The Vatican ★★★

Some highlights of the Vatican Museums: Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling; The School of Athens in the Raphael Rooms; the Belvedere Torso in the Pio-Clementino Museum; Raphael's Transfiguration in the Pinacoteca.

Rome's Vatican Museums encompass some of the greatest art in the world, from Roman and Egyptian antiquities to paintings by Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael, to the Sistine Chapel with its amazing ceiling frescoed by Michelangelo

The long Gallery of Maps in the Vatican Museums. (Photo by xiquinhosilva)

The Vatican harbors one of the world's greatest museum complexes, a series of some twelve collections and apartments whose highlights include Michelangelo's incomparable Sistine Chapel and the Raphael Rooms.

It's a good idea to get up extra early and be at the grand new monumental museum entrance (next door to the old one) before it opens—30 minutes before in summer—or be prepared to wait behind a dozen bus loads of tourists.

In fact, you should aim to do the Vatican Museums first, St. Peter's second, since they start shooing you out the museum doors at 3:30pm most days, 1:30pm many Saturdays (and, on the last Sunday of the month when it opens its doors for free, at 12:30pm).

Which is the best itinerary to take through the Vatican?

There are basically four itineraries you can follow, depending on your interests and amount of time (it would be nearly impossible to try to see it all in one day—though you could breeze through each section in six hours or so).

Beeline to the Sistine: The least rewarding route is also the shortest. The "Cappella Sistina—Corso Breve" makes a left at your first intersection, than loops around through the very corner of the Egyptian Museum to get to the long Gallery of Maps to the Sistine Chapel. This route is used almost exclusively by big bus tours and idiots who are only interested in checking "Sistine Chapel" off their list. It takes about 60–90 minutes.
The Michelangelo and Raphael quickie: Nearly as bad as the route above, this itinerary follows the same path to get to the Gallery of Maps, but instead of going directly into the Sistine Chapel, it takes a detour through the Papal Apartments—the Raphael Rooms and Borgia Apartments—and the modern art (not because anyone really wants to, but because you have to pass through it to get to the next part). Then you get to see the Sistine Chapel; then you leave. Again, this route is mostly designed for big tour groups and those list-checking chuckleheads. It takes about two hours.
★ All the best bits: This is what I would do if you really don't have all day. At that first intersection, turn right instead of left so you can spend a good 45–60 minutes among the Old Masters in the Vatican Pinacoteca painting gallery. Then go back to the intersection and continue straight to follow the signs for the "Percorso Completo." This will route you through the ancient Greek and Roman treasures of the Chiaramonti Museum/Braccio Nuovo and the Pio Clementino, as well as the Etruscan and Egyptian collections, before heading down that long Gallery of Maps.

(Before you do so, I'd recommend overpaying for a cappuccino and a snack at the café off the Cortile della Pigna. You're art-appreciation energies are probably seriously flagging by now, and you need a breather to regroup because the best is yet to come.)

At the end of the Gallery of Maps, take that left detour to see those Papal Apartments (the Raphael Rooms and Borgia Apartments) and the modern art. Spend a few minutes inside the Sistine Chapel before embarking on another long corridor back toward where you started to exit. Give it at least 3.5–4 hours.
Everything: Nerd that I am, this is what I always do. Do everything just as above, only after the Sistine, instead of exiting, you continue on to to the modern buildings which house the remaining Vatican museums: The Profane (more ancient Roman and Greek goodies), Pio Christian (ancient Christian goodies), and Missionary-Ethonological (stuff from the rest of the world). Diehards will even take time for the Numismatic collection and the Pavilion of Papal Carriages. This will take you all day—five hour sat least.

To any tour add 30–45 minutes for waiting in lines (unless you book tickets ahead of time).

Here are the Vatican's top sections (though note that the way they route you through, the Sistine Chapel comes near the end of all the main sections).

