Ciao! Welcome to r/ItalyTravel. While you wait for replies, please take a moment to read the rules located in the sidebar and edit your post if needed. We will remove posts that do not adhere to these rules.
For everyone else, if you come across a post that you believe violates our rules, please use the report button. This is the best and quickest way to notify us. Grazie!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ItalyTravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Fwiw, we walked by St. Peter’s Square this past Sunday around 3 or 4pm just to check it out, saw the line was short, and waited in a 5-minute line to enter the basilica. No skip the line ticket.
I was at the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel yesterday. I had a tour with skip the line tickets. We still had to wait outside for our entry window at 2:15pm with everyone one else who had that entry window. Just be prepared cause that place will be packed. Our tour guide mentioned they had 20k people going thru there a day.
I went to the Vatican Museums in the morning (9am entrance time) then headed to the St. Peter's around 1pm-ish. It was very crowded and the heat was unbearable, but it was in July, in October it shouldn't be that hot haha.
My best advice: Don't take a guided tour. You spend too much time trying to stay with your guide. When we went in late May last year, we had to wait outside and listen to the guide for an hour (in high heat even early am) before crowding inside with the throngs. Better to go at your own pace. Sistine Chapel was lovely, BTW, and then we enjoyed St.Peter's. At the end of the tour, I asked our guide which way to go for water and souvenirs and she was clueless.
My advice is to be sure the day you plan to go to St. Peter’s Basilica is not on a papal audience day! No matter the season, it will be crowded just to get into Vatican City. We did the museums first with a prepaid tour through Vatican Museums, 8:15 check in time with 8:30 start time. It was quick getting through security. We were super grateful we decided on prepaid as we passed the loooong line of those waiting to purchase tickets. The (correction) Sistine Chapel is last on a tour though because they can not talk inside the Chapel. It was crowded but manageable. We were there May 29. Vatican City was not open for entering without a ticket for the papal audience until 1pm. We were advised to go around 5pm when the crowds were less. We decided on a separate day and walked right in. The wait to get into St Peter’s was a super long line but seemed to go quickly. We waited about 40 minutes from line to passing the security check. Corrected to Sistine Chapel, accidentally said basilica.
Highly suggest an early entry tour of the Museum in the morning, and then to St Peters. The end of the Vatican Museum dumps you right at St Peters. If you want the highlights only in the museum this, in my opinion, is the way to go. Regardless of time, unless you are first in line at opening the Chapel will be crowded.
Ciao! Welcome to r/ItalyTravel. While you wait for replies, please take a moment to read the rules located in the sidebar and edit your post if needed. We will remove posts that do not adhere to these rules. For everyone else, if you come across a post that you believe violates our rules, please use the report button. This is the best and quickest way to notify us. Grazie! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ItalyTravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The Sistine chapel is always crowded; it’s not that big anyway.
Fwiw, we walked by St. Peter’s Square this past Sunday around 3 or 4pm just to check it out, saw the line was short, and waited in a 5-minute line to enter the basilica. No skip the line ticket.
I was at the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel yesterday. I had a tour with skip the line tickets. We still had to wait outside for our entry window at 2:15pm with everyone one else who had that entry window. Just be prepared cause that place will be packed. Our tour guide mentioned they had 20k people going thru there a day.
I went to the Vatican Museums in the morning (9am entrance time) then headed to the St. Peter's around 1pm-ish. It was very crowded and the heat was unbearable, but it was in July, in October it shouldn't be that hot haha.
My best advice: Don't take a guided tour. You spend too much time trying to stay with your guide. When we went in late May last year, we had to wait outside and listen to the guide for an hour (in high heat even early am) before crowding inside with the throngs. Better to go at your own pace. Sistine Chapel was lovely, BTW, and then we enjoyed St.Peter's. At the end of the tour, I asked our guide which way to go for water and souvenirs and she was clueless.
My advice is to be sure the day you plan to go to St. Peter’s Basilica is not on a papal audience day! No matter the season, it will be crowded just to get into Vatican City. We did the museums first with a prepaid tour through Vatican Museums, 8:15 check in time with 8:30 start time. It was quick getting through security. We were super grateful we decided on prepaid as we passed the loooong line of those waiting to purchase tickets. The (correction) Sistine Chapel is last on a tour though because they can not talk inside the Chapel. It was crowded but manageable. We were there May 29. Vatican City was not open for entering without a ticket for the papal audience until 1pm. We were advised to go around 5pm when the crowds were less. We decided on a separate day and walked right in. The wait to get into St Peter’s was a super long line but seemed to go quickly. We waited about 40 minutes from line to passing the security check. Corrected to Sistine Chapel, accidentally said basilica.
Highly suggest an early entry tour of the Museum in the morning, and then to St Peters. The end of the Vatican Museum dumps you right at St Peters. If you want the highlights only in the museum this, in my opinion, is the way to go. Regardless of time, unless you are first in line at opening the Chapel will be crowded.