We urge you to do a little homework and decide what you want to see at the Vatican Museums before your visit. From the comfort of your home, you can take one of several, detailed online tours courtesy of the official Vatican website.

             

Although many combine a visit to the Museums with an exploration of St. Peter’s Basilica and the Piazza San Pietro, doing so makes for a lot of walking. The “new” entrance to the Museums is at the north end of the Vatican and cannot be reached directly from St. Peter’s.  Instead, you must exit the St. Peter's Square and follow the Vatican Walls for what is a relatively long walk to the north.

Skip the Line: Vatican Museums Walking Tour including Sistine Chapel, Raphael's Rooms and St Peter's   From Viator Tours

Many visitors prefer to tour the Vatican Museums as a separate exploration, since there are so many unique treasures in the Museum complex.   If you make this choice you can take  the underground, buses or taxis to reach the entrance from your hotel.

Do yourself a favor and buy your tickets in advance, if you have not arranged a tour. You can do so from the Vatican website or from resellers and tour companies.  Buying your ticket in advance means that you will not have to wait in line to buy tickets, which can take quite a bit of time.  See this page at the Vatican’s website for information on visiting the Vatican Museums. 

During their over five-hundred years of existence, the Vatican Museums have grown, mutated, merged and, then, been reformulated.  Today’s incarnation includes a modest collection of museums, but the majority of visits are focused on the frescoes and other artistic efforts that can be found in the Vatican Palaces, which include Michelangelo’s triumph, the Sistine Chapel,  Raphael’s Rooms (Raphael's Stanze) and the glorious Borgia Apartments.  Other popular attractions include the Pinocoteca (paintings), the Gregorian Egyptian Museum, the Gregorian Etruscan Museum and the Classical Antiquities Museum with its exotic sculptures.

For the curious, there are mini-museums focused on Christianity, the Vatican, Ceramics, Tapestry, Ethnography, Missionary work and other subjects.   Almost everywhere you look, there is something unique, beautiful or just plain interesting that demands your attention, so choose wisely, by preparing before you visit.  In our the next page of our guide to the Vatican Museums we provide  a taste of what you should see during your visit, but leave other discoveries  to you. 

We recommend visiting  the Sistine Chapel, Raphael's Rooms, The Pinacoteca, The Gregorian Egyptian Museum,
The Gregorian Etruscan Museum, and the Map Room. You can find photographs and descriptions of these treasures on the next page of our Guide to the Vatican Museums.

Next - Highlights of the Vatican Museums

Or - Return to the Best Places to Visit in the Vatican

Or - Explore our Menu for other types of sightseeing in Rome.

Or - Return to Best Places to Visit in Italy

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