Sections of the Vatican

Sistine Chapel ★★★

The iconic fingers-almost-touching detail of Michelangelo's God creating Adam takes up merely a few square inches of ceiling in a chapel 132 feet long by 46 feet wide by 70 feet tall nearly every inch of which is swathed in some of the greatest frescoes of the Renaissance... » more

Pinacoteca (Painting Gallery) ★★★

An all-star painting gallery with works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, Giotto, Titian, Fra' Angelico, and many more... » more

Raphael Rooms ★★★

The former private papal apartments of Julius II and Leo X are now known as as the Stanze di Raffaello because they were richly frescoed by Raphael and his assistants with some of the Renaissance master's best works, including the renowned School of Athens... » more

The Belvedere Torso in the Vatican's Pio Clementino Museum

Pio-Clementine Museum ★★

This is the best of the Vatican's several ancient Greek and Roman sculpture collections, including some of the finest statuary to have survived from ancient Rome, from the Laocoön group to the Apollo Belvedere... » more

Detail from the 'messy floor' mosaic in the in the Museo Gregorio Profano, Vatican Museums, Rome, Italy

Gregorian Profane Museum ★★

By "profane" they mean "pagan," a collection of Green and Roman antiquities, including fragments of the Parthenon, carved sarcophagi, a cheeky dining room floor mosaic "littered" with food scraps, and the ancient Roman equivalent of a baseball card collection: a series of Mosaic panels depicting muscular gladiators... » more

Borgia Apartments ★

The Borgia Apartments were painted by Pinturicchio and occupied by the infamous Pope Alexander VI. His successor, Julius II, refused to live in rooms sullied by his venal Borgia predecessor and had the entire apartment closed off, its frescoes covered with black crepe. Things remained that way for 386 years... » more

The Cappella Niccolina in the Vatican, Rome

Chapel of Nicholas V ★

The closet-size Chapel of Nicholas V is the Vatican's most gorgeous hidden corner, colorfully frescoed floor-to-ceiling with gentle, early Renaissance Tuscan genius by that devout little monk of a painter, Fra' Angelico. Sadly, for some reason (crowd control, I imagine) authorities have put a bar across the doorway, so you can't actually enter. You can glimpse it by leaning over the bar, or sign up for the VIP Vatican tour that includes a visit inside the chapel (among other normally off-limits sectors, like the Bramante Staircase), plus the tour's real selling point: a private, after-hours viewing of the Sistine Chapel with no crowds... » more

Georgian-Etruscan Museum, Vatican Museums, Rome, Italy

Gregorian Etruscan Museum ★

After the Villa Giulia, this is the most important Etruscan collection in Rome, starting with early Iron Age objects from the 9th century BC and including highlights like the 4th-century BC Mars of Todi, a bronze warrior influenced by Greek sculpture. There are loads of 5th-century BC engraved bronze hand mirrors, plus funerary items from the 7th-century BC Tomb of the Regolini-Galassi, including an intricate gold clasp with repoussé relief figures... » more

Georgian-Egyptian Museum, Vatican Museums, Rome, Italy

Gregorian Egyptian Museum ★

These Egyptian antiquities—statues, painted mummy cases, sarcophagi, jewelry dating back to the 21st century BC—are housed in rooms decorated in 19th-century retro-Egyptian style by Giuseppe De Fabris... » more

Pio Christian Museum ★

If you wondered what Christian Art looked like when the people making it probably had grandparents who knew St. Peter personally, check out these paleo-Christian works dating from the 2nd to 6th centuries. There are sarcophagi from the catacombs, lots of inscriptions—the most important collection of its kind in the world—and several statues, including the 3rd-century Good Shepherd, the earliest representation of Christ in existence... » more

Selections from the Missionary-Ethnology Museum, Vatican Museums, Rome, Italy

Missionary-Ethnological Museum ★

This collection is a bit disturbing, since it's basically 3,000 years worth of booty gathered from across all continents by Christian missionaries who were busily converting the "paganism" right out of Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, African, Native American, and other cultures. However, to its credit the Vatican has set these remarkable collections up to try to convey the history and meaning behind these non-European religions and the peoples from which they came... » more

Modern Religious Art

It says a lot about how impressive the Vatican Museums are that this—its collection of mostly 20th century art by the likes of Van Gogh, Matisse, and Picasso—ranks among the (relatively) least important sections of the vast Vatican complex. Still, you will at least pass through much of it as you make your way from one section to another... » more

Vatican Chiaramonti Museum and Braccio Nuovo (New Wing)

Chiaramonti/New Wing

The Chiaramonti, arranged in 1807 by neoclassical master sculptor Canova, is a testament to the early 19th century concept of a museum: busts and statues lined up as if for military inspection on either side of a corridor stretching as far as the eye can see. What the Chiaramonti is best for is the sometime access from the end of its long hall to the so-called Braccio Nuovo, or "New Wing" floored with ancient mosaics and containing some excellent Classical sculptures... » more

