Hi, quick question,
I'd already booked a Vatican Museum Tour through Vatican Museums for 12:30 pm in early June. I was reading and seems like that there is a passage way to go to St. Peter's Basilica directly from the Sistine Chapel. Am I correct that I can bypass the Security check and hence the long line?
Aimee, I'm not sure which security check/long line you're referring to but if you've a museum tour booked, you only have to pass through the security check there (nobody can bypass that one) and it won't take long. As far as the basilica, you can access that back passageway from the Sistine IF your tour includes the basilica. If not, you'll need to walk outside from the museums to the security queue at the front of the church. That one can be very long but moves along fairly quickly.
That is correct if you bought a tour that includes entrance into the Basilica. That detail I would think is included in the the details when you bought your tour. The Vatican Mus eum is behind the St Peters Basilica it is like entering the Basilica from the back and not from the square. You go through security screening when you enter the museum
Thank you. I was going to book another tour just for the basilica becuz of the possible long lines. I booked the Guided tour that is 2.5 hours offered by the Vatican. I believe that includes the Sistine Chapel. According to RS book, we can exit thru the corner door labeled for authorized guides and your groups only if we get too tired and wanted to leave our tour group.
Thanks so much for your quick reply. 🙏🏼
You can only go through that passageway IF you are part of a tour that is going from the Vatican Museum to St Peters. If your tour ends in the Sistine Chapel you can not use the passageway.
The “back door” for groups, if you go thru it, takes you down a long flight of stairs, then down a hallway, past a gift and souvenir shop, then farther down the hallway, where you exit outdoors, close to the St. Peter’s entrance doors, on the “OK, cleared” side of security. It was surprising seeing the long line of people waiting to be cleared for entry to the Basilica, while we walked right in.
Anyone backtracking to the Vatican Museums entrance has a long walk, then they have to go a long way to get to the St. Peter’s entrance. Without the “back door” exit from the Sistine Chapel, you’ll wind up doing that distance 3 times, once to get to the Sistine Chapel, a second time to retrace to the Museums entrance, and then again to get to St. Peter’s.
According to RS book, we can exit thru the corner door labeled for
authorized guides and your groups only if we get too tired and wanted
to leave our tour group.
Aimee, according to multiple reports, they've tightened security at that door and have been turning away people who are not with a tour group or tour groups which have not registered their client lists and paid the new fee to access that passageway. I definitely would not bank on being able to use that passageway on your own, and whether your tour booked through the Vatican itself - which you've said is for the museums but not St. Peter's - allows it is a question I can't answer. A previous poster with a Museums/Sistine-only tour booked through City Wonders was told that they wouldn't be able to use that passageway to the church.
See the first half of this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFU3SGEQ0cA
Third from last post on this thread:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/walks-of-italy-vatican-tour
I don't think the Vatican has a museum tour that's 2.5 hours: the one they list for the museums/Sistine is 2 hours, although they'll want you to arrive a bit of time in advance to get through security.
Thank you so much for your input! I have changed my Vatican Museum Tour to 2:30 now. I am planning to just take the hit with the long line for St. Peter's Basilica in the morning. It is our first full day in Italy so I will see if we can get up in the early morning. The entire day is devoted for the Vatican City. Our hotel is located near the Pantheon so I imagine if we get tired after the Basilica, we can theoritically go back to the hotel to rest.
I am trying to fine tune my trip and all of your comments are really helpful. For now, I only am relying on Rick Steves Guidebook. I just purchased Frommers and Fodor's and will be reading them before my trip. Thank you again for taking your time to answer my questions.
Amy
