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Vatican Museum tickets and the best things to see in five hours

My family will be ordering tickets online from the Vatican website to see the Museum. From what I understand, it will be a voucher. Is it obvious once we arrive where we should go with our vouchers? We won't be able to arrive until 12:30 in the afternoon so I think the regular line will be pretty long by then. Since we only have about 5 hours there, what are the absolute must-sees in your opinion? Thank you so much in advance! :)

Posted by
7277 posts

We arrived in the morning in December 2012. There was a long rope maze set up outside the entrance, but there was absolutely no one in line at the time. Once inside the lobby area, we proceded to a low counter - don't remember if it was marked "Will Call," but there were signs to tell us where along the counter to go. Hit the bathrooms up the flight of stairs from the lobby before you begin.

Rick Steves' Rome guidebook has a great self-guided tour of museum highlights, with some photos and helpful descriptions. Some of those include the Pinoteca (great paintings and other artefacts) at the very beginning (although some visitors who return to the entrance at the end and don't use the "secret" exit in the Sistene Chapel --also described in Rick's book but normally only allowed for tour groups-- save this for the end), ancient Egyptian pieces, ancient Greek and Roman statuary, the Estruscan Rooms (which were suddenly but temporarily closed two minutes after we entered them) with a cat coffin and a genuine chariot, and the (former) Pope's apartments and Sistene Chapal at the end. It's kind of a one way trip, with the masses all working their way along the route like a giant school of fish. Having 5 hours isn't bad, so you won't have to just run thru the place, and it seemed like some people were there for just 20 minutes and rushed straight to the Sistine Chapel (for which there are signs pointing the way, if someone needed to bypass everything else.

Posted by
11613 posts

Just show the guard your voucher and follow the pointed finger. There is a separate line for ticket pickup.

Sistine Chapel, you may want to go there directly and then backtrack. I like the classical rooms, and the hallway with maps. There are several museums (all on one ticket) with different themes, if you go to the Vatican Museum website you can take a virtual tour to help figure out what you want to see. At any given time, one or more major exhibition areas may be closed (last time for me it was the Etruscan Museum).

Posted by
4152 posts

Show the guard your voucher and he will direct you to the doors at the front of the line. You'll go through the security scanner then head to the windows on the left to redeem your voucher.

As for what to see, that's a personal choice. I suggest visiting the Vatican museums website to figure out which rooms you wish to visit.

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/z-Info/MV_Info_Settori.html

Donna