Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Individual rooms may close at odd hours, especially in the afternoon. The rooms de-
scribed here are usually open.
Reservations:
Bypass the long ticket lines by reserving an entry time online at
ht-
tp://mv.vatican.va
. It costs €19 (€15 ticket plus €4 booking fee, pay with credit card). It's
easy. You choose your day and time, they email you a confirmation immediately, and you
printoutthevoucherwithitsreservationbarcode.AttheVaticanMuseum,bypasstheticket-
buying line and queue up at the “Entrance with Reservations” line (to the right). Show your
voucher to the guard, who will scan it and let you in. Once inside the museum, go to a ticket
window
(a cassa),
either in the lobby or upstairs, present your voucher and ID, and they'll
issue your ticket.
When to Go:
The museum is generally hot and crowded, with waits of up to two hours
tobuytickets(figureabouta10-minutewaitforevery100yardsinline).Theworstdaysare
Saturdays, the last Sunday of the month (when it's free), Mondays, rainy days, and any day
beforeorafteraholidayclosure.Morningsaremostcrowded.ToseetheSistineChapelwith
fewer crowds, visit at the end of the day.
AvoidingLines:
Thebestwaytoskipthelonglinesisto
reservetickets
inadvance(de-
scribed above). If you book a
guided tour
(see “Tours,” next page), you can approach the
guard with your voucher and go right in. If you book with a private tour company, you may
still have a short wait at crowded times.
You can often buy
same-day, skip-the-line tickets
through the TI in St. Peter's Square
(to the left, as you face the basilica). You pay the same price (€15 ticket plus €4 reservation
fee) that you would online. If the TI doesn't have tickets, you could try the tour company
called Roma Cristiana, which sells higher-priced, same-day tickets from their kiosk at St.
Peter's Square (€15 ticket plus €11 booking fee, entrances almost hourly, tel. 06-6980-6380,
If you don't have a reservation,
try arriving after 14:00,
when crowds subside some-
what. Another good time is during the papal audience, on Wednesday at 10:30, when many
tourists are at St. Peter's Basilica.
Make sure you get in the right line. Generally, individuals without tickets line up against
theVaticanCitywall(totheleftoftheentranceasyoufaceit),andreservationholders(both
individuals and groups) enter on the right.
Dress Code:
Remember, modest dress is required (no shorts, above-knee skirts, or bare
shoulders).
Getting There:
Metro stop Ottaviano is a 10-minute walk away. (The Cipro Metro stop
also works for the museum, but involves a big stair climb, and is farther from the end of the
ticket-buying line.) Bus #49 from Piazza Cavour stops right at the entrance. Bus #23 from
Trastevere hugs the west bank of the Tiber and stops on Via Leone IV, just downhill from
the entrance. Bus #492 heads from the city center past Piazza Risorgimento and the Vatican
