Visiting The Vatican
Everything You Need to Know When Visiting The Vatican
The Vatican is one of the most recognized places in the world. It’s also one of the most popular tourist attractions in Rome, Italy. Over five million people visit the Vatican each year, with as many as 20,000 per day in the summer.
The Vatican Museums include over 1000 rooms, housing one of the largest art collections in the world. To see everything in the Vatican Museums, you would walk nine miles through winding corridors and multiple buildings.
When you consider the crowds and the sheer size of the Vatican, the only way to have a good experience visiting the Vatican is to take a Vatican guided tour with a Rome tour guide accompanying you. Fortunately, I joined Dark Rome for their “no-wait” Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter’s Basilica Tour. This tour was voted as the number one global experience by Trip Advisor!
Skip the Line Vatican Vs. No-Wait Vatican
Smart travelers know that skip-the-line is the way to go when it comes to many of Rome’s most popular attractions. The line to get into the Vatican Museums can be up to two hours long if you just show up with no advance planning. Of course, you can pre-order your tickets and go in on your own, but I think the only way to truly appreciate the magnificence of the Vatican Museums is to have a Rome tour guide steering you along. There’s simply too much to see, and unless you have a full day or more, taking a Vatican guided tour is the best way to be efficient with your time.
Dark Rome is the only Official Vatican Partner which means they have exclusive permission for tours that are even better than any other Skip the Line Vatican tour. Although Skip the Line implies you will not wait in line, that is not necessarily the case. There is usually a line for those tours as well, albeit much shorter than the regular ticket line. This exclusive Vatican Partnership allows Dark Rome to offer the best Vatican tours!
Vatican Guided Tour
With our “no wait” tour, we met our guide Louise just outside the Vatican, received our headsets and were whisked through the security line in record time. We quickly made our way to the Pinecone Courtyard, where Louise gave us the low-down on our tour. Knowing it would be crowded and a bit crazy inside, it was nice to get an overview of the tour before diving right in. She gave us each a brochure with blown-up photos of the Sistine Chapel and the Last Judgment painting, so we could admire the smaller details and get a quick understanding of the paintings before seeing the real thing.
After our intro, we made our way into the maze of rooms and hallways of the Vatican Museums. This is where having a Rome tour guide really comes in handy. On my own, I may glance at a few placards and try to muster up a bit of interest, but having someone explain the history as you saunter through the art collection made it much more interesting. I have a short attention span, but getting the background and drama of the stories was enough to keep me riveted throughout the tour. (Despite having been on my feet already about 8 hours that day!)
One of my favorite rooms on the Vatican guided tour is the Gallery of Maps. Of course, a travel blogger is going to love a room dedicated to exploring the geography of Italy! Beautiful, colorful frescoes depict the mountains, lakes, rivers, and towns of Italy, stretching for over 120 meters, longer than the length of an American football field! The paintings were created in the 16th century, yet they are 84% geographically accurate. That’s pretty amazing, considering this was long before drones or planes were available to cartographers!
Visiting the Vatican
I’ll be the first to admit, I had no idea what all was included in a visit to the Vatican. I could picture St. Peter’s Square, where the Pope holds a weekly audience, but I didn’t know what else there was to see. It turns out, there is quite a bit to see when visiting the Vatican.
Vatican City - for starters, Vatican City became a city-state in 1929, meaning you technically are leaving Rome when you enter Vatican City. Vatican City includes just over 100 acres surrounding the Vatican and has about 1000 residents.
Vatican Museums - this refers to the interior buildings which house the art collection and is the main area most people are referring to when they talk about the Vatican. Most tours will focus on the highlights of the Vatican Museum.
Sistine Chapel - typically the last stop on a Vatican Museums tour, the Sistine Chapel is perhaps Michelangelo’s best-known masterpiece, commissioned when he was best known as a sculptor, at the age of 33. Remarkably, it took just four years to create this famous fresco.
St. Peter’s Basilica - while usually visited on a Vatican guided tour, the largest church in the world is actually free to enter, so you can visit anytime. A great option if you are worn out at the end of your Vatican tour! If you want to climb St. Peter’s Basilica dome, you can do so on a tour, or purchase tickets at the church.
St. Peter’s Square - when you think of the Pope, the image of St. Peter’s Square is most likely the image in your head. There is a Papal Audience every Wednesday morning, which is your best chance of seeing the Pope in Rome!
Other Vatican Guided Tour Options
If seeing the Vatican without crowds is important to you, Dark Rome has some excellent options that sound really interesting. They offer semi-private tours, with a cap of 12 tour participants, which allows you to stay close to your guide and ask questions as needed. Smaller groups can also access areas that larger groups may have difficulty with. Then there are private tours where you can have a Rome tour guide all to yourself as you tour the Vatican Museums. Perhaps best of all is the early access tour, which allows you to get into the Sistine Chapel 90 minutes before the official Vatican museum hours. If you want some quiet time to admire the Sistine Chapel, this is absolutely the best Vatican guided tour for you! There’s even a breakfast tour that includes a breakfast buffet before you explore the Vatican before it opens.
What to Know Before You Visit Sistine Chapel & The Vatican Museum
Despite welcoming millions of tourists per year, some areas of the Vatican are still considered very holy and therefore there is a dress code to enter some areas of the Vatican. It essentially boils down to having your shoulders and knees covered. No hats are allowed, either. Now, we were told that the Vatican Museums do not have air conditioning, so it can get quite hot in the summer, not to mention the crowds. I was pretty warm even in late October and had worn a tank top to tour the Colosseum, so I simply brought a scarf to wrap around my shoulders upon entering the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. If you forget, there are plenty of vendors on the street outside who are willing to sell you a shawl or wrap to cover up with.
Like everywhere else in Rome, the Vatican has free-flowing water fountains, so bring your reusable water bottle so you can fill up on fresh Roman spring water as you tour the Vatican museums.
I also recommend bringing your own earbuds to plug into the audio systems that you will get on the tour. They will provide little plastic headphones, but they are like the old-school Apple headphones that hurt your ears after a while. They also just end up in a landfill after the tour. Having your own earbuds will be more comfortable, and you won’t have to feel guilty about the single-use plastic.
City Wonders Rome
City Wonders started as Dark Rome in 2004 with a quirky tour of Rome’s dark side. They soon expanded into other tours in Rome, becoming the first tour operator to run a Crypts and Catacombs tour.
Then they spread throughout Italy and eventually went international, launching the City Wonders name as a parent company to Dark Rome. They now run tours throughout Italy and in Paris, London and Barcelona, with over one million travelers joining a City Wonders tour each year!
Contributor: Leigh Wilson
Leigh is a freelance writer and travel blogger with a lifelong passion for outdoor adventure travel and urban exploration. In 2017, Leigh and her Airedale Terrier Bailey, left Chicago on a 4-month road trip in search of a new hometown, which is now Tucson, Arizona. Leigh blogs at Campfires & Concierges, where she shares travel tips, destination inspiration, must-see excursions, and dog-friendly destinations.