hello - a first time traveler here.. Im looking for shared experiences, advice, memorable tours, time saving strategies, breath taking moments..thank you!
Posted by
Chicago
7903 posts
To save time it is better to by a guided tour that covers both - Vatican Museum and St Peters Basilica.
You will get a lot of recommendations here as there are a number of different companies.
Posted by
Pa and Italy
4152 posts
You don't need to be on a tour to save time at the Vatican. You can book entry tickets online that allow you tobypass the long ticket lines at the museums and if you get to the basilica early there is usually no line.
Donna
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
715 posts
If you are Catholic, try and attend Mass at St Peters. especially if it is a feast day, it is a lovely experience
Posted by
Hood River, Oregon, USA
63 posts
We used the Walks of Italy and took their "Pristine Sistine" tour. We really enjoyed the early entrance time and the small group. I would recommend it. You can book it online.
Posted by
Midwest
2768 posts
First some basic differentiation.
The Vatican is an area (technically a country) that has many public areas that you can enter at will, no line or checks. It’s just like walking from one part of Rome to another. St Peters Square is here.
The Vatican Museums are a large museum complex in the Vatican City. Entry is via paid ticket, it is very crowded, and lines are long. Line minimizing strategies are needed here. The Sistine Chapel is in the Museums.
St. Peter’s Basilica is the church. It is free to enter but there is a line (often very long) to go through the security check - bag scan, metal detector. Once inside the church you can pay to climb up the dome to the roof, which is worthwhile. There is frequently mass that you can attend in different sections.
The best way to beat the line for St Peters is either to go very early or to have a tour of the museum that lets you directly into the church afterwords.
I’ve done it both ways. The museum tour was good (Pristine Sistine with Walks of Italy). An early access tour lets you enjoy the museum when it’s uncrowded. And crowded doesn’t even begin to describe how claustrophobic it gets in there. Seeing the Raphael Roons with no one but my small tour group was something I’ll bever forget. And seeing the Sistine Chapel with room to move. Amazing.
The drawback to the tour is cost, obviously, but also that once you go to St Peters after the museum it’s like 11-12noon. The church is packed at that point. It was a much better experience when I went to the church at 8AM.
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
15852 posts
The Vatican is an area (technically a country) that has many public
areas that you can enter at will, no line or checks.
Mira, I'm sorry but I have to gently disagree with this? Other than St Peter's Square, there are virtually NO areas of the Vatican that one can enter without either passing through a security check (i.e. basilica and museums) and/or taking a guided tour (i.e. scavi and gardens). It is a walled "city" that's heavily secured.
IMHO, a time-saving strategy would be to book a combo tour of the museums AND basilica. These enter St Peter's from the museums via a passage reserved for tours, and eliminates the need to pass through a separate security line for the basilica. Tours offered through the Vatican's website are economical and positively reviewed:
You will not see ALL of the museums as they're much too vast to be covered in a day, let alone a couple of hours, but you will be taken to some of the highlights, including the Sistine. Many visitors have also spoken highly of tours which allow entrance to the Sistine before most ticket holders. This is the Vatican's "early" tour:
Another tour which has been very highly rated by RS posters is Walks of Italy's "Pristine Sistine":
https://www.walksofitaly.com/vatican-tours/pristine-sistine-chapel-tour
To be honest? Aside from the sheer size and architectural details of St Peter's, my "breathtaking moments" in Rome have not occurred at the Vatican. There were any number of other treasures which I found more fascinating, and Galleria Borghese was a much better experience than the Vatican Museums because of its excellent crowd control. It's very nice to be able to enjoy a terrific collection without being trampled! That's not to say that one shouldn't go and form their own opinion - you absolutely should! - but not every visitor may find it to be top of their best-experience list.
Posted by
1 posts
We (2 adults & 2 children aged 11) went to St Peter's today. Our aim was just to go to the top of the Dome.
