Visting The Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel

The Vatican Museums is a huge complex in Rome housing most of the significant works of art in the posession of the Catholic church. The complex also includes the incredible Sistine Chapel. There is no other way to visit the chapel other than by touring the museum complex. Be warned – this complex will be very busy whenever you visit. We simply wanted to see the chapel and get a feel for the museums and as such our visit took around 2 hours. If you take the audio tour, you’ll get more out of your visit, but it will also take you a lot longer. You could easily spend all day in the Vatican Museums if you wanted to, but after a while the ornately decorated rooms, statues, busts and works of art start to blend into one.

There are lots of sections to the Vatican Museums and it can be quite difficult to navigate your way around at times. Look out for the signs pointing to places like the Sistine Chapel, the Egyptian Museum, the Etruscan Museum, the picture gallery (Pinacoteca) and the former Papal apartments. When you finally reach the Sistine Chapel though, you will be blown away by what you see. The frescoes are incredible and you’ll spend most of your time with your neck crooked trying to see as much detail as you can. There will be a lot of people crammed in with you when you visit, but as you’re generally looking up, it doresnt really matter.

Getting into the museums can be tricky. If you head to the Museums around opening time, you will find a very long line to get in. It’s normal for this to stretch right down 2 whole sides of the Vatican walls. From the moment you join the queue, you’ll be hassled by people trying to sell you guided tours so you can “skip the line”. The line took around 50 minutes when we last visited, so don’t believe anyone who tries to sell you a tour saying you’ll be waiting 3 hours! The tours are expensive and they’re probably only worth taking if you really want a guided tour rather than just to beat the line. The easiest way to “beat the line” is to book tickets in advance online at the official Vatican website here.

The Vatican Museums are open from Monday to Saturday. The Ticket Office is open from 9 am to 4 pm. The Museums close at 6 pm and admission is 20 Euros per person (2024 prices). Closed Sundays except on the last Sunday of each month when the Vatican Musuems open for FREE but the queues are always much longer too! There are a number of organised tours you can take which cover the Vatican Museums. Most popluar is the St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel Half Day Walking Tour which gives “Skip The Line” entry.

LOCATION & CONTACT

Address: Musei Vaticani, Viale Vaticano, 00165 Rome, Italy
Tel: +39 06 69884676 or +39 06 69883145
Metro: Nearest Metro stop is Ottaviano.