To queue or not to queue for Sistene Chapel
 

We'll be in Rome next week, and have 2 full days & 1 afternoon to explore. We are planning to do a tour of the Sistene Chapel & The Colosseum. Rather than book ahead I'd prefer to see what the weather is like & then decide which tour to do accordingly.
I have read that the queues can be long for the Sistene Chapel if not pre-booked. How long is long?? Half hour, one hour? Morning or afternoon best? I don't mind getting up early but we are on holiday.
Thanks

You can't queue for the Sistine Chapel (only) - you have to go through the Vatican Museum to get there. I believe 10am is the earliest admittance if you are entering as individuals (without a tour group), and the lines will be very long by then. I read a couple times when I was planning our trip last fall that you could sometimes wait until late in the afternoon and have a shorter line experience. We didn't find out b/c my husband and I had been before and our companions didn't want to spend the time.

and there is a posted route that takes you directly to the Sistine - other routes wind you around the vast museum to get there near the end

PalQ - can you restate, I'm not sure what you are saying.... Are you saying there is a direct entrance, bypassing the interior of the Vatican Museum? Haven't heard of it so please clarify... Thanks.

Going to the Vatican museums in the early afternoon seemed to work well for most people last year. The hours are longer this year which may affect timing
Last year in early March there was a long line before the museums opened but noticed people walking right in around 12:30 or 1

Hi walesgirl,

it is right that there are signposts to the sistine chapel - but they still take you through the main parts of the gallery - which will take you about 2 hours.

if you really want to go to the vatican, i would strongly advise you to book - do you really want to spend 1/2 day in a queue? after all you've only got 5 of them! [1/2 days, that is].

as for the colosseum, you don't need to book. either buy a Romapass and use the free bit for the colosseum, or buy your combined ticket at the entrance to the palatine hill [in the forum]. then at the colosseum, you go to the left of the queue and use the entrance marked "groups."

where you might want a tour is for the forum, which is free, but can appear to be a rather mysterious pile of stones to the uninitiated. [like me].

regards, ann

We didn't book ahead at the Vatican because I didn't want to be tied into a schedule. Once there, we signed up with an impromptu tour and cut the line to be with the tourguide who was already in line. It was a nightmare and the lines were very long (summer of 2006).

I swore that next time I would book a tour of the Vatican ahead of time.

As ann says, buy a combined ticket for the Colosseum/Palatine Hill. Buy at Palatine Hill, where there will be a very short line, and then walk over to the Colosseum and go right in, past the line waiting to purchase tickets.

Thanks for all your input. Looks as though I should pre book for Vatican & Sistene Chapel. All I need to do is sort out which day. I think it will be too much to do on the day (afternoon) we arrive. It's a 3am start for us.
I think I'll check out the weather forecast & take it from there. Really looking forward to this our first trip to Rome.

You are going in February which surely can't be that busy. We were there in September a much busier month and just walked straight into the museum at about 11.30 -12.00. You do have to wend your way through the rest of the museum which is also very interesting and finally you reach the Chapel. The exit at the back of the Chapel marked "tour groups only" takes you back to St. Peters directly rather than having to walk miles around the outside of the city. So if you wish to see the Religious Art then see this first before you go towards the Chapel because you will not be able to use the "quick" exit, ignoring the tour groups only message. By the time we had finished in the museum/Chapel the lines for St. Peters had completely disappeared (having earlier been really, really long) so we just walked straight into St. Peters as well. Moral of the story, don't get there early.

Schnauzer