The Vatican ★★★

Highlights of the Vatican Museums
Some highlights of the Vatican Museums: Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling; The School of Athens in the Raphael Rooms; the Belvedere Torso in the Pio-Clementino Museum; Raphael's Transfiguration in the Pinacoteca.

Rome's Vatican Museums encompass some of the greatest art in the world, from Roman and Egyptian antiquities to paintings by Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael, to the Sistine Chapel with its amazing ceiling frescoed by Michelangelo

The Map Gallery in the Vatican Museums
The long Gallery of Maps in the Vatican Museums. (Photo by xiquinhosilva)

The Vatican harbors one of the world's greatest museum complexes, a series of some twelve collections and apartments whose highlights include Michelangelo's incomparable Sistine Chapel and the Raphael Rooms.

It's a good idea to get up extra early and be at the grand new monumental museum entrance (next door to the old one) before it opens—30 minutes before in summer—or be prepared to wait behind a dozen bus loads of tourists.

In fact, you should aim to do the Vatican Museums first, St. Peter's second, since they start shooing you out the museum doors at 3:30pm most days, 1:30pm many Saturdays (and, on the last Sunday of the month when it opens its doors for free, at 12:30pm).

Which is the best itinerary to take through the Vatican?

There are basically four itineraries you can follow, depending on your interests and amount of time (it would be nearly impossible to try to see it all in one day—though you could breeze through each section in six hours or so).

  • Beeline to the Sistine: The least rewarding route is also the shortest. The "Cappella Sistina—Corso Breve" makes a left at your first intersection, than loops around through the very corner of the Egyptian Museum to get to the long Gallery of Maps to the Sistine Chapel. This route is used almost exclusively by big bus tours and idiots who are only interested in checking "Sistine Chapel" off their list. It takes about 60–90 minutes.
  • The Michelangelo and Raphael quickie: Nearly as bad as the route above, this itinerary follows the same path to get to the Gallery of Maps, but instead of going directly into the Sistine Chapel, it takes a detour through the Papal Apartments—the Raphael Rooms and Borgia Apartments—and the modern art (not because anyone really wants to, but because you have to pass through it to get to the next part). Then you get to see the Sistine Chapel; then you leave. Again, this route is mostly designed for big tour groups and those list-checking chuckleheads. It takes about two hours.
  • All the best bits: This is what I would do if you really don't have all day. At that first intersection, turn right instead of left so you can spend a good 45–60 minutes among the Old Masters in the Vatican Pinacoteca painting gallery. Then go back to the intersection and continue straight to follow the signs for the "Percorso Completo." This will route you through the ancient Greek and Roman treasures of the Chiaramonti Museum/Braccio Nuovo and the Pio Clementino, as well as the Etruscan and Egyptian collections, before heading down that long Gallery of Maps.

    (Before you do so, I'd recommend overpaying for a cappuccino and a snack at the café off the Cortile della Pigna. You're art-appreciation energies are probably seriously flagging by now, and you need a breather to regroup because the best is yet to come.)

    At the end of the Gallery of Maps, take that left detour to see those Papal Apartments (the Raphael Rooms and Borgia Apartments) and the modern art. Spend a few minutes inside the Sistine Chapel before embarking on another long corridor back toward where you started to exit. Give it at least 3.5–4 hours.
  • Everything: Nerd that I am, this is what I always do. Do everything just as above, only after the Sistine, instead of exiting, you continue on to to the modern buildings which house the remaining Vatican museums: The Profane (more ancient Roman and Greek goodies), Pio Christian (ancient Christian goodies), and Missionary-Ethonological (stuff from the rest of the world). Diehards will even take time for the Numismatic collection and the Pavilion of Papal Carriages. This will take you all day—five hour sat least.

To any tour add 30–45 minutes for waiting in lines (unless you book tickets ahead of time).

Here are the Vatican's top sections (though note that the way they route you through, the Sistine Chapel comes near the end of all the main sections).

Sections of the Vatican

Sections of the Vatican open only on special tours

Italy's nano-countries

Rome's greatest museum is technically not even in Italy.

The Vatican is the world's smallest nation and second smallest sovereign state, a theocracy ruled by the pope with about 1,000 residents (some 550 of whom are Vatican citizens) living on 44 hectares of land—that's about 109 acres, or a mere 0.17 square miles.

It's been that way ever since the 1929 Lateran Pact with Italy's government. But don't worry, your euros are still good here (though the efficient Vatican post office does use different stamps).

However, even though Vatican City is the world's smallest country, it is not the smallest sovereign state. Heck, it's not even the smallest one contained with the borders of Rome...

» more

Tips & links

Details
ADDRESS

Viale Vaticano (on the north side of the Vatican City walls, between where Via Santamaura and the Via Tunisi staircase hit Viale Vaticano; about a 5–10 minute walk around the walls from St. Peter's).
tel. +39-06-6988-4676 or +39-06-6988-3145
www.museivaticani.va or www.vatican.va

OPEN

Mon–Sat 9am–6pm (last entry: 4pm)
* May 2–July 25 and Sept 5–Oct 31 also open Fridays 7–11pm with advance booking (» more)
* Open the last Sun of each month 9:30am–2pm—and it's free!... and terribly crowded
* For other closed dates, see "tips" below

ADMISSION

€16
Roma Pass: No
Tickets: Select Italy or Viator

TRANSPORT

Bus: 49; 490, 492, 496; 23, 32, 81,Tram 19, 271, 492, 590, 982, 990
Metro: Cipro-Musei Vaticani (A)
See "Tips" for more info

TOURS
How long do the Vatican Museums take?

