Which to tour first? St Peter's or the Vatican?

Starting at St Peters Basilica at 7AM gives you about 90 minutes in the Church. Its a bit of a walk ( half mile or so?) from the Basilica to the Museum entrance. 90 minutes is really just a quick walk through in the Basilica. You could do this and then return to visit the Basilica more after the Museum tour, or just do the Basilica at your leisure after touring the Museum. Your choice on how to allot your time.

The Basilica is 2 football fields long and wall to wall, floor to ceiling packed with art. A lot to see in just 90 minutes. And if you want to do the dome climb, add more time......

Being in St. Peter's around 7 is my favorite time to visit; the barricades are down inside so you can wander all through the church almost by yourself except for the constant bustle of Priests' following 12 YO altar boys in red to their assigned places for celebrating Mass. Also, it's a perfect time to go to the top of St. Peters' during the coolness of the morning and the spectacular view from the Copula.
Then, head to the Vatican entrance for your (hopefully) pre-booked time to tour.

St. Peter's is IN the Vatican. I assume you mean the basilica and the "museums" when you say Vatican.

If you are early risers I would be at the basilica when it opens in order to avoid the large crowds. Spend a few hours there then either make your way to the museums or visit some other sites in the area and come back in the afternoon to visit the museums.

The museums get a lot of tour groups in the morning but less of them in the afternoon. If this isn't a big deal to you then I would visit the museums after the basilica.

No matter when you visit the museums they will be really busy. If you are there on a Friday night you might consider visiting the museum then when they are much less crowded.

Donna

Hi all, I hope you don't mind me asking on this thread, just seemed like a good place to ask. This may seem naive, but when I look for tickets for Vatican City, I only get museums, am I to assume that you don't need tickets to enter Vatican City itself? Also, do you require tickets for St Peter's?

Thanks.

I'd prefer to get the Vatican shuffle done first and them see St. Peter's. The Vatican is huge, a walkathon, and requires reserved entry while St. Peter's is also huge but more relaxing and requires a security check but not reserbed entry.

I don't remember any checkpoint to get into Vatican City itself. But maybe it's foggy now.

Hi Rachel_B,

You are correct -- tickets aren't required to get into Vatican City. In fact, you might not even notice where the 'official' boundary between Rome and Vatican City are.

Tickets aren't required for St. Peter's, but there is a security check that you have to go through (at least I did). The line can be long but moves quickly.

The only parts of Vatican City that are open to visitors are St. Peters Square and the Basilica and the Museums. Everything else is off limits unless you have an invitation to a visit or a booked tour of the gardens.