Queues in the Vatican, along with the Colosseum, are considered the longest in Rome. Here it is quite possible to lose 3, or even more hours. And it will be even better if this day is lucky with the weather. It is not surprising that many travelers are wondering if there is a way to get around these lines. And the answer to this question is “Yes”: for several years now, how can I buy tickets to the Vatican in advance - via the Internet. True, very few still know about this.
The Vatican is visited annually by 5 million tourists. And in order to understand how much or little is just one example. Greece is considered one of the most tourist countries in the world, and on average it is visited by about 15 million people a year. True, the area of the Vatican is much smaller than Greece - only 0.44 square meters. km, and if you exclude from this area places where tourists are closed, then there remains a very tiny patch.
Queues at the Vatican and the Coliseum are considered the longest in Rome
Moreover, entrance to the Vatican itself is free. You can walk for free on St. Peter's Square and go to the most famous Catholic cathedral in the world. But to get to the Sistine Chapel, the famous Vatican museums or the Papal audience for free will not succeed. For this you need to purchase tickets to the Vatican, and here comes the one - the most famous in Rome - the queue.
But before we move on to a way around it, we’ll first deal with the museum’s work schedule and ways to visit it for free. Who knows, maybe buy tickets to the Vatican and not needed.
Schedule of the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel
The Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel are open daily from Monday to Saturday. Ticket offices are open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., but the museums themselves work longer - until 6 p.m. Ministers begin to escort visitors from 17:30 in order to completely clear the premises by the close.
5 million tourists visit the Vatican every year
It makes no sense to buy tickets to the Vatican if your visit is planned for dates when they are not working or admission is free for visitors. So the museums are closed:
- On Sundays, with the exception of the last Sunday of the month when admission is free. Museums are open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on this day, however, visitors are no longer admitted from 12:30 p.m. The rule of free admission to the Vatican Museums on the last Sunday of the month does not work if this Sunday coincides with Easter, June 29th (St. Peter and Paul), as well as December 25th and 26th (Christmas and St. Stephen).
- January 1st and 6th
- February 11th
- March 19th
- April 20th, 21st and 27th
- May 1st
- June 29th
- August 14th and 15th
- November 1st
- December 8th, 25th and 26th
In addition to the last Sunday of the month, you can visit the Vatican Museums for free on International Tourism Day (September 27th). No need to buy tickets to the Vatican Museums for children under 6 years of age - admission is free for them.
Vatican Museums Visits Monday through Saturday
And further. It should be noted that on days of free admission, the lines are longer than usual, and the museums themselves are closed earlier. Therefore, if you, nevertheless, plan a visit, it is better to come to the opening itself so that the day is not wasted.
How to buy tickets to the Vatican
Most tourists buy tickets on the spot. As a rule, it turns out like this: they come to the Vatican, see a long queue, understand that they will lose a few hours in it, but there are no other options. Therefore, it remains to take a seat and slowly move towards the box office.
Queue for tickets at the box office of the Vatican
Second option buy tickets to the Vatican - do it in advance, via the Internet. In this case, you do not have to stand a long line, but you can immediately go through the “fast line” (Fast line), exchange the received voucher for a ticket and enjoy the exposure.
Many travelers who have bought an online ticket are surprised to find that they are already managing to complete the examination of the exposition by the time that the tourists, who arrived at the same time and took a place in a live queue, have not even approached the ticket office.
BlogoItaliano recorded a separate video in 2017 about how the lines in the Vatican look like, how much time they can lose and how to get around them. Watch it before reading further so that you have a better idea of what to expect on the spot. By the way, be sure to subscribe to our Youtube channel, where we regularly post useful videos for travelers:
| Check ticket availability and prices ››› |
Buying tickets online has one minus. They cost a bit more, as a reservation fee is added to the price. Check the current prices and book a ticket using the links below.
Vatican City Tickets: Important Nuances
Buy tickets to the Vatican online is possible 2 months before the actual date of visit. If you have more than 60 days to travel, then you can still place your order on the site. In this case, the service will send a confirmation as soon as tickets for the desired dates become available.
Issuing an electronic voucher confirming the purchase and to be exchanged for a ticket through the “fast line” can take up to 2-3 business days from the moment of ordering, but as a rule, confirmation comes faster.
Ticket to the Vatican Museums
When buying online, you should indicate the names, surnames and dates of birth of visitors, as in the passport. At the entrance, you also need to have valid documents with you, since visitors are reconciled here. It is important to note that travelers who choose a live queue need to have valid documents with them. Verification of documents in the Vatican is carried out for security purposes and applies to everyone.
