when to go to the Vatacian
 

I am leaving Monday for Rome can you tell the best day of the week to go to the Vatacian and time? What is the best way to get there?

It would help to know exactly where you're coming from. The public transportation is great. I'd ask the person at the front desk of the hotel to get bus stop information. Either get there about 30-45 minutes before they open (which I believe is at 8:45am) or go very late in the day. We arrived at 8am to stand in line and were among the first 25 to get in. Here's what I found when I did a search in Yahoo for "Vatican City" <BR> <BR>From April 1 to October 31: 8.45-16.45 <BR>From November 1 to March 31: 8.45-13.45 <BR>Closed all Sundays and holidays, except for the last Sunday of the month when the Musei are open with free admission.

<BR>Carol: My sister and I visited the Vatican last Oct. 30 (a Tuesday) in the afternoon around 1 p.m. We were able to walk right in. This time was suggested to us by Enjoy Rome. Have a good trip.

I just came back from Rome and Florence three days ago, and we went to the Vatican at 9:00AM and had no problem at all with the lines and it was great!

My friend and I arrived at St. Peter's around 8:00 AM - it may have been earlier. There was hardly anyone else there, it was wonderful to be the only ones looking at the Pieta. By 10:00 the tour groups started pouring in.

If you are going to the Vatican museum, we discovered (the hard way), that the tour groups arrive in the mornings, between 8:30-9:30. there was a line to get in the there were wall-to-wall people in there with tours of many languages going on simultaneously in each area. when we left, around 11:30, there was no line to get in and it was emptying out. for that reason it may be wiser to avoid the museum in the morning.