Chatur

Me and my wife are visiting Rome in June 2013. We want to visit St Peters and Sistine Chapel. We are not interested in the Vatican Museum. Is it possible to buy tickets for only Sistine Chapel and how much it costs.
chatur

mjdh1957

No, the Sistine Chapel is inside the Vatican museum so there is no way to avoid it. It's a huge museum so it will take a bit of time to reach the chapel after you enter.

annhig

Chatur,

mjdh is right - you have to buy a ticket to the Vatican museums in order to see the sistine chapel.

However, since my first visit about 10 years ago, when you more or less had to walk around the whole of the museums before you could get to the Chapel, they have now changed the routing, so that should you so wish, you can get to it after about an hour's leisurely stroll through some of the major rooms, including the Map Room, which IMO is a "must see" if only for the ceiling!

and as you'll have paid for it, you might as well see some of it. but if you want the shortest route, after the Map Room, go straight on instead of through the Borgia rooms, and you''ll soon be there.

to avoid the walk back to the entrance, the long march back around the Vatican walls to get back to the front of St. Peter's, and the queue to get through security again, and to go straight from the Sistine chapel to St. Peter's, [but only if you have not borrowed an audio guide because these have to be returned to the museum entrance] exit the chapel through the door at the back on the right [marked groups only] and go down the flight of steps ahead of you, turn left through the doors you'll then reach, down the stone steps, and you'll find yourselves at the front of the Basilica.

Alec

The 'group only' exit is sporadically policed/monitored, and only those with a genuine group are let through, often with someone totting up the number with a counter. So don't expect to be allowed to go through when you are there.

Rostra

<<<but if you want the shortest route, after the Map Room, go straight on instead of through the Borgia rooms, and you''ll soon be there.>>>

Here's some directions for that "shortest route" which I wished I had followed on later visits but instead 'followed the herd' when they took the "left" he talks about.

http://www.rishiray.com/touring-the-...-instructions/

This was also the route the old Vatican Museums' guidebook listed for their 4 'color coded' itineraries thru the museums.

'A' was the straight shot from the entrance to the Sistine Chapel with only the 'Rooms' you must pass thru to get there.

'B' was the same except for a few Rooms before and after.

'C' was ~70% of all the 'Rooms'.

'D' was 100% of the 'Rooms'.

MAP
http://www.planetware.com/i/map/SCV/...useums-map.jpg

Rostra

<<<The 'group only' exit is sporadically policed/monitored, and only those with a genuine group are let through, often with someone totting up the number with a counter. So don't expect to be allowed to go through when you are there.>>>

This is from another messageboard talking about the Rick Steves' Shortcut� .
It's from 3yrs ago and I thought it was hilarious.
"Elizabeth - The last time we were in the Sistine chapel, we waited for a tour group so we could tag along and use the tour exit.... The only tour group that came along was a Japanese group and we tagged along anyway.

The guards in the hallway on the way out were smiling because they knew we weren't a part of that group but they could really care less.

One of them asked 'Rick Steves?', so my friend held up the book which made all three smile more as they nodded their heads."

annhig

The 'group only' exit is sporadically policed/monitored, and only those with a genuine group are let through, often with someone totting up the number with a counter. So don't expect to be allowed to go through when you are there.>>

I've been in the sistine chapel twice now, and each time used the "group' exit without being with a group. I try to look as if i know what I'm doing, and just do it. the guards in the little office at the bottom of the first set of stairs barely looked up - they couldn't care less.

so far, a 100% success rate.

Alec

There is a door with glass panel you have to open to go down the stairs for the group-only exit, and I've noticed that every time someone tried to open it, the guards on duty looked up to see who it was. It doesn't mean you won't be able to use it, but don't be surprised if they query you and point you to the opposite exit. What I am saying is allow extra time to have to walk through the length of the museums in case you can't use the shortcut.

annhig

Alec, I think you've been unlucky.

the door was slightly open when i was there, both times, and we just opened it and walked through it.

willit

I partly agree with annhig in that having seen both, if I were given a choice between the Sistine chapel and the map room, I'd quite probably choose the latter.