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St. Peter's Cathedral (Vatican) Reservation Ticket

Posted by (New York) on

The Vatican offers a reservation ticket (QR code) to enter St. Peter's Cathedral at a timed entry for 7 Euro/person.

The description indicates:

Time: The ticket is valid for a specific time bracket. Please ensure that you arrive by the time indicated on your booking confirmation to guarantee access, also allowing time for security checks.

So, it is not a skip-the-line ticket, and with wait times for security clearance varying from 30 minutes to 2 hours, how does this reservation actually work? What benefit does it really offer if admission is free without a ticket after waiting through the same security line anyway?

Or, is this to avoid a further wait for capacity reasons after clearing the security line? What is the set up for getting into St. Peter's?

Posted by
6226 posts

It is a skip the line ticket of a different sort. Especially in Jubilee year, but always in summer, there are multiple lines. There's a line for the pilgrims progressing through the Holy Doors. There is a line for the poor schmos who just showed up and got in line. There may be a line for group tours. And there is a line for timed entries. All lines have a security checkpoint. All else being equal, the timed entry line, since it restricts the number of entries per time slot, should be the shortest.

Posted by
137 posts

Absolutely watch the video posted above. I just got back from Rome. I had purchased tickets to climb the dome at St Peter’s, and we followed the instructions in this video. It worked exactly as described. Zero line. We had our own lane, exactly as shown in the video, and there was no one else in it. We waltzed right by everyone in the other lines. The only thing that's different is that they were funneling everyone through the Holy Door, so that was a bit of a bottleneck, especially since we had to wait for some pilgrims to go through first.

Posted by
3 posts

Unfortunately, it seems they limit booking for reservations to more than 3 days in advance, though this isn't advertised. So although I wanted to get 5/29 reservation after figuring this out, it's too late and they are only offering 5/30 and later. Would have been a good idea had I known just a few hours sooner.

Thanks anyway, everyone!

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