Vatican and Sistene Chapel Tickets

It's free to visit St. Peter's Basilica and not connected to your ticket for the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. You usually have to exit the museum and walk around to the main basilica entrance, where there's just a line for the security check. You can purchase a guided tour of the basilica, but you can also see it on your own with your guidebook or Rick's recorded audio tour. Other parts of the Vatican complex (such as gardens) require extra tickets, if they're open at all.

A tour ticket to the Vatican Museums will eventually lead you to the Sistine Chapel. From there you can access St Peters Basilica. That really is the extent of "the Vatican" that is open to the general public.

Pretty much all the rest of the Vatican is the Catholic Church's administrative offices etc.and off limits to tourists

The "Vatican" is the area or country you'll be in. The Vatican museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica are all a part of the Vatican. Your entry tickets or tour of the Vatican museums will gain you access not only to the museums but also to the Sistine Chapel which are a part of the museums. If you wish to visit the basilica you can do that without buying a museums ticket.

Online tickets or tours will allow you to bypass the very long line to get into the museums.

Donna

FYI: Just booked Vatican tickets online in the states. Would not accept VISA. Would accept debit MasterCard after clearing it with the bank for overseas travel. This is my second trip and had the same issues in 2011.

They do accept Visa you just need to use the "verified by visa" protocol. Without it your transaction won't go through.

donna