The worst time to visit Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica?

Rick recently posted on facebook that the end of the day was the sweet spot for him.

We had a private (expensive, but worth it) guide, early morning. It soon got crowded.

Rick Steves’ Italy guidebook says that mid-afternoon, the crowds start to dissipate, and that afternoons can be a good, less-crowded time to see the museums. Since we had a guide, we were able to use the shortcut from the Sistine Chapel to St. Peter’s, getting there just before noon. The basilica wasn't busy then, but this was in mid-September.

Wednesdays, when the Pope addresses the masses outside St. Peter’s, is the worst time to plan to visit it.

I believe that big tour companies, like Viatour, have computers with algorithms that buy up most of the available time slots for the Vatican Museums as soon as they’re made available. I don’t know if that’s actually the case, but that’s my strong suspicion.

Maybe visit St. Peter’s around noon on a non-Wednesday (allow time for the security line), have lunch, then do the Vatican Museums tour at 4:00 PM.

Thank you for all your responses! I am inclined to think that, if not the first two morning spots, then we will target later in the afternoon. I am surprised though to see that the last time slot is 16:00 (I believe I just recently saw 17:30 or so), but may be it's just for that specific date...

I took an early tour that got us in at opening time. (January). It was not bad at all. Since we got in first, it wasn't very busy, even when we got to the Sistine Chapel. There was plenty of space on the benches to sit and gaze upward and take it all in.

I went again the next day with my husband at 1pm. It was so much more crowded. It was hard to enjoy it. I highly recommend going right at opening time, or if you can't do that, go with the recommendation to go later in the evening.

Good luck, it is breathtaking!

Oh my, we are only there on a Wed (in 2 weeks) and first tour was 1pm that we could get. Better to go later in the day if we can change it?....OR "when in Rome..." :)

We just visited the Vatican two days ago. It was mobbed from 7:45 am when we arrived and was still busy at 4 pm when we left St. Peters. This may have been a busier than normal week due to today's (4/25) Italian Liberation Day holiday but I would plan for crowds no matter what time you go. Our museum tour was at 8:30 am and it was still pretty crowded, though we were able to sit on the benches and enjoy Sistine Chapel. There are 3 lines to enter the museum - one for people with no tickets, one for people with online tickets and one for guided tours. The guided tour line was MUCH shorter. :)

One thing to note for your planning is that we had to exit the walls again after our official Vatican museum tour (booked through VM), then walk around the walls to the entrance for the line to St. Peters. The Vatican tour entrance is on the Viale Vaticano on the North side outside of the walls and the St. Peters line is inside the square. We waited over an hour in the security line to get into St. Peters. We climbed the dome as soon as we got inside (highly recommended) and the dome line as we were leaving late afternoon was VERY long.

Thank you for your replies! I will try to book us early entry, and if not that one - then later in the afternoon. But sure I hope to book ANY tickets at all! :)

I can tell you the BEST time... when the Pope is doing a mass or audience. We just stumbled upon this, I don't know if it can be planned in advance. The day we went to the Vatican, the Pope was doing an mass in St Peter's Square. All the crowds were sucked like a vacuum to the square, leaving the Vatican Museum empty. Then, when we were done the museum, the crowed was sucked the other way to the museum, leaving the Basilica empty. Only the Sistine Chapel was uncomfortably crowded. It was an amazing day. We didn't see the Pope, but we saw so much else.

Wow, that's a great experience! Not sure how to plan for that, but will look into it :) Thank you!

Just one correction....Viator is not a tour operator. It is a third party seller of tours.

Sharon mentioned "There are 3 lines to enter the museum - one for people with no tickets, one for people with online tickets and one for guided tours".

I have 2 tickets for the "Guided Tours for Individuals - Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel", I assume that my ticket is for the "guided tours" line she mentioned, and not a line for just the GetYourGuide/Viator tours?

Has it been verified if any guided tours are allowed to use the shortcut to the St Peter's Basilica instead of exiting the museums and getting into the security line for SPB?