Another Vatican question! sorry
 

OK......... we do NOT want a tour of the Vatican.......we just want to go in and stroll around and see the Sistine chapel. What is the easiest way to do this?

St. Peter's is a church. You just walk in.

Sistine Chapel is part of the Vatican Museum. In fact, it's at the end of the museum route. You need to line up for the musuem entrance, walk through the museum - ignore all the exhibits if you want and just follow the signs "To Sistine Chapel".

It's easy like rkkwan said. We read that there could be extremely long lines for entrance into Vatican City, but we did not experience a line at all...although we were there in Winter. Once inside the gates, you are in St. Peter's square and you can just walk right in to the basilica. The church is amazing, and be sure to go downstairs to see the tombs of the deceased popes.

You can do a self-guided tour of the Vatican Museum with headsets, but we just walked around. Tickets were pretty cheap. It was a little confusing, and we thought we were at the Sistine Chapel before we really were (oops!) because it is at the very end.

If you are looking for a guidebook, I highly recommend Rick Steve's Italy book. He has lots of great information on the attractions in Rome.

Enjoy!

If the Sistine Chapel is important to you, I would recommend a private (and by that I mean just you) tour. Otherwise strolling may not be possible.
Ellen Craig

That's all I wanted to see at the Vatican and we didn't get to stroll at all. We were herded like cattle from one room to another with guards ssshhhing the crowd very adamently once we got into the Chapel. We were packed in like sardines looking up at the ceiling. Lasted maybe 3 minutes in the crowd and would not do it again.

I lined up for the entrance to the Museums about 45 min. before they opened one time. As soon as the doors opened, we walked as quickly as possible directly to the Sistine CHapel, only stoping to get an audio tour. It's easy to get distracted along the way because it is a very long walk to the chapel once you're inside. We passed most of the tourist and large groups and arrived in the chapel with only 10 other people. It was worth the rush, having it seemingly to ouselves. Eventually the crowds made it in but we got the chance to savor the quiet.

A few observations:
Many folks use the term "the Vatican" ,when they might refer to 3 different things. I've even seen tour companies advertise "Vatican City Tours" when they meant The Vatican museum.

1. Vatican City-I'm not familiar with any public tours of Vatican city (officially State of the Vatican City ).Many years ago ,as a seminary student, I was given a private tour of this smallest independent nation in the world. I toured the Curia and some other rooms (not the Pope's quarters).
There are tours where you enter into this city-state. Two of them are underground tours. The Scavi tour is mentioned here often and is great.
The other one is a necropolis discovered by the Vatican in 2003 and opened to the public in Oct. of last year.I to go to this one next spring. Tours are only on Fridays and Saturdays.
The other tour is of the Vatican's gardens. This is a very interesting tour that gets you unto the Vatican city grounds.

2. St. Peter's-As mentioned this is the basilica. Technically, you are in the Vatican city when you go in there. This large church covers almost 6 acres and can hold 60,000 people.
You do need to go through security and sometimes the lines can be long, but generally move pretty fast.
You will need to check your bags before you enter and no tour is necessary, but I recommend it. You should be able to get a "free" tour by a student (tips accepted). They last about 45 minutes.
You can walk or wait for an elevator to the top of the dome (get a cappuccino there).

3.The Vatican Museums-They are the public art and sculpture museums in the Vatican City.
There are 54 galleries. The very last one, of course, is the Sistine chapel.
The Vatican's website has a very good Java tour of many of these galleries.
The interest in these museums varies based on personal preference.

Most questions about these museums are:
Q: How can i beat the long lines?

A:-take a private tour from an authorized tour company that goes into the building earlier in the day.
-take a much more expensive private tour after opening hours.
-Try and enter at lunch time. (Usually much shorter lines.)
Note: Off season hours need to be checked, if applicable.

Q: What tour group should I choose?

A: Do a search here.
The audio guide the Vatican rents is very good and can help people pick-and-choose what they want to see.


Q :Can I go straight to the Sistine and skip the rest?

A: Yes, but not without a good walk. You'll walk up and down stairs (sometimes the same ones) while you weave through the many galleries. You can skip the rooms, but with the crowds it can take at least 20+ minutes to reach the Sistine.

I hope this helps those who have not experienced the Vatican yet.

