I just found this page this morning when updating some of my info for our trip in May and thought it might be helpful. There is now a Vatican Museum web page, http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/tickets/do?action=booking, that allows you to reserve and buy your museum tickets up to 60 days in advance of your visit. Reservation fee is 4 euros plus the cost of the ticket. If you use the service soon, please report back on how well it works or doesn't work.
Given the recent reports of no lines, we were going to wing it (didn't want to be tied to a specific tour time), but now we might have to try this instead.
Thanks for the heads-up, and I'll post back if we do decide to purchase tickets online.
Purchased the ticket online today for 11am on Nov. 20th. Online purchasing and my american credit card worked (takes Visa and MC only) just fine. The website will time out if you leave it too long, so make sure you have your date and time figured out in advance. At the end of the transaction once you pay, they email you a voucher that you print out and take with you. I'll report back in a few weeks how it went. Less than 2 weeks to Italy, whee!
I have unsuccessfully tried to purchase tickets from this site. Has anyone else had the same issue? All it told me was "payment denied" but I have checked with the bank and it is nothing on our end. Any suggestions.
Jessica
Maybe because they are a different country? Try calling your CC company and tell them that you want to make a purchase from Vatican City .
I had no trouble. Did you try using a different card? I assume you used a Visa or Mastercard?
As I discovered the hard way, some Italian web sites wont take American credit cards.
I tried several times to purchase train tickets from Trenitalia and my card kept getting denied. I called MC and they said they never even got a request for a charge. So I finally broke down and made the long distance call to Trenitalia and they said they dont take American credit cards online or on the phone, but the guy assured me they can take them in person at the train station.
I did read somewhere that though will take American credit cards if you have an extra password...I think its called SecureCode with MC or Visa?