Regardless of the method of buying tickets, the guards do not let visitors in shorts, miniskirts, clothes with bare shoulders, etc.
Tickets are valid for visiting the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel themselves. It should be borne in mind that some sections of museums may be closed to visitors in connection with planned exhibitions, repairs, etc. However, the collection itself is so wide and varied that you are unlikely to feel that something is missing.
Tickets to the Vatican as part of an organized tour
Another way to see the exposition of the Museums and visit the Sistine Chapel is within the framework of an organized tour. Those are group and individual.
As part of a group sightseeing tour of the Vatican, together with a Russian-speaking guide, they visit Museums, the Sistine Chapel with the fresco “The Last Judgment”, and St. Peter's Basilica with a separate stop at Pieta Michelangelo. The size of the group, as a rule, is 15-20 people, and participation in the tour for each visitor costs 50 Euros. Moreover, this price already includes an entrance ticket.
As for individual excursions, their range is even wider. In more detail about the most interesting of them BlogoItaliano wrote in a separate article. Individual excursions are ideal if you are not a fan of a large crowd or traveling in a group of 3 people. In the latter case, in terms of a person, this decision may even be more profitable.
Learn more about excursions in the Vatican and Rome, clarify details or book your participation through the guide Lelu. BlogoItaliano's detailed review of her can be found here. Current Lela Email - email protected. You can also contact her through the feedback form under this article.
Just in case, we note that a visit to the Vatican is very popular throughout the year, and often all places in a group are already occupied a few days before the excursion. Therefore, to write Lele always makes sense in advance, at least in order to probably know about the availability of free places.
Audio guide for the Vatican Museums
If you wish, you can rent a personal audio guide during your visit to the Vatican. It is not included in the ticket price, but it can be taken on the spot. Renting one audio guide will cost you 7 Euros. The audio guide route provides for about 400 stops, and among the possible language options there is also a Russian one.
Papal audience
Another event in the Vatican that you can buy tickets for is the Papal audience. It takes place regularly - on Wednesdays - during the stay of the Pope in his residence. At an audience, the Pope makes an appeal to the pilgrims who have arrived and blesses them.
Audience with the Pope in St. Peter's Square
In the warm season, the audience takes place on St. Peter's Square, in the cold - in the Nervi Hall. An excursion to the Papal audience is conducted in English, German, French and Spanish and is an unforgettable event even for those who are not Catholic.
The exact time of the audience depends on the schedule of the Pope, but usually it starts at 10: 00-10: 30 in the morning. However, in order to get to the event, you should get up early in the morning, because guests of the audience are taken on a tour around 7:00 in the morning.
The audience of the Pope is a very popular event and you should book your participation in it as soon as possible. When buying a ticket less than a week before the event, the probability of confirmation of participation in it exists, but it is minimal. It’s ideal to plan an audience visit a few weeks before the date.
| Papal audience tickets ››› |
How to get to the Vatican
The Vatican Museums are located at Viale Vaticano, 1.
The easiest way get to the vatican (to museums) - on the Roman metro. To do this, take line A and get to the Ottaviano or Cipro stations. You will have to walk about 10 minutes from both stations.
From the Ottaviano Metro Station to the Vatican - 10 minutes on foot
You can also get to the Vatican by buses No. 49 (stop opposite the entrance to the Museums), No. 32, 81, 982 (Piazza del Risorgimento stop), and No. 492, 990 to Via Leone IV / Via degli Scipioni.
Finally, you can take a taxi.
Vatican City tickets and Rome itinerary for 1 day from BlogoItaliano
At the end of 2017, BlogoItaliano updated our popular self-guided Rome itinerary in 1 day, covering the main attractions of the Eternal City. This is a way to see all the most important things in Rome in 1 day and at the same time save a lot on excursions.
By the way, inside the route, in addition to many little-known and very useful points, it is described how to get a powerful audio guide for the main sights of Rome and the Vatican almost for free (for only $ 5). At the same time, the author of BlogoItaliano tested it on himself: it is surprising that so many people still buy audio guides in the museums themselves (for example, it costs only 7 Euros in the Vatican) when there is such an option.
The route begins with the Vatican, and therefore, making it the starting point of your visit, you can manage to cover a lot of other attractions on the same day. True to implement the route without pre-purchased tickets to the Vatican almost unrealistic, because there will be more than 15 points on the map, and in each of them you will want to make a stop.
Learn more about the route: you can get your online version and print option on this page.
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Have a good trip!
Photos by: Bob Hall, keimevo, Mike Fitzpatrick, Tim Browning, dean walliss, Brian N, Choral Office, George Thacker.
