Vatican Museum: how to avoid lines?

You still have to go through security. There is likely to be a line at security, but I've not found it to be particularly long or slow.

The alternative is to book one of the tours (through a private agency) that goes in before the museum opens or after it closes. But those are markedly more expensive. You still have to go through security, but there should be minimal line, since the museum is closed to other visitors.

There are lines to collect your reserved ticket. Those lines (there are several) could be longer than the line to buy a ticket without reservations... Unless, of course, that morning is booked solid. No line there at all, meaning disappointment for those without reservations, could be a possibility on a Monday.

Museums that are at their reservation capacity will be crowded. But in Europe, I think it's typically better than in the U.S. For instance, we saw a popular Impressionist Exhibit at the de Young Museum in San Francisco... o_O ... Their idea of sold out was even more claustrophobic than free day at the Prado in Madrid. Yes it's a small place, but getting up for a good view of 'Starry Night on the Rhone' was like being in a mosh-pit at CBGB's in the '80's. While in the massive Prado Museum on a free evening, there were only a few dozen people crowding around 'The Garden of Earthly Delights'.

To compare the Vatican Museum, 'Fire in the Borgo' is in a fairly small room, but since it's mounted rather high, I was able to stand in the middle for quite a while and enjoy all the Raphael's without feeling too squeezed. And in the Sistine Chapel, it was ear-to-ear, but I still found a place on the steps to sit awhile. (I'm pretty sure there were signs saying no sitting, but at least 60 people were doing so.)

It's one thing to avoid the lines outside the museums, but there is no escaping the crowds inside during normal hours except by going at your own pace and letting the tour groups swirl around you. Taking an audio guide and being patient will help.

Rick's guidebook says afternoons are less busy. Also, I've read several blogs by Vatican tour guides who say to go in the afternoon rather than the morning because it is less crowded. Everyone assumes or is advised by a guide book that they should go in the am to beat the lines when it is the exact opposite. Here is an example of one of the guide's blogs who say to go in the afternoon at around 3 https://www.livitaly.com/blog/2014/04/best-time-to-visit-the-vatican-museums/
That being said, you already know Monday is going to be jam packed because the Vatican is closed on Sundays. As other people have mentioned, you can go on an early guided tour offered by 3rd party tour companies. They are more expensive but worth it. If cost is an issue or you simply want to DIY and you don't mind waking up early to avoid lines, the Vatican museum offers breakfast and early entry as well with an audioguide http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do?action=booking&codiceLivelloVisita=34&step=1. Breakfast is at 7 am.
It seems the Museum itself doesn't offer the early entry without the breakfast.

I also have visited the Vatican before, & should I do it again I will go with a private company that specializes in small tours. My tour was back to back with other tour groups during the day. If this is a once-in-a-lifetime visit, pay a bit more for a local tour company to take you when it is not so busy.

I notice one company's tours ($200) include places the general public does not have access to including part of the Papal apartments which His Holiness currently does not use.

If you expect this to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, I would spend extra for a leisurely tour. Should you decide to go with the crowds, be sure to purchase a book containing professional pictures of what is on the tour.

My two-cents worth. :-)

If you have a reserved time slot you get in quite quickly; there is a line to accommodate reservations. You don't have to pay a tour huckster to avoid the very long line of people without tickets who line up at the crack of down.

And it is absolutely right that first thing in the morning is the worst time to line up if you don't have tickets. We have walked in with virtually no line at 1:30 -- I once waited for 2 hours early in the morning.

With either an official tour or entry tickets booked through the official site you'll bypass the ticket line outside, which can be hours long. You'll enter at the door which is just a few feet from the security scanners. Once through the security scanners you'll go to the special services desks to get your actual ticket or check in for the tour. This takes about a minute but could take a little longer if there are others doing the same thing. However, this will not take nearly as much time as it would if you didn't have pre-purchased entry tickets or a tour. You would still be waiting in the line outside and then the long ticket line inside.

As far as tours and crowds go, there really isn't a time when there aren't any crowds at the Vatican museums. In the mornings you'll find tons of tour groups from the local area as well as tours coming in from the cruise port. The museums will be packed with bodies all trying to get through to the Sistine chapel, which will be wall to wall people (talk about no personal space). In the afternoon most of the cruise tours are gone but you still have a lot of private tours going through as well as those not on tours who have heard that it's less crowded in the afternoon, which of course, makes it just as crowded in the afternoon because all of those people are there. One way that guides sell their afternoon tours is by saying that in the afternoon there are no lines outside, which can be true but that only means that those who waited two hours in the line are now inside the museum clogging up the galleries and the chapel.

Bottom line is that the museums are crowded from the time they open until the time they close. Even during the slow season the museums are packed all day long. I've been during slow season, shoulder season and high season. I've gone at different times of the day on different days of the week. The one constant is the crowd.

There is a way to skip the "line" and that is by buying advanced tickets or booking a tour. Just be aware that the line you will skip is the ticket line. You'll still go through the security check point and you'll still find huge crowds inside the museums. Skipping the line doesn't mean you get a museum with no crowds, it simply means you don't wait up to two hours in order to buy a ticket.

Donna

Amen...Donna

Thank you all for your comments!

I was just there 2 weeks ago on the 25th. Here is my observation. It was a rainy day and we had reservations for 9am. I arrived by tram and walked up towards the entrance area following the crowd. As we approached, the line was already around the corner(a good 200yds from entrance), but we went around the line and up the lane dedicated to those with reservations. No wait. Just had to make our way past all the peddlers selling umbrellas and ponchos. Security line took 5 minutes.
Enjoyed some of, if not the best, artwork in the world.
Left around 1:30-2pm, it was still raining. Yet the line had grown another hundred yards. Also, it looked like the "lane reserved for those with reservations" had filled up with people without reservations, because most were trying to merge back into the other line.

Advice: If you have reservations, it might be best to cross the street and go around the crowds all the way to the front entrance. Then determine where the end of the reservation line begins.

Good advice from the last poster. Walk up the other side of the street, thus avoiding the self stick sellers and touts. You can then cross the road and see the obvious entry for those who have prepurchased tickets. It is on the right side facing the entrance. Once you get through security then head for the ticket collection windows on the left of the entry hall.

It is not always obvious to people with prepaid tickets that they do not have to join the long line snaking down the hill. On a recent visit we walked up past the line for those without tickets, and as we passed a couple I noticed they had the official Vatican booking confirmation in their hands. I explained that they could march up the front. They were reluctant to leave the queue but were happy when I convinced them!

I went in mid-June 2012 and was very turned off by the aggressive ticket hawks several blocks perimeter around the entire Vatican City. And even though you can avoid the long lines by the methods outlined in previous posts, that doesn't help the huge crowds inside. In the Sistine Chapel, we were packed like sardines and the guards kept yelling at everyone to be quiet. I'd been there before in the dead of winter with sparse crowds and I will never again go back in peak tourist season.

So, I did make a reservation Online for May 18 2015 (Monday).
I DID NOT wait in line at all!!! YAY!!
I made the reservation for 9:00 am. I went to the vatican around 8:30 am.
I did see a lot of people in line to get into the vatican who did not make the reservation.
There are many vatican staffs outside of the museum who told me where to go.
I went straight to the security check. It was less than 2 minutes and I was in!
My recommendation for future vatican museum visitors:
1. Make online reservation.
2. Get there early! It did get crowded inside.
3. Go straight to the security or as around for directions!
4. Download RickSteve's Audio guide! It was very informative and useful. Also, free :)