We were in Rome a year and a half ago, and I have to admit, I was not all that excited to see the Vatican - and I was certainly not interested in a guided tour. I am not a Catholic, and I knew the crowds would be terrible. We went anyway, and it turned out to be one of my favorite days of our trip. Why? Because we happened to join a small tour group led by an American art history major. His knowledge of the architecture, history and art of St. Peter's was so impressive that we were ALL mesmerized. The tour was not at all religious in nature. Instead, our guide discussed the history of the building and the art inside, including many interesting facts that won't be found in the guidebooks. It made me wish we had hired tour guides in each city. You get so much more from a person recounting history, folklore and interesting facts than from reading blurbs in a guide book. I guess my point is, you might re-think not having a tour guide!

As for the Sistine Chapel, be prepared to stand in a very long line, shuffle into the Chapel packed together like sardines, and to keep looking up (silently) while you shuffle en masse towards the exit. I do think you should see it, just know what to expect! Good luck!

bookmarking

attnymom
do you remember WHO/or WHAT GROUP that was? that sounds just right for us! We are leaving next Tues! Thanks!

I visited the Vatican Museum 7/26. I requested a tour from Select Italy six weeks in advance. I chose Select because they offered 3 tours each day and we'd have a better chance. We just dreaded the thought of standing for hours in the hot sun. The night before we received a fax at the hotel that all the tours were full. So, we decided to follow Rick Steve's advice and just head over to arrive around 1:00pm. We arrived about noon and visited St. Peter's first. It took about 20 minutes to go through security and get up to the church. Following our visit, we walked to the Vatican Museum. Arrived about 1:15pm. No line. We were totally amazed. We bought the audio guide, but then found that reading the Rick Steve's room by room tour description actually worked better for us. The audio guide was handy in the Sistine Chapel as it provided a lot of detail. Amazing.

Jabez, what an incredibly useful and thorough addition to our understanding of the Vatican...thank you...I have made a copy for my next trip and will also "bookmark" for when this question comes up again (and again!)

I am shocked at all the posts stating they just walked to the chapel as fast as they could, you missed the whole experience, imo. The Sistine Chapel ceiling and the Last Judgement are the cherry on the sundae, you all missed the ice cream. Plus sitting in St. Peters looking the Pieta is also amazing.

You are welcome LJ.
I return to Rome again this Oct.
I am trying to experience the newest Scavi tour.

Another question or misunderstanding is about Papal audiences.
They aren't like the mnovies where you and another 20 people get a quick meeting with the pope. It's more like a huge outdoor "concert". Many chairs and lots of people.
Depending on the weather the audience is held either in the Square, in the basilica, or in the Sala Nervi on the left-hand side of the colonnade.


Audiences with the Pope are held just about every Wednesday morning. Tickets can be reserved well ahead of time. They also can be picked up in Rome without pre-ordering them.There are a couple of easy ways of accomplishing this:
-You can call Tel: 011-39-06-698-83017
-You can fill out a Web Form thru the
Santa Susanna website
http://www.santasusanna.org/popeVatican/tickets.html.

I highly recommend that anyone wanting to go to a papal audience go to this website. It will have updates if the pope will be present or not.
There is also very good information at this site on how you can get a rare papal blessing.
A "secret" tip: You really don't need to fill out the form. Just show up at the Tuesday between 5 and 6:30 and get in line. Most give a 5eu donation,but don't need to.
Another "secret":If you show up without a ticket,you'll still be let through the turnstyle.

The lines to the Vatican Museums are often shorter during these audiences, but can be huge right after it.

Some other tidbits:
-No shorts, sleeveless shirts, or bare shoulders.
-During the summer the Papal Audience sometimes moves to the Pope's summer residence, Castel Gondolfo, about 45 minutes outside of Rome.
-There are Papal Blessings at noon on most Sundays .These crowds are often more than HUGE (300,000). I'd try and stay away.


-Especially for Catholics:
You can get tickets and possibly good reserved seats through the U.S. bishops’ conference and the North American College ( the U.S. seminary in Rome).
You can also request tickets to a papal mass through them.
If someone sends a letter accompanied by a bishop’s or priest’s recommendation you can usually get a ticket for a seating section closer to the pope .
The best guarantee for a good position is to arrive early and get a seat near one of the aisles where the pope may pass.

e-mail for reserved seats: [email protected]-- to the Bishops’ Office for United States Visitors to the Vatican. They also may be faxed to (39-06) 679-1448. The office telephone number is: (39-06) 690-011.

Their office is located near the Trevi Fountain on Via dell’Umilta . Tickets for the Wednesday audiences are distributed at the office Tuesday afternoons from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The office will advise visitors about the pickup date for tickets to papal Masses.