Cortile della Pigna

This pleasant courtyard is named for the oversized niche containing a 1st-century BC, 13-foot-high bronze fir cone (discovered in the Baths of Agrippa). In the middle of the open court is one of Arnaldo Pomodoro's weird riven bronze globe sculptures (1990).... » more

Sections of the Vatican open only on special tours

Sistine Chapel Private Viewing and Small-Group Tour of the Vatican's Secret Rooms ★★★

See the Vatican as VIPs do – with this once-in-a-lifetime private Sistine Chapel viewing and tour of the Vatican Museum's secret rooms. This exclusive gives you unprecedented VIP access to the magnificent rooms usually off-limits to the public. Be awed by secret rooms like the Chapel of Nicholas V and the Room of Gold, and see classic sights like Raphael’s Rooms. This VIP experience includes skip-the-line entry and ends with an after-hours private viewing of the Sistine Chapel, empty except for your small group (average 15 people) and guide

Duration: 3 hours; Cost: $443 per person

...

» book:

Exclusive Breakfast at the Vatican with Early Access to Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel ★★★

Start your day at the Vatican with a lavish buffet breakfast in the Pinecone Courtyard! After entering the Vatican Museums before the general public, sit down for an outdoor breakfast, featuring treats like pancakes and pastries, and then take a small-group tour around the museum itself. See highlights such as Raphael’s Rooms and the Sistine Chapel, before heading inside St Peter’s Basilica though a reserved entrance way (to beat any crowds). Numbers are limited to 20 people on this small-group Vatican tour, ensuring you’ll see the incredible artwork with personalized attention from your guide.

Duration: 4 hours; Cost: $151 per person

...

» book:

Vatican Gardens ★★

The two-hour foot-and-bus tour of these 16th-century gardens takes you past everything from an 8th-century German graveyard and the 16th-century Mannerist buildings that make up the Casina of Pius IV, to the Vatican Radio station (designed by radio inventor Marconi himself in 1931) and the 1971 Audience Hall courtesy of one of Italy's foremost modern architects, Pier Luigi Nervi... » more

Vatican Necropolis

Opened to the general public only in February 2014, the Vatican Necropolis of the Via Triumphalis, an ancient Roman necropolis (graveyard) that was discovered by accident while digging the Vatican's massive underground parking garage in 1956. Five decades of patient excavations have revealed more than 1,000 tombs and graves dating from the 1st century BC through AD 320... » more

Italy's nano-countries

Rome's greatest museum is technically not even in Italy.

The Vatican is the world's smallest nation and second smallest sovereign state, a theocracy ruled by the pope with about 1,000 residents (some 550 of whom are Vatican citizens) living on 44 hectares of land—that's about 109 acres, or a mere 0.17 square miles.

It's been that way ever since the 1929 Lateran Pact with Italy's government. But don't worry, your euros are still good here (though the efficient Vatican post office does use different stamps).

However, even though Vatican City is the world's smallest country, it is not the smallest sovereign state. Heck, it's not even the smallest one contained with the borders of Rome...

» more

Tips & links

Details

ADDRESS

Viale Vaticano (on the north side of the Vatican City walls, between where Via Santamaura and the Via Tunisi staircase hit Viale Vaticano; about a 5–10 minute walk around the walls from St. Peter's).
tel. +39-06-6988-4676 or +39-06-6988-3145
www.museivaticani.va or www.vatican.va

OPEN

Mon–Sat 9am–6pm (last entry: 4pm)
* May 2–July 25 and Sept 5–Oct 31 also open Fridays 7–11pm with advance booking (» more)
* Open the last Sun of each month 9:30am–2pm—and it's free!... and terribly crowded
* For other closed dates, see "tips" below

ADMISSION

€16
Roma Pass: No
Tickets: Select Italy or Viator

TRANSPORT

Bus: 49; 490, 492, 496; 23, 32, 81,Tram 19, 271, 492, 590, 982, 990
Metro: Cipro-Musei Vaticani (A)
See "Tips" for more info

TOURS

How long do the Vatican Museums take?

Planning your day: Spend all day at the Vatican. Two days if you can swing it.

Even on a tight schedule, expect to spend at least 2–3 hours in the museums themselves, plus another hour St. Peter's around the corner. They're worth it.

