Vatican Gardens Holy Week

I'm guessing that the reason you're not seeing that tour on the Vatican's website is that you're too early: tour tickets have been posted for sale later than for general-entry tickets. Short story long: if the tour you're looking at is showing as "Not Bookable", it isn't on sale yet. Try 60 days or so before the dates you'll be available during Holy Week.

Good Morning, Kathy. Thanks for your information. Do you think it would be a good idea to get the Vatican Museum tickets now (I am an early planner) and then add the Gardens tour closer to the time of our visit?

We went several years ago, but if you buy half now, you risk availability only on two different days. You have to evaluate how you would feel about that.

Tim makes a valid point: If you end up unable to coordinate both the Gardens tour with a different Vatican ticket (general entry or other) you'd have to make a return visit. I don't know how much time you have in Rome? Also, given Jubilee and Holy Week, the Vatican Museums may be even busier than usual - the mob there is dense to begin with!!! - and tickets may disappear quickly. I'm actually a bit surprised that so many General Entry tickets are still available for Holy Week at this point, and wonder if it's a symptom of a chunk of visitors choosing to avoid Rome during this particular period. Dunno.

Anyway, there's risk that you may be out of luck if you DO manage to land tickets for the gardens but general-entry tickets/tours for the museums' interiors have already sold out at that point. There are, of course, tours offered by independent companies (not sure that applies to the gardens) but for higher prices than offered on the Vatican's site. Hard for me to recommend a strategy as the gardens held little personal interest for me so prioritizing the interiors would have been more important.

I am a very stingy traveler, but this might be a time to spend a bit of extra money as insurance.

The Vatican Museums will sell out. That could happen very soon, or it could happen a few weeks from now. I wouldn't want to roll the dice on that. I'd seriously consider buying museum tickets for two separate days. In the whole scheme of things, they aren't terribly expensive if you get them straight from the VM website. That way, you'll have a time slot available to see the museums that doesn't conflict with whatever the garden-tour schedule offers you.

Are you aware that you must go through a separate security line--which always seems to be long, even outside Holy Week in a Holy Year--to enter St. Peter's itself?

Thank you for your thoughtful comments. I had not planned on coming to Rome during Holy Week, but it coincided with other family travels. The Vatican is a big box to check-off for family, and although we have been twenty years ago, we look forward to a return trip. Rick's book on Rome recommends going in the afternoon for less crowds, but I had forgotten about the longer security lines. Appreciate your assistance.

Thanks for the idea of buying two sets of tickets if necessary.