Musei Vaticani

Reviews

• Anton K.

  star star star star star 9 June 2026

  There is a free entry option to the Musei Vaticani on the last Sunday of the month (subject to opening and closures). Children under 6 years are always free. There are so many options for visiting the museum that it will make your head spin, however the cheapest is to buy your ticket online from the official Vatican Museum website. Once you have purchased your ticket download the map of the Vatican Museum. The museums are vast and complex and if you do not have a full day or perhaps two, the map will guide you to areas of most interest efficiently. Visit early in the morning or after 6 pm to avoid possible massive crowds.
  
  The Vatican Museum recommends that you do not miss these areas: the Spiral Staircase, Raphael's Transfiguration, Pincona Levityard, Lacoon, Apollo Belvedere, The Rotudra Room & Porphyis Basin, Tapestry Hall and the Maps. The Sistine Chapel painted (1508-1512) is included in most tour packages. Most tours are three hours long. Without a tour you can not visit the Pope's Garden.
  
  They offered a guided tour which was 3 hours long and conducted in 6 languages. The tour was 41.3 Euros and enables you to skip the ticket line which is often a 30 minute queue. It included the Raphael Rooms, Tapestry Gallery and the Sistine Chapel. I opted for the skip the line 28 Euro tour which came with an audio-guide in 10 different languages. The guide took you through 9 miles of historical Renaissance masterpieces.
  
  No flash photos are allowed. Photos for personal use only., No tripods or professional equipment. No telescopic "selfie sticks". The Sistine Chapel is particularly monitored and does not allow photos or film with any type of electrical equipment or phone subject to immediate cancellation of your tour.

• Alper T.

  star star star star star 2 June 2026

  Like Colloseum, you have go have a reserved ticket, or arranged tour by a travel agency to get in faster. There are some deals on Tripadvisor you can get. Will let you know that the tour guides are making a lot of money of you with the packages selling you, but it is well worth it!!! The lines are extremely long to get in, not minutes, you will be waiting hours to get in, the earlier you go, more you will see!!! Again, they were saying Christmas is low season to them, i cannot imagine, how the high season is, because, it is insane, but also good to see people come and visit such a sacred place!! Love it.
  
  After you pass the security check, the tour guide proceeds to get the tickets, this is time you need to go use bathroom, you will not have any other chance while you are in there, because there will be so much to see.
  
  In Rome, do not leave Rome without seeing Vatican Museum, unbelievable, they have previous Pope's tombs, Michelangelo's paintings, statues, rugs!! You feel it in your bones, while you are walking around.
  
  It is a definitely a go to place every time you go over there. Came here Christmas Eve, couldn't get into the Basilica, watched it outside, it was a great feeling to be there!

• Phil T.

  star star star star_border star_border 31 May 2026

  Everything you heard about the Vatican is probably true. Thousands of years of history and treasures stored within. Way too crowded and a logistical nightmare to enjoy properly. Hundreds of guides all around trying to make a quick buck off of you. Few of them are actually good. Tons of people on the street waving selfie sticks in your face.
  
  Go there to enjoy the history. Go there to say you've been. Go there to see the legacy preserved generation after generation. There is literally nothing quite like it. But to be quite honest, it was really hard to enjoy it fully given the atmosphere.

• Sanjay G.

  star star star star star 25 May 2026

  Located within the confines of the Vatican state, the museums hold over 70,000 pieces of artwork. A dual ticket can be purchased to see both the Sistine Chapel and the museums and I would suggest to spend at least half a day to explore this. I have booked online and it saved me at least 2-3 hours. When I was done with Basilica, I started for Museum (its 20 mins walk), and lines were too long, though it was 9 in the morning. Luckily I had booked online so I skipped the line and entered. At the kiosk, I exchanged and got a physical ticket.
  
  Tour group..!! God, I thought I would skip them but it seems all tour groups start their day from this place only. I hardly saw any of the art in peace. There were like 50 tour groups (50*30 = 1500 people together) walking with me. I was fed up.  Anyway
  
  You'll find one of Vatican City's most notorious attractions housed within these walls - the Sistine Chapel (and Michelangelo's famous frescos). A tour of the Vatican Museums grants access to various sections of the palaces, the Sistine Chapel included. Attractions of the museums include the spiral staircase, the Raphael Rooms.  Notable piece include the Transfiguration by Raphael, the Entombment of Christ by Caravaggio and the breathtaking gallery of maps, also
  The gallery of maps
  Museo chiaramonti
  Cortile della pigna - Also known as the Pinecone Courtyard, the Cortile della Pigna gets its name from the gigantic bronze pinecone that sits at one end of the square. There is an unusual gold sphere found opposite it known as Sfera con Sfera, or Sphere within a Sphere.
  The octagonal courtyard
  The spiral staircase
  Hall of the chariot
  & Sistine chapel - yes I mentioned again. It's worthy
  
  It's not like Louvre, its one straight walk and you have to move in one direction and it ends at Sistine chapel. So no confusion. The restroom is clean, you will even see post office when you will be done with the tour.
  Well, you can not afford to miss this when you are in Rome.

• Rachel L.

  star star star_border star_border star_border 16 May 2026

  This museum - just like any major museums that lives to the "city's greatest" title - houses more art works one can view on just one day. So this is awesome.
  
  No AC in the summer is pretty grim, but most rooms tend to have windows open, and given its hilltop location, there will be some breeze even in August.
  
  So the aweful part is the "no photo rule" in the Sistine Chapel. I'm guessing that most people don't know that taking pictures are perfectly okay (Nippon TV's exclusive license ended more than two decades ago, and it wasn't subjected to the public in the first place anyway). So all those news articles (that dates back as long as 1990) that reports that it is okay to take pictures inside the Sistine Chapel, the museum somehow tries to restrict all tourists from it (and utterly failed from enforcing it). However, a few guards use this opportunity to yell in people's faces (even to children) saying such things like
  
  "this is my ground, now get out!(Mean face)!!"