Visit to the Vatican - help

I am assuming that you are referring to the museum and not St Peter's. I just looked at the museum calendar on their website and it would appear that on 4 Oct the entrance time is 0830 and last entrance at 1600 (4pm) with museum closure at 1800 (6pm). Maybe someone who has been there recently can better confirm that information.

Also, I think you meant to say that your plane arrives at 11:55 AM vice pm on the 4th.

Getting from the airport to the coloseum should take about an hour tops. If you drop your luggage and go, you can easily make the Vatican by 2 I would think if you take a taxi. Maybe about 15 minutes to get there if I remember correctly.

Thanks Judy. Yes you are right , I meant to say the plane arrives at 11:55 am. Ok I guess if 4 pm is the last entry allowed that should be doable. However to fit in St peter's the same day might be tough - is that open on Sundays ?

Sure is according to the website: Hours: St. Peter's Basilica is open daily, Apr-Sep 7:00-19:00;
Oct-Mar 7:00-18:00

Enjoy your trip. We are heading to Italy on the 8th ourselves.

try a guided/booked tour...they help you avoid lines and also show you around the vatican museum which is huge....and not all of the displays have explanations on them.I feel Monday morning would be a better bet for you.

Shailaja,
Your best bet is to do a tour. It's going to cost a little bit more but you're really pushing it. We were at the Vatican this weekend and the lines were terribly long. Sunday the museum was free because it was the last of the month, and i'd guestimate that 200 people waited in line and were turned away because it was 12:30 and they were no longer issuing tickets. It would be bad if you waited in line and were turned away.

We saw private tour guides, whether or not they are good or not I don't know, that were offering 25EURO deals to skip the line..that alone would be worth it, especially if you're in a hurry.

Getting 'in and out' in the Vatican museum is pretty hard to do also, so make sure you have plenty of time.

Thanks for all your responses. After all suggestions I I am considering a guided tour - ( someone mentioned in a diff post - angeltours ) on Monday morning and we could take the train to Florence in the afternoon - that way we are sure we see The Vatican even though we get delayed saturday for whatever reason.. if we reach on time we will just explore our surroundings or do the Borghese Gallery that day ...

I believe the Borghese Gallery requires advance reservations.

Hi Shailaja, I see you already figured out the best way and that is to take a tour on Mon. morning. Just wanted to let you know that's exactly what we just did in May. Not only are Angle Tours fantastic but they will have you go right to the front of the line. They took us through the Vatican and St. Peters, along with seeing the Sistine Chapel. Allow about 3-4 hours. Since you are in no hurry to get to Florence, you can buy your tickets to Florence whenever you arrive at the train station and when you get there, you get there. I'm sure your Rome hotel will be glad to hold your luggage until you come back to pick them up and then go straight to the train station from there. It will definitely be worth it and you'll be so happy you did it this way.

Thanks everyone for the replies. Finally after all suggestions I have reserved the Borghese Gallery for 5:00 PM ( 17:00 - 19:00 ) entrance on the day we land - Saturday Oct 4rth. After the gallery I doubt if we will have the energy to do anything more so it will be dinner and back to hotel.

Sunday - Oct 5th - Historical sites - during the day and evening spanish steps and Trevi fountain.

I emailed for the official vatican tour from the official website and was surprises to get a response the very next day - confirming our tour for Monday - Oct 6th at 10:30 am.

I am assuming this official tour ( from the vatican website ) allows us to skip the line as well.

So if time permits before the tour we will do the St Peter's basilica , if not we will see it after the tour whatever works out...

Thanks to everyone's input