is on (if looking at St. Peters' straight on) the left of the Basicilica so you can walk about 5-10 minutes or so to the square and get in line. Otherwise, Rick suggests the "pickpocket express," which can take much longer. It is worth the climb, however, I and my grandsons' have never done it in August, so can't tell you how hot the climb will be-did it with one in late May, the other in November, and waiting for the third to diecide when he wants us to go in 2016.

We are planning our first visit to Rome in August so what I have to offer is research not experience. Many others have offered us kind and wise advice. They say to make a reservation online at http://www.museivaticani.va

I emailed them and they sent me the following:
Dear Madam,
we inform you that all reservation can only be made from our web site and ticket is always included. Only tour must have a guide is the Vatican Gardens. All other tour can eventually be requested at the desk, on the day of the visit.
Kindest regards

Massimiliano Giovannetti
Ufficio Servizi e Rapporti con il Pubblico
Musei Vaticani
Tel 0039.06.69883145
Fax 0039.06.69881573

You cannot book a space in line for the climb. It's first come first served so you'll need to wait in the line along with everyone else who wants to do the climb.

By "main train station" do you mean termini station? If yes, you can take the metro to the ottaviano stop. From there follow the signs to the Vatican. You'll see the Vatican wall first on the right side of the street. Follow that straight ahead to get to the basilica. From there just get in the security line for the basilica and after that get into the line for the dome. You can also take a taxi directly to the basilica but that could take just as long as the metro and cost 4 times as much.

Donna

The best way to avoid lines is to get there early!

On our last trip earlier this year we were at the line for the Basilica at 7.40am. It took ten minutes to clear security. As soon as we entered the Basilica we headed right to the ticket office for the dome. Although it was a few minutes before the official opening time of 8am they sold us tickets and we immediately caught the elevator up the first part of the ascent (you can climb right from the bottom but it is not worth the time). At the top there were only about a dozen people. We stopped to buy postcards and have a coffee at the shop and cafe which are on the main roof top about half way down the descent. Once we got down we looked around the Basilica.

Wow! Thank you all for your replies! This is my first time in this forum and what a fantastic resource. I will be asking more questions! 😊

I am skeptical about the climb . . . there is no way to avoid the lines. I climbed a couple of years ago in February. There was no line in the morning when I started. When I came down around noon there were about 100 people in line for the climb (that's after the security check). There is very limited space on the climb up and in most places there's no place to pass slower climbers. I think the line is because people can only go up at the rate others come down.