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Vatican Museum Guided Tour Or Not

Why You Should Get A Guided Tour Of The Vatican

Inside the Vatican Museums | EWTN Vaticano Special

Any trip to Rome is incomplete without a trip to the historic Vatican with so much to see and so much history to explore, its the perfect place to explore both Italian and world culture. Even better, its situated right in the centre of Rome. But the best way to experience the Vatican is with a private guided tour.

Here are just some of the reasons you should book a tour of the Vatican:

How Long Is The Vatican Museum Tour

Vatican Museum tour takes around 2 4 hours. The duration of the tour depends on what type of tour you book, but 3 hours will be more than enough for you to visit and enjoy the art and exhibitions inside of the Vatican Museums. After the guided tour, you should see the Vatican Gardens and other popular Vatican attractions.

Vatican Opening Hours 2023

It is better to be aware of the Vatican Museum opening hours when you are considering the Vatican Museum tours.

  • The Vatican Museums are usually open Monday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. .
  • On Sundays, the Vatican Museums are open from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. .
  • On Fridays and Saturdays, its open till 10:30 pm until 29th October 2022.

Each months last Sunday

Opening hours of the free entrance are 9:00 a.m. 2:00 p.m.

1st November, and 8th and 26th December: Closed

Note: To visit the Vatican Museums, you will need to purchase tickets in advance online. All special openings on the last Sunday of the month are currently suspended until further notice. It is recommended to book an early morning Vatican tour or visit the museum in the early morning or late afternoon to avoid crowds. Visitors are required to leave the museum 30 minutes before closing time. Also, wear appropriate clothing while visiting the museum. It is also advisable to allow plenty of time for your visit as the museum is quite large and has many exhibits to see.

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Is Photography Allowed In The Vatican Museums

Yes, but only without a flash. You can take photos and videos throughout the museums and in the Vatican Gardens.

Remember that the Vatican Museums attract millions of tourists each year, so keep your camera or phone stowed away when visiting some parts of the museums. Be mindful to avoid disrupting other visitors.

Finally, note that selfie sticks are not allowed in the museums or St Peters Basilica.

How Do I Avoid The Long Ticket Lines

Vatican City

If theres one thing you should do on your visit to the Vatican, its to buy your Vatican Museum tickets online ahead of time. Trust us: Its not fun to stand in the hot sun for hours on end, knowing that youre wasting valuable sightseeing time.

The best ways to skip the lines at the Vatican Museums are:

  • Buy a skip-the-line ticket online from a trustworthy seller. Once you have it, all youll have to do is show up on the day of your visit and breeze through the entrance.
  • Book a guided tour. This is the best way to be sure you dont waste time and dont miss a thing. In addition to breezing right in, youll also learn a lot about the art and history of the Vatican Museums from a knowledgeable guide. Take Walks offers some of the most in-depth tours available.
  • Stand in the right queue. There are 3 lines to enter the Vatican Museums: one for people who dont have tickets yet, one for those who already purchased regular admission tickets online, and a third, fast-track one for skip-the-line ticket holders. Make sure youre on the right queue.
  • BUDGET TIP: You may see touts approaching the queue, offering tours that will let you skip the line. Avoid them. They are often sub-par and a waste of your precious money.

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    Is St Peters Basilica Free

    There is no entrance fee for the St Peters Basilica, and you will not need a ticket to enter the basilica. Your only optional costs are skip-the-line access tickets that enable you to skip straight to the security check or a guided tour of the Vatican Museum. Or you can book a St Peters Basilica Tour.

    Vatican Museums And St Peters Basilica

    Since you are already in Vatican City, it is probably worth visiting St. Peters Basilica as well. Moreover, a reason why it is worth taking a tour which includes both the Vatican Museums and St. Peters Basilica is that you will not need to leave the Vatican Museums and queue again for the Basilica, but you will enter the Basilica from a back door after the Vatican Museums visit, led by your guide.

    Guided tours including the Vatican Museums and St. Peters Basilica start from 38. The price can depend on the day, the availability, the duration and the quality of the tour.

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    What Does It Mean To See The Vatican

    The Vatican City is many things, but here are three important things to know about it:

  • Its the home of Catholicisma form of Christianity, the worlds most popular religion.
  • Its an independent country and the smallest country in the world.
  • It receives over 6 million visitors every year.
  • The Vatican is Romes most popular destination that, despite being the seat of the Roman Catholic Church, you can visit regardless of your religious affiliation. Its located in the center of Rome, which makes it easy to get to and adds to its allure.

    So, what does it mean to see the Vatican? When people say, I visited the Vatican it means they purchased a ticket or tour for the Vatican Museums and they probably also visited St. Peters Basilica.