Got to the security checks at 7.55am - 10-20 people ahead of us. Walked quickly to the Basilica (stay on the right side up the steps - it's signed for the Dome). 90% of the people were going into the Basilica; very few to the Dome.
Inside, walked quickly to the right and on to the ticket office, got the tickets for the stairs, then walked on to find a queue of people for the lift - we walked past to the left of them, flashed the tickets to the attendant who waved us on to the stairs. Then started our brisk walk up. No lift passed up or down in the time it took us to go up the stairs! We overtook some of the earlier 'lift people' on the second set of stairs, got to the top to have about 20 people in total up there, so it was very easy to get good views & photos. 5-10 minutes later the people who were ahead of us at the bottom, but who then queued for the lift, arrived - many of them coughing. (Tip: take the stairs whenever you get the chance. It'll improve your health.) Ten minutes up there, then down again. Tip: after the first set of stairs, when you leave the Dome, turn to the right to go the toilets. Then pop into the coffee bar across the roof area (just behind the statue of Jesus) and grab a cappuccino & croissant (our 2 coffees, 2 juices, 2 croissants & 2 choccy bars cost a whopping 10.80!).
Then down the stairs and into the Basilica. We left a few minutes later (photo opportunity of Swiss Guards at the bottom of the steps outside the Basilica after you leave). Quick walk to the circular marker set between the obelisk & fountain - there's one on each side - stand there & look at the columns in the colonnade - perfectly aligned to show that it's an open welcoming space (he was a clever guy, Bernini).
We saw hat the queues at security were longer at 9.10am - but probably only a 15-minute wait. Be there at 10.30 or later and you'll wait much longer. The later, the longer.
BTW Today was free entry day to the Vatican Museum. The queue at 7.45 was about 200m long - we couldn't believe it. However, at 9.10 it was 500m long! Seriously. And masses of people were still heading towards the queue from all directions. Super - spend a few hours queueing on a Sunday to save a few euros!
Posted by
58 posts
We got timed entrance tickets to the museum on the Vatican website about 2 weeks in advance and used Rick Steve's audio guide for the museum and the Sistine Chapel. You can buy the tickets to climb stairs Peters on site.
Posted by
362 posts
If seeing St Peter's and the Vatican Museum is important to you, then I suggest booking a tour. Research them well. Some offer better perks than others. While St Peter's was crowded on our tour, we had an after hours private tour at the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. For me, this was worth the entire cost of traveling to Rome.
As another poster said, there are many other wonderful places to see in and around Rome. Vatican City is only one of many, but when I'm overseas I always figure I can't go too far wrong by exploring, especially when I'm somewhere new!
Get a good guide book or several. You'll find more options that way. Enjoy your trip!
Posted by
4 posts
I highly recommend booking a tour for the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel on Viator.com. This was truly a time saver and the tour guide was exceptional. The groups are small, 10-14 people, and you skip all the lines. The prices vary but for about $50 you can have a truly memorable day where you learn about each and every masterpiece highlighted by a knowledgeable art scholar! It would take weeks to see it all...most of us have just one day - with the volume of visitors to this historical site I would definitely choose a guided small group tour! Buon Viaggio Boutina!
Posted by
14 posts
Most memorable tour was to the Tomb of St. Peter and the Necropolis under the Vatican Basilica. Very small group and you must make reservations through the Vatican:
It was an amazing look underneath the Vatican and the Tomb of St. Peter that is not included in any other tour. We are in awe. Well worth it and you will need to book a few months in advance. You let them know what dates you will be in Rome, how many people in your party, and they will send you a day and time to come if there is availability. You then purchase the tickets if it works in your plans. At the end of the tour, you are able to view the tombs of other Popes and have direct access to the Basilica, no standing on line! Just fascinating!!
We also did a Walks of Italy tour in Rome and they are great too. Check out their website. Highly recommend the VIP Colosseum Underground Tour. The tour we took included the opportunity to stand on an elevated platform above the floor of the Colosseum. A view not everyone gets to see. We really enjoyed this tour too.
Have a wonderful vacation!!