Vatican Museums

Name: Vatican Museums
Address: Rome, Italy

Museum

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Museum · Rome, Italy 41.9065°N 12.4536°E

Why you should go

Ninety seconds on Vatican Museums

Time needed

3 hoursFor the highlights alone

Best time

8am or after 5pmTue or Thu the best days

Cost

TicketedTimed entry, book ahead

Effort

Hours on footOver 7km if you see it all

Season

Quiet in JanuaryBusy February to November

Access

Lifts and rampsSome older rooms stepped

Book entry at 8am or after 5pm: between ten and three the one-way route to the Sistine Chapel is packed wall to wall.

Visiting

Past security, an escalator lifts you onto a route that only runs forward, and the signs for the Sistine Chapel pull the whole flow straight along it. Step off early. The Pinacoteca, reached by walking out into the open as you come off the escalator, hangs Raphael's Transfiguration and Caravaggio's Deposition. Beyond the Pinecone Courtyard come the Pio Clementino's sculpture rooms, with the Laocoön and the Apollo Belvedere, then the Gallery of Maps, a 120-metre hall of painted Italy under a gilded ceiling, and the Raphael Rooms, where the School of Athens is. The chapel comes near the end. It is kept silent, phones are banned, and guards will stand over you while you delete a picture.

Know before you goShoulders and knees must be covered and hats are not allowed, and guards turn people away at the Sistine Chapel and at St Peter's; in summer, carry a light scarf. Rucksacks, large bags, medium and large umbrellas, knives and scissors go to the cloakroom, which is free. A ticket is valid only on its own day, cannot be refunded and is checked against your ID, so book in your name as it appears there, and only on the official site. Besides most Sundays, the museums close on fixed holidays, among them 29 June, 14 and 15 August and 8 December. The last Sunday of the month is free, and its queues are the longest of the year.

41.907, 12.454 View on the globe → See it on the globe →

Getting there: Metro Line A to Ottaviano or Cipro, tram 19 or buses 32, 81 and 982 to Piazza del Risorgimento, or bus 49 to the square in front of the entrance. The entrance is at Viale Vaticano 100, on the outside of the Vatican walls: from St Peter's Square it is a fifteen-minute walk uphill, so do not start from there with a slot to make. St Peter's Basilica has its own security line, and the shortcut into it from the Sistine Chapel is open only to tours that include the basilica.
Last entry: 6pm, Monday to Saturday; 12.30pm on the last Sunday of the month
Official site: museivaticani.va
Directions: Open in Google Maps

Vatican Museums

Why you should go

Visiting

Nearby

Colosseum

Terni

Siena