    Combos Tours Of Vatican And The Colosseum

    Take a virtual tour of the Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel | GetYourGuide

    There are several options for guided visits which include various attractions. Those tours are particularly interesting for visitors who have a limited time to spend in Rome. If you have only 1 or 2 days, it can be challenging to explore the main sights of the city on your own. And, if you want to experience both the Vatican and the Colosseum on the same day, it can be a good idea to book a combo tour, which includes the visit to the Colosseum in the morning and Vatican in the afternoon . With the tour, you will not need to plan ahead how to move from one location to the other and you will have more time to experience the attractions.

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    How Many Vatican Museums Are There

    A total of 54 museums make the Vatican Museums. The last one is the Sistine Chapel, famous for its decorated ceiling by Michelangelo, and the Stanze della Segnatura decorated by Raphael. If you want to explore this cultural landmark at your own pace, we recommend purchasing Sistine Chapel Ticket.

    Payments Accepted

    Vip Vatican Museum Tours With Out

    There are a lot of Vatican Museum tours that offer very early morning entry to the museums.

    This means that although you go in before the normal opening time, you may be in a large group of about 30 people, and you will also be going in with all the other tour groups going in before the normal opening time.

    Which means it is not quite as exclusive as it sounds, even if it’s definitely less crowded than going at opening time.

    If you’re really looking for an exclusive visit to the Vatican Museums out of hours, here are a couple of options:

    VIP: Sistine Chapel Private Viewing and Small-Group Tour of the Vatican’s Secret Rooms

    Visiting the Vatican Museums after hours and seeing the secret rooms was one of the best tours I ever took.

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    How To Get Tickets

    There are several different ways to get tickets for the Vatican Museums.

    Whether you want to take a guided tour or just explore the grounds on your own, its important to get an idea of how much admission will cost.

    TIP: Several tourist discount passes include free, skip-the-line entry to the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica.

    So, it shouldn’t cost more than 21 for an adult ticket with a fast-track entrance, especially with our tip for a free audio tour.

    For an additional 14, you can upgrade your ticket to get additional amenities such as a concierge service to meet you at the entrance and guide you through the fast-track entry.

    You will also receive a Vatican City map and a City of Rome audio guide.

    Many people like this. You can read the reviews to see if this is a worthy add-on for you.

    Vatican Museum Tours Is It Worth Taking A Tour

    Vatican Museums + Colosseum Full

    The Vatican Museum is one of the largest art collections in the world: to see everything, you will walk around 7.5 kilometers!

    The Vatican Museum is made of several museums . With your tour, you will be able to visit all of them, including the Sistine Chapel, which is always included in the tickets or tours. The Vatican Museums include a vast number of artworks, which cannot be fully understood without knowing the history of the artists and the Vatican itself.

    Therefore, a guided tour could really change the experience of visiting the Vatican Museums.

    To visit the Vatican, there are mainly 2 options:

    1. Book a single entrance ticket and visit the museums at your own pace. You can book skip the line tickets here or also read more about all the different options that you have in our specific guide. The tickets include the entrance to all the museums, but a guided tour is not included.

    2. Book a guided tour to experience the most of your visit to the Vatican. Below you will find all the details to choose the best option.

    Why booking a Vatican museum tour

    It is easy! You will only need to show up at the meeting point at the right time and the guide will take care of everything, including the skip the line tickets .

    Get to the heart of each museum The guided tour allows you to ask questions to the guide and get proper answers. The tour guides have brilliant knowledge of all the museums and they will add a lot of information about the artworks that you will see.

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    How To See The Sistine Chapel All By Yourself Or Explore The Vatican Museums On The Cheap

    How to see the Sistine Chapel all by yourself or explore the Vatican Museums on the cheap

    Youd be wrong to assume that, should you find yourself in the once-in-a-lifetime position of gaining access to the Vatican Museums at 6 am a full three hours before the doors open to the public there would be any pomp and circumstance when the main entrance door along Romes Viale Vaticano swings open.

    The door, built in 1932 and topped by Pietro Malendri-chiseled sculptures of the Vaticans two main artistic superstars, Michelangelo and Raphael , is a grand exercise in symbolic expectation. The chiseled words above, in Latin script, are both direct and spine-tingling: Vatican Museums. It need not say more.

    However, its just a suited security staff member who casually opens the door and says, “Buongiorno!” Were it not for the fact that the general public doesnt actually use this door , it wouldnt feel special at all.

    But therein lies the rub. Entering the Vatican Museums at sunrise needs no added fanfare the treasures awaiting in the museums, void of people and quiet enough to hear an aureus coin drop, do all the work themselves.

