Vatican Lines?
Feb 10th, 2002, 10:18 AM
#3
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Hi,<BR><BR>I was there last June(at the end of the month). I have always heard to go early and I think we got there a half and hour before it opened. There was a long line, but once the Vatican opened the line moved very quickly. From the time we got there until we got inside and bought a ticket, it was about 1 hour. On a fun note, with all those thousands of people, the couple standing behind us recognized our daughter and are friends of our son. They were on their honeymoon and our son had gone to their wedding two weeks before. Small world.
Feb 10th, 2002, 08:41 PM
#4
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Gaye--we tried the "visit St. Peters in the morning and the Vatican Museums in the afternoon" approach in late May last year, and it worked well. The waiting line in the a.m. was over an hour, but it was down to about 15 min. by a little after noon. Also, don't let the length of the line decieve you; it moves quickly. We were at the end of about a two-block line, and it took only about 15 min to reach the ticket window. We also used the "back door" exit from the Sistine Chapel to avoid the long walk from the V. Museum entrance back around to St. P. square.<BR>Enjoy.
Feb 11th, 2002, 05:48 AM
#5
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We went in October (maybe a little different from June). We went to St. Peters about 8:30 and the museums around 12:30. Perfect! St. Peters had very few other visitors and enabled us to appreciate more. There was absolutely no line at the museums. Now of course travel was down a little due to the September events, but my guess is that the early afternoon is usually less crowded than first thing in the morning. I know some people try to get in line early to beat the crowds to the Sistine Chapel, but that's a long walk. If that doesn't matter to you, try the afternoon. The only real disadvantage was that a couple of museums had closed (included the Etruscan part), and I think that is not uncommon in the afternoon. Still, we saw so much that I didn't care.