Planning your day: Spend all day at the Vatican. Two days if you can swing it.

Even on a tight schedule, expect to spend at least 2–3 hours in the museums themselves, plus another hour St. Peter's around the corner. They're worth it.

Warning: The ticket office closes 2 hours before the museum, with the last entry at 4pm.

» Rome itineraries

Book ahead

You can book Vatican entry tickets ahead of time to help avoid the lines, which can last for up to an hour or so in the summer. However, this adds a €4 fee to the already steep admission of €16 at www.vatican.va. Or you can do it online via one of our partners:

Reserve a Vatican tour

Vatican tours: There are two-hour tours of the museums and Sistine Chapel available (in English usually four time a day) for €32 per person. Three-hour tours that also include St. Peter's cost €37. Note, though, that those prices include the €16 admisison ticket and €4 booking fee, so the tour portion actually only costs an extra €12–€15. For more info: tel. +39-06-6988-3145 or www.vatican.va.

If you prefer a private guided tour of the Vatican and its museums, book one via our partner sites Viator.com or Context Travel:

Admission quirks: When the Vatican is free, closed, crowded, open late, etc.

Vatican Museum free days

The Vatican Museums are free on the last Sunday of each month, when they stay open until 2pm (last entry: 12:30pm). This, however, is no secret, so they are also intensely crowded.

On any other Sunday, however, the Vatican Museum are closed—and if that final Sunday of the month happens falls on a church holiday (see below), they also remain closed.

The Vatican is also free on Sept. 27 (World Tourism Day)..

Vatican most crowded on Sun and Wed

The Vatican Museums are most crowded on Sundays (because they're free) and many Wednesdays (because in the morning St. Peter's itself is often closed for the papal audience in the piazza, so everyone who doesn't have tickets walks around the walls to kill time inside the museums, and by afternoon all the audience-goers join them).

Open late on summer Fridays

The Vatican has been experimenting with reopening the museums on Friday evenings in spring and early summer then again in fall allowing a limited number of visitors—upon advance booking only—to wander the mooonlit galleries without the crowds.

More info: www.vatican.va.

To book: Viator.com

Vatican closed on church holidays

The Vatican Museums are closed on all church holidays: Jan. 1, Jan. 6, Feb. 11, Mar. 19, Easter Sunday and Monday, May 1, June 29 (Feast of St. Peter and Paul—major Roman holiday), Aug. 14–15 (everything is closed in Rome on Aug. 15; head to Santa Maria Maggiore for mass with a "snowfall" of rose petals), Nov. 1, Dec. 25 (Merry Christmas!), and Dec. 26 (Santo Stefano—huge in Italy).

Last entry: 4pm

Note that the Vatican Museums close surprisingly early (last entry at 4pm, doors close 6pm).

So see the Museums first, then walk around the walls to visit St. Peter's.

Dress code?

Recently, the Vatican (or at least some guards) seems to have decided that you must dress "appropriately" to visit any part of Vatican City—including the museums—and not just St. Peter's, where a dress code has long applied.

Err on the side of caution and make sure you arrive with no bare shoulders, knees or midriffs.

That means: no shorts, no miniskirts, no sleeveless shirts or blouses, no tank-tops. Also, no hats.

(If it's hot and you want to wear a tank top around town that day, just bring a light shawl to cover your shoulders while inside; » more on packing the right items for an Italy trip.)

Also, you cannot bring into the museum any bag or backpack larger than 40cm x 35cm x 15cm (roughly 16" x 14" x 6")—there is a cloackroom where you can leave it.

The various Vatican Museums
How to get to the Vatican Museums

Cipro-Musei Vaticani is the closest Metro stop (on the A line, about 5 blocks northwest of the entrance; just follow the crowds).

Otherwise, bus 49 stops right in front of the museum entrance (you can catch it from Piazza Cavour, or anywhere along Via Cescenzio, which starts at the northwestern tip of the piazza, near Castel Sant'Angelo).

You can also take bus 490, 492, 496, N1 to Via Candia (two blocks north of the entrance), or one of many bus lines to Piazza del Risorgimento, tucked into a inside corner of the Vatican walls a short walk east of the musuems entrance: 23, 32, 81,Tram 19, 271, 492, 590, 982, 990, N11.

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Vatican Museums
★★★
ADDRESS

Viale Vaticano (on the north side of the Vatican City walls, between where Via Santamaura and the Via Tunisi staircase hit Viale Vaticano; about a 5–10 minute walk around the walls from St. Peter's).
tel. +39-06-6988-4676 or +39-06-6988-3145
www.museivaticani.va or www.vatican.va

OPEN

Mon–Sat 9am–6pm (last entry: 4pm)
* May 2–July 25 and Sept 5–Oct 31 also open Fridays 7–11pm with advance booking (» more)
* Open the last Sun of each month 9:30am–2pm—and it's free!... and terribly crowded
* For other closed dates, see "tips" below

ADMISSION

€16
Roma Pass: No
Tickets: Select Italy or Viator

TRANSPORT

Bus: 49; 490, 492, 496; 23, 32, 81,Tram 19, 271, 492, 590, 982, 990
Metro: Cipro-Musei Vaticani (A)
See "Tips" for more info

TOURS


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