Warning: The ticket office closes 2 hours before the museum, with the last entry at 4pm.

» Rome itineraries

Book ahead

You can book Vatican entry tickets ahead of time to help avoid the lines, which can last for up to an hour or so in the summer. However, this adds a €4 fee to the already steep admission of €16 at www.vatican.va. Or you can do it online via one of our partners:

Reserve a Vatican tour

Vatican tours: There are two-hour tours of the museums and Sistine Chapel available (in English usually four time a day) for €32 per person. Three-hour tours that also include St. Peter's cost €37. Note, though, that those prices include the €16 admisison ticket and €4 booking fee, so the tour portion actually only costs an extra €12–€15. For more info: tel. +39-06-6988-3145 or www.vatican.va.

If you prefer a private guided tour of the Vatican and its museums, book one via our partner sites Viator.com or Context Travel:

Admission quirks: When the Vatican is free, closed, crowded, open late, etc.

Vatican Museum free days

The Vatican Museums are free on the last Sunday of each month, when they stay open until 2pm (last entry: 12:30pm). This, however, is no secret, so they are also intensely crowded.

On any other Sunday, however, the Vatican Museum are closed—and if that final Sunday of the month happens falls on a church holiday (see below), they also remain closed.

The Vatican is also free on Sept. 27 (World Tourism Day)..

Vatican most crowded on Sun and Wed

The Vatican Museums are most crowded on Sundays (because they're free) and many Wednesdays (because in the morning St. Peter's itself is often closed for the papal audience in the piazza, so everyone who doesn't have tickets walks around the walls to kill time inside the museums, and by afternoon all the audience-goers join them).

Open late on summer Fridays

The Vatican has been experimenting with reopening the museums on Friday evenings in spring and early summer then again in fall allowing a limited number of visitors—upon advance booking only—to wander the mooonlit galleries without the crowds.

Dates (2014):May 2–July 25 and Sept 5–Oct 31
Hours: 7am to 11pm on Fridays (last entry: 9:30pm).
Cost: €16 (+€4 booking fee)
Galleries open on Friday nights:

More info: www.vatican.va.

To book: Viator.com

Vatican closed on church holidays

The Vatican Museums are closed on all church holidays: Jan. 1, Jan. 6, Feb. 11, Mar. 19, Easter Sunday and Monday, May 1, June 29 (Feast of St. Peter and Paul—major Roman holiday), Aug. 14–15 (everything is closed in Rome on Aug. 15; head to Santa Maria Maggiore for mass with a "snowfall" of rose petals), Nov. 1, Dec. 25 (Merry Christmas!), and Dec. 26 (Santo Stefano—huge in Italy).

Last entry: 4pm

Note that the Vatican Museums close surprisingly early (last entry at 4pm, doors close 6pm).

So see the Museums first, then walk around the walls to visit St. Peter's.

Dress code?

Recently, the Vatican (or at least some guards) seems to have decided that you must dress "appropriately" to visit any part of Vatican City—including the museums—and not just St. Peter's, where a dress code has long applied.

Err on the side of caution and make sure you arrive with no bare shoulders, knees or midriffs.

That means: no shorts, no miniskirts, no sleeveless shirts or blouses, no tank-tops. Also, no hats.

(If it's hot and you want to wear a tank top around town that day, just bring a light shawl to cover your shoulders while inside; » more on packing the right items for an Italy trip.)

Also, you cannot bring into the museum any bag or backpack larger than 40cm x 35cm x 15cm (roughly 16" x 14" x 6")—there is a cloackroom where you can leave it.

The various Vatican Museums

The Vatican Museums

How to get to the Vatican Museums

Cipro-Musei Vaticani is the closest Metro stop (on the A line, about 5 blocks northwest of the entrance; just follow the crowds).

Otherwise, bus 49 stops right in front of the museum entrance (you can catch it from Piazza Cavour, or anywhere along Via Cescenzio, which starts at the northwestern tip of the piazza, near Castel Sant'Angelo).

You can also take bus 490, 492, 496, N1 to Via Candia (two blocks north of the entrance), or one of many bus lines to Piazza del Risorgimento, tucked into a inside corner of the Vatican walls a short walk east of the musuems entrance: 23, 32, 81,Tram 19, 271, 492, 590, 982, 990, N11.

Nearby...

SIGHTS