Vatican ticket calendar

August 15 is Ferragosto (the assumption of the Virgin Mary) a traditional Catholic Holiday.

This year The Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum are closed on the 14th as well.

FYI on Sunday the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel are always closed.

Religion beats tourism.

i was just at the Vatican Museum website to possibly buy tickets but
for my chosen day of Tuesday, Aug. 13 the calendar is showing that day
along with the next 3 days in pink and apparently not available.

Just the 14th and 15th are closed; they're open the 13th and 16th but I'm guessing that general-entry online tickets are sold out for those two days because they flank the closures.

http://www.museivaticani.va/content/dam/museivaticani/pdf/utilities/calendario_musei.pdf

I am seeing availability on 8/13 for the museums/Sistine chapel 2-hour tour at 1:00 PM. Take a look?

http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/visita-i-musei/scegli-la-visita/musei-e-collezioni/musei-vaticani-e-cappella-sistina/visita-guidata-musei-vaticani-e-cappella-sistina---singoli-.html

You don't have to leave the museums after the tour is over, and/or you do have the ability to exit directly into the basilica from the Sistine via the door reserved for tours.

I'm also seeing availability on 8/13 for the 3-hour combined tour of museums +basilica.

http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/visita-i-musei/scegli-la-visita/musei-e-collezioni/musei-vaticani-e-basilica-di-san-pietro/visita-guidata-musei-e-basilica-s--pietro-per-singoli-e-gruppi-.html

Thanks for the info. That was a different calendar from what I look at when going to buy a ticket. I'm looking at this website:
https://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do?aaaamm=20198&numeroPartecipanti=1&step=3&action=booking

And it shows 8/13-16 blocked. I don't see how I can get a ticket for the 13th. If i can't I think I can work around it. It will just mean rejugglilng most of my plans i've had for over 6 months.

Also, I was thinking of just doing the individual skip the line self tour. Maybe there's a tour group i could join instead that will be allowed in on Tuesday the 13th?

Oops, sorry but I'm trying to rush early this morning because I need to leave soon to work. I overlooked the tour link you sent and I used that to find the opening on the 13th. I filled out the form but it wouldn't accept either of my visa cards. I may not have time to get this fixed this morning so I may need to try again later this evening.

cbuerkle, that ticketing link you posted is what you get to from MY links when you actually try to buy a tour (or ticket). And again, if you are looking at general entry tickets - not tours - they are showing as sold out for the 13th. The tours I gave you links for are not.

Maybe there's a tour group i could join instead that will be allowed
in on Tuesday the 13th?

YES! The links I provided above ARE FOR GUIDED TOURS provided by the Vatican and they are available on the 13th! This is your work-around.

Editing to add: oK you figured out tour bookings. Issues with credit card acceptance is an ongoing security issue and not just for Vatican tickets. Best I can tell you is to reference what other folks did to solve it.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/booking-vatican-tour-snag
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/vatican-museums-ticket-res-problem

Links is this thread to other threads on the subject:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/vatican-st-peter-s-basilica-skip-the-line-tickets

okay, I got my visa card working after a call to my bank. And i got the ticket for the 13th. Thanks so much for that!!
Now also, I found I couldn't yet get a ticket for the Borghese. It's only showing a ticket calendar for July but not August. When will it allow for ticket purchases in August? Thanks again!

Yay! You're all set for that one. Now for the Borghese, the same question about August tickets came up a few weeks ago and this is what helpful poster Mona, who'd actually called them, had to say:

We too are waiting for the reservations to open up for August.
Yesterday we called the number in Italy and they said because of the
current special exhibit until July 28, August reservations won’t be
released until July. I am now not checking daily but occasionally. On
July 1 I will be checking daily and hoping to book our reservations
and tickets for August.

So start checking around that date, eh? And you have the Borghese's website? Here's the English version:
http://galleriaborghese.beniculturali.it/en/visita/visit-the-galleria-borghese

Ticketing will actually occur through www.tosc.it, and this is the direct link:
https://www.tosc.it/tickets.htm?affiliate=T2C&sort_by=event_datum&sort_direction=asc&fun=erdetail&doc=erdetaila&erid=912678

Change it to English with the tab on the lower right of the page. :O)

Thank you Kathy for the extra info and links for the Borghese--that helps a lot! Also, thank you Claudia for explaining the Catholic holiday of Ferragosto, it really caught me off guard while i thought I had been planning everything so carefully! Now regarding St. Peters again, i see that in the Rome Pocket guide Rick recommends going into the basilica directly following the Sistine Chapel so as to avoid the long security line. But i think i read elsewhere that he has also recommended going there early in the morning to avoid the crowds. So if i do the museum tour from 1pm to 4pm? Is that maybe just as good time to go to the basilica as going early in the morning? I might also try to go to the top of the Dome but if so i might try that on a totally separate day. I think I'll be seeing maybe all the top sights and most interesting churches. I hope i don't miss anything really exceptional or especially satisfying to travelers since i don't know if I'll be able to get back there again.

i see that in the Rome Pocket guide Rick recommends going into the
basilica directly following the Sistine Chapel so as to avoid the long
security line.

While some independent tourists have been able to access the basilica through that back passage, it is reserved for tours so being able to do that isn't a given. But you booked a tour, right? Then you can use that back door from the Sistine. I would DEFINITELY do this versus stand in another security line to get into the church! I also would not take the time to return to the Vatican on another day just to climb the dome; there are too many other interesting things in Rome to see and do.

Let's just say 'top' sights and 'exceptional' experiences are different for different people, and an overload of the Vatican wouldn't personally make my list. :O)

Yes, I got a ticket for the Guided Tours for individuals - Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel. I think I'll do St. Peters after it rather than go there early in the morning. The Vatican will only be a big part of one day. i'm going to many other places in Rome as well as Venice, Florence, and Assisi and then even nearly 3 days in Paris. That's where I created a problem which i will also be asking for help with. Essentially I ended up in a hotel in the 17 arrondissement which takes two transfers to get back to the CDG airport. Not only that but i realized too late that my flight back to the US leaves Sunday morning and the extra problems that creates. Now i'm worried about how to get to the airport since i suppose the metro trains do not run as often on Sunday mornings. Anyway, I plan to post this problem to the France forum in the near future.