My question is for anyone who has gone on the Vatican Gardens Tour. I know that after the tour you are allowed "skip-the-line" entry to the Vatican Museum, but I wanted to know if that only applies if you enter the museum directly after the garden tour ends.
In other words could I leave after the Gardens tour, get something to eat, then return an hour or two later and skip the line to enter the museum? Thanks!
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
17060 posts
Jon, this 2017 TA post addresses the same question (scroll down the responses):
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187791-i22-k10305866-Vatican_Garden_Tour-Rome_Lazio.html
In general, you can't leave ticketed areas of the Vatican and return without purchasing a new ticket (and standing in the long, long line). Just have something to eat at one of the cafes in the museum.
Posted by
Pa and Italy
4152 posts
Your tour ends inside the lobby so you won't need to skip any lines, you'll have already done that. You cannot leave then come back but there is a cafeteria inside the museums where you can get a bite to eat.
Donna
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
8250 posts
jon, the plan you describe is not practical, certainly not from May to September. The tour (which we took) drops you off at an upper-lobby location not available to the general public. You need to take this opportunity to enter the EXTREMELY BUSY Vatican Museum, and (as another noted) settle for the perfectly satisfactory (if sub optimal, like lots of places you could reach from St. Peter's in the time you have for lunch) dining options inside the Vatican. This is not a day to savor Slow Food or visit a cafe that your friends raved about. While it is not correct to describe the Vatican as out-of-the-way, it is certainly not "near" anything else. It's got to be 12 minutes walk even to Castel Sant Angelo. And the street crowds are fierce. Don't leave for lunch.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thanks all, this confirmed my suspicions; but I wanted to be sure! I think a mediocre cafeteria lunch will have to be an acceptable price to pay to bypass the museum line. Thanks again!
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
17060 posts
Jon, that mediocre lunch will definitely be worth the tradeoff! If it's a nice day, grab a table in the courtyard cafe.