Vatican / St. Peter's

I'm starting to really enjoy Peter's sense of humor...

The Vatican Museum has 8 months worth of 'stuff' -- if you like that sort of stuff. The musuem is sort of 'back to back' with St. Peter's -- so it's a few minutes walk around to the other side to get to the entrance.

My preferred way to see the vatican area is to arrive early in the morning, take my time to see some of what is in the art musuem on my way to the Sistine Chapel. Then, have some lunch somewhere on the walk around to the basilica, and spend a couple hours in there. Mid-afternoon I leave and have an ice cream on my way to the next thing... usually window-shopping my way to Trevi fountain...

Easy to do both...one after the other. They are practically side by side.

St. Peter's (both the Basilica and the Square) are in the Vatican, so quite near. The entire Vatican City is less than half a square mile.

Edited to add: it makes sense, to me, to see the Vatican museum (which I assume you mean) and then the Square/Basilica in one day. Maybe 3/4 hours (or more) in the museum then you exit just outside the square, which is impressive in its self. The Basilica is entered from the square.

We were looking at an 8 hour Vatican tour; what are your thoughts?

Depends what time your tour is and how it meshes with the Basilica's opening times - the place is huge it would be a shame to spend less than an hour there.

Do you think an 8 hour tour of the Vatican is over the top?

How long's a piece of string? The Vatican museum is amazing and stuffed to the gills with treasure - there's certainly 8 hours worth of "stuff" to see, especially if you have a knowledgeable guide. For myself, after about 4 hours I'm museumed out, what's your museum stamina like?

BTW, what do you mean when you say "Vatican?" 8 hours in the "Vatican Museum" might be a bit much for me. 8 hours split between the museum and the rest of the Vatican City (inc. St. Peters) would be ideal (for me.)

8 hours in the museum would be WAYYY over the top for me. 8 hours in a nice quiet museum with only a few other patrons might be OK. However, the Vatican Museums are not only stuffed to the gills with treasures but also stuffed to the gills with people.

There really is no way to answer how much time to spend because everyone is different.

I know people who have spent all day at the Vatican and not had enough. I spent one morning viewing everything and I was ready to go.

You want to know how far apart they are.....you won't walk more than 5-10 minutes between St. Peters, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museum.

Yes, do them in one day.

You can definitely see both places in 1 day but I personally would not do an 8-hr tour. I was considering a 5-hr tour & my husband vetoed that idea so we took a 3-hr tour instead. In retrospect, I think 5 hours would have been fine but definitely my limit! There's a lot to see & we were on information overload & by the end of 3 hrs, I wanted to get away from the crowds & go somewhere more quiet. But, everyone has a different threshold.

I will be in Rome for the first time next month and plan to spend a day at the Vatican.

1. What would be the best day for me to visit? I will be in Rome from Friday evening, Feb. 12 through Thursday evening, Feb. 18. This includes Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday.

2. How best to allocate my time and in what order? I am especially interested in the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica and do not plan to visit the grottoes or the necropolis. After reading briefly a guide to the museums I think I could happily spend hours and hours in them, but I need to be able to rest (mentally and physically) about every couple of hours. Is that possible? Like a cafeteria break?

3. Is it worth the time and climb to see the dome?

4. Does it matter if the day is dark and cloudy? Are there parts that have only natural lighting?

1. To take advantage of the "secret" tour group shortcut from the Sistine Chapel to the Basilica, it is best to do the museum first, followed by the church.

When we went, we arrived at the museum shortly before 11. I would say the museum is divided into 3 main buildings: entry, Pinoteca, and the main museum. The entry building has the ticket counters, post office, and a cafeteria. The Pinoteca is a painting gallery that has some incredible art, including Raphael I believe. I don't think many people visit it though. If you went there, you could then go back to the cafeteria if you needed a rest.

Once in the 'main' museum, however, you are going to go for quite a ways before you reach the Sistine Chapel. How long this takes you depends on how fast you walk and how distracted you are by all the other art. Unfortunately, I don't recall benches except in the chapel itself or outside in the courtyard. You will have to backtrack if you want to go to the cafeteria.

There is a cafeteria at St. Peter's, but it is up on the roof. Fortunately, there is an elevator up to that point if you need to re-charge for the Big Climb. Which brings me to...

1. In my humble opinion, absolutely. It's not for the faint-hearted, or those with claustrophobia, but the views of Rome are stunning. Because everything is so darn big, I think being able to see it from above helps provide a sense of scale.