Vatican timing and scheduling
 

Hi fellow travelers,

I'm so so excited, I finally got my Ufficio Scavi reservation today. I sent in my request for August 2nd on May 24th and somehow got 3 auto-replies, but received nothing afterwards. I had already given up.

My reservation is for 10:45, I think the tour ends at 12 p.m. Considering the lines (heard they're the worst on Mondays) and procedures etc., am I going to have enough time (after a quick lunch) to get into the Vatican Museum before last entry?

Speaking of lunch, are there cafeterias on the Vatican grounds? Or are there easily accessible restaurants located close by?

And if I visit the basilica at opening time, will I be able to make it for the 10:45 appointment? How early should I show up or line up to see the basilica? Is 7 a.m. too late or would you say it's too early?


I would appreciate any advice you could offer. Thank you. Just a little over a week before I leave! Woohoo!

The Basilica opens at 7 am. There won't be much of a line, if any, to enter it, other than going past the clothing police. If you have to be at the Scavi office by 10:45, I'd say arrive at the Basilica at 8 or 8:30 for more than enough time to see it, the Treasury, the grottoes and even climb to the top of the dome. There is a cafeteria at the Vatican Museums if you want to eat before or after seeing the museums. There are restaurants and snack shops along the road between the Basilica and the Museums but they are expensive and the food is very marginal.

I've only visited in the winter so I'll leave the line/queue questions for others.
Yes go to the Basilica 1st, the Scavi entrance is alongside the outside of the basilica. Just walk out the front door and turn right, show the Swiss Guard your confirmation, the Scavi ticket office/check-in is ~40 past the Guards. And the 2 tours (01 & 03) I went on the Guards wouldn't let you in until 10-15min before your tour time.
Yes there are 3 places in the same location in the museum to eat. I remember 1 is a cafeteria with a wide assortment, next to it is a pizza/sandwich place and the 3rd was down the hall but I don't recall what type of restaurant it was.
They are located 1 floor down near the beginning section of the museum. By the beginning section I mean where the audioguide rental booths & coat/bag check? are, not in the actual museum section.
Regards, Walter

There is a cafeteria to the left of the square if you are facing ST. Peter's. Exit the piazza on the left side and you will see Galleria Savelli (there are 2 -1 in the square and 1 out) and it is next door. This can provide a quick meal if you are in a hurry. I don't think the prices were very high.
We also ate in the Vatican museum cafeteria where you can get tavolo vino in a box just like kids juice boxes!

We visited the Vatican Museums in June, and entered at 12:30. There wasn't any line at this time. This put us in the Sistine chapel by 3:30, and we just walked right in. sistine chapel was full of people but there wasn't any line to get in. Vatican Museum closed at 4:30 in June. check closing time for the month you're going.

Beautiful place. Great experience. Have fun.

muimei, not a response to your q..., but I was wondering did you send your request once? I sent mine on 7/6 & 7/8 for 8/19 and did not receive "auto-replies". Should I send them another? Should I call or fax them instead? It appears that by your confirmation that they schedule about 3 weeks ahead of date.

I just received my confirmation yesterday, too, for a tour on September 2nd. I never did receive an auto replies after my initial request sent May 31st, so I assumed that they were booked on the days I requested. But then, lo & behold, I suddenly received a reservation!

Thanks everyone. It seems like I'll be able to make it to all the sights I want to visit at the Vatican. :D

awbaker: I'm glad you got your confirmation too, I sure know how frustrating it was not to know if you'd ever get one. Maybe they take care of reservations only on Saturdays? :o

For aimela: yes, I sent my request only once for this visit. I almost immediately got 3 auto-replies. I have no idea why I got three of them since my e-mail account shows that it was sent only once. But a couple of days later, I got worried and sent another e-mail for other dates. For this second request, I didn't receive any auto-replies (no confirmation for these dates as of today). From the previous posts about the Scavi, I have a feeling that it takes at least a month and a half to get your confirmation (for peak periods?). Maybe you'll get yours soon? I hope so. I think maybe it is best to wait, since you've already sent two requests. Good luck.

I am starting to get concerned. Looks like it takes 5-6 weeks to respond. And it is so close to our trip date. Did anyone else out there get reservations sooner? I should have booked earlier, but I read somewhere on the forum that they take only take reservations 6 weeks ahead of time. Silly me.

amiela, did you send your request to [email protected] or somewhere else? The date on which you sent your request falls almost within that 5 to 6-week window, maybe you'll luck out. I did read some posts where people were able to get their confirmations after about 3 to 4 weeks.

Thanks, muimei. I sent it to the email address you have posted, and cc: to the email address posted on the vatican's website. They probably have 3 copies of my reservation request. Is there anyone who never got reservation?

The shortest lines will be at the lunch hour time. You very likely will be able to walk right in anytime between noon and 1:30pm.This ,of course, means either a fast lunch (very unItalian) or hunger (also unItalian).
There are a number of nice restaurants in this reagion. The secret is to look for the priests. They tend to know the good (inexpensive)restaurants.
We ate a one about 2 blocks from the museum and had a quick pizza at noon. We then arrived around 12:30-12:45 at the museum and just walked in.
Visit the church early (get a free tour), take your Scavi tour (it's wonderful),plan for a quick lunch and then get to museum at 1pm and enjoy!

To those who have been waiting for reservation confirmation, please note that I sent the email request May 14, and got a reply on Saturday July 10 for a reservation in September.

I did think they had forgotten about me.

You can phone them to ask if they have your name on the list. They answer in Italian of course, but are able to speak English for answering all questions.

I requested about 5 weeks before our June honeymoon via email. I did recieve the auto response, but never heard another word... we enjoyed the Vatican anyway :-) Maybe next time we will be more fortunate and actually get a reservation!

Yippee! Checked my email this morning and received confirmation from Ufficio Scavi. That took less than a week.

That's great, aimela. :D I'm happy for you. Perhaps it's true that they are more keen on taking care of requests for dates that are coming up soon? Maybe that is why it took forever to get mine or for others to get their September reservations?

I faxed in my credit card info and haven't gotten any replies yet. Are we supposed to get another confirmation after payment? How long is that going to take?...

Stupid question, but what's the reservation for? I just started trying to plan our honeymoon to Rome and Venice for October. Are there things I need to be getting reservations for already?

indigo997, first of all, congrats on your upcoming wedding :)
Not a stupid question at all, I didn't know what this was about until more than a month after I bought my plane ticket. I was reading up on the previous posts and people say that it was the highlight of their trip, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's a tour, underneath the basilica, of St. Peter's tomb and the pre-Constantinian necropolis. Given the seemingly sporadic schedule of which they send out confirmations, I'd suggest you reserve as soon as you decide when you would like to go (if you're interested in going, that is). You can e-mail them at [email protected], tell them which language you want, how many people, time and date you'll be available, and your contact info while in Rome (for the latter, you can wait until you remit payment after they finally confirm with you the date and time). Best of luck!

One more thing, other than the scavi tour and the garden tour, I don't think there is anything else at the Vatican that can be reserved (e.g., museum, basilica). You may also reserve a papal audience with the pope on Wednesday mornings, I think.