    The 8 best museums in Rome

    Crea hands me the envelope and I casually tuck it away in the back pocket of my jeans its a long walk to the Sistine Chapel and I need my hands to take notes and snap pictures.

    Sì, signori! Depending on your budget, the options are as daunting as the museum itself.

    Vatican Museums On The Cheap

    The absolute cheapest route is booking admission tickets directly , which nets you an unprecedented laundry list of world-class art for less than the price of a gourmet pizza back home . Post-COVID, booking online in advance is compulsory.

    If the goal is the Sistine Chapel at its quietest, show up at least 1.5 to two hours prior to the 9 am opening to ensure a strategic position in line . High tail it direct to Michaelangelos masterpiece following the shortcut signage and youll arrive before most of the masses. Afterwards, work your way backwards to see everything you flew by when the doors opened.

    You wont have the Last Judgement to yourself, but its the best you can do on a budget.

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    What Does A Tour Of The Vatican Include

    A Vatican private tour is one of the best ways to explore this historic landmark, with VIP access and the ability to skip the long tourist lines typically included in the package. Generally, a tour of the Vatican includes the following:

    • A tour of the Vatican museum, home to over 70,000 historic paintings and sculptures, including The Pinacoteca and the Gallery of the Tapestries
    • A visit to St. Peters Basilica, a Renaissance-style cathedral built in 1506.
    • A visit to the Sistine Chapel, the site of Michelangelos most famous artwork.

    Getting To Vatican City By Metro

    Waking Up the Vatican: VIP Small-Group Tour Before Museums Open

    If you want to go to Vatican City by metro, youll need to get on the A-line in the direction of Battistini. There are two metro stops near the Vatican City you can get off on-Ottaviano and Cipro. Both of them are only a 5-minute walk away from the Vatican Museums. Its important to note that you cant buy your metro ticket on the metro itself. Instead, you need to buy metro tickets at the corner shop or at the metro station.

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    Rick Steves’ Audio Tour

    This is an excellent and free alternative to the official audio tour which provides a lot of helpful information for visitors at the Vatican Museum.

    In addition to covering a variety of topics in the museums, Rick Steve also provides a free audio tour of the Sistine Chapel, both with accompanying maps.

    Visitors are free to download both audio tours directly from his website and listen to them with their smartphone.

    You will need to wear headphones in the museums as microphones and loud audio devices are not allowed to be used.

    Mobile phones must be kept silent, so headphones/earbuds are an absolute must.

    There is also a free audio tour of St. Peter’s Square and St. Peter’s Basilica.

    Self-Guided Vatican Exploration Game

    If you’d rather take your time and discover the area around the Vatican at your own pace, there is a mystery game based on the Angels & Demons film/book series which might be of interest.

    This is a bit like a self-guided tour, except it tells a story along the way to keep you entertained as you explore the city looking for clues to solve a mystery.

    Although this won’t include tickets to the Vatican Museum, it will allow you to explore the area around Vatican City and discover some of the most important landmarks.

    Take a look at this self-guided exploration game.

    The Benefit Of Small Groups

    I have given hundreds of tours to a variety of group sizes, from a single person to groups of 50, and the experience is vastly different.

    The smaller the group, the better it is. Why? Imagine giving a presentation to 50 people vs 15 people, and how different the experience would be. With 50 people, you speak to everyone and interact with very few individuals.

    On the contrary, a group of 15 ensures more individual interaction with each person, guides make more eye contact, and ideally become familiar with many people in the group. While both could be positive, the smaller group will give you a more intimate experience and a greater chance for you to have your questions answered and come away with a meaningful connection with what youve seen.

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    Q Is The Vatican Wheelchair Accessible

    A. Yes, the Vatican Museums are wheelchair accessible. In fact, the Vatican offers free entry to all disabled visitors with certified invalidity of more than 74%. For visitors who are not self-sufficient, free entry is also provided to a companion. The free entry tickets which include priority entry are issued upon presentation of a certificate of invalidity at the Reception desks in the hall of the Museums.

    Vatican Museums And Sistine Chapel

    Pin su AllKnownTours

    As said at the beginning of the article, every tour includes the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel is always visited at the end of the tour, except with the option of Early Access tour in which you will get access to the Vatican Museum before the normal opening hours and you will be conducted directly to the Sistine Chapel by your guide. In this way you will be able to enjoy the Sistine Chapel before that it gets crowded.

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    How To See The Vatican Museums

    This post will provide information about how to visit the Vatican Museums.

    We include information on tickets, the best times to go, security, how to skip long lines, guided tours, and a preview of the highlights.

    Be sure to also check out our guide to visiting St. Peter’s Basilica. Let’s get started!

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