41.91° N · 12.45° E · Rome
The Raphael Rooms, the Gallery of Maps and, at the end, Michelangelo's ceiling. The ticket costs €20 at the ticket office or €25 booked on the official website, which is the only sensible way to get in without an hour's queue.
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Step by step
The only official online sale is tickets.museivaticani.va. There are websites with similar names that charge much more.
Go through the security check and leave in the free cloakroom rucksacks, suitcases, medium and large umbrellas and tripods.
Start with the picture gallery if you are interested in painting; the courtyard is a good place to get your bearings, and has panels explaining the Sistine before you go in.
A very long corridor with gilded ceilings and painted maps of 16th-century Italy.
Four rooms painted by Raphael and his workshop, including the one with The School of Athens.
Michelangelo's ceiling and Last Judgement. Silence is requested inside and photographs cannot be taken.
It is an enormous museum with a one-way route: you walk through galleries and courtyards and end in the Sistine Chapel. Do not try to see everything; choose a route and save energy for the end.
The Vatican Museums bring together centuries of the popes' collections: classical sculpture such as the Laocoön and the Apollo Belvedere, the rooms painted by Raphael, a picture gallery with Giotto, Leonardo and Caravaggio and, at the end, the Sistine Chapel, with Michelangelo's ceiling and Last Judgement. It is an essential visit in Rome for anyone interested in art, although it demands patience.
It suits adults and teenagers prepared to spend three or four hours on their feet among a lot of people. It suits less anyone who feels uneasy in crowds: in high season the corridors leading to the Sistine move slowly. Families with pushchairs are welcome and staff point out the most comfortable route and the lifts; there are baby-changing facilities and a breastfeeding room on the route.
The entrance is on Viale Vaticano, in the Vatican's north wall, not in St Peter's Square. By metro, line A towards Battistini, stops Ottaviano or Cipro, and a few minutes' walk. Bus 49 stops in front of the museums; the 32, 81 and 982, and tram 19, at Piazza del Risorgimento. There is a taxi rank in the entrance square.
They open Monday to Saturday from 8:00 to 20:00, with last entry at 18:00. They close on Sundays, except the last one of each month, and on some religious holidays: the museum publishes its 2026 and 2027 opening and closing calendar on its website.
The quietest times are the first slot of the morning and the afternoon, from 15:00. From 10:00 to 13:00 almost all the groups coincide. In winter, outside Christmas and Easter, the pressure is much lower. On the last Sunday of the month entry is free, but the queue lasts hours and cannot be booked: do not choose it if you have little time in Rome.
Modest dress is required: no bare shoulders or low necklines, no trousers or skirts above the knee, and no hats. In the rest of the museum you can take photos without flash for personal use; in the Sistine Chapel, no photos or videos are allowed with any device and staff may ask you to delete them. Selfie sticks, tripods and drones are also forbidden, as is eating or drinking in the rooms.
The general ticket costs €20 at the ticket office and €25 with online booking, which is a €5 supplement for skipping the queue. The reduced ticket, for students and other groups, costs €10 (€15 with booking). Children under 7 enter free. Tickets are not refunded and are valid only for the day indicated.
Inside there is a café, a self-service restaurant and a pizzeria, so you can take a break without leaving.
It is one of the best plans in Rome in the rain, which is why it fills up more on those days. If you do not have a reservation, it is better to go to St Peter's Basilica, which does not charge entry, and leave the museums for another day with a booked time.
Who it's for
What to bring
Map
What you have around the starting point.
More to do
Tips
They open Monday to Saturday from 8:00 to 20:00, with last entry at 18:00. Mid-morning is when there are most people.
On the last Sunday of the month entry is free from 9:00 to 14:00 (last entry 12:30), but the queue is long and cannot be booked.
They close on Sundays and some religious holidays; the museum publishes the year's calendar on its website.
The museum itself advises not leaving luggage in the cloakroom if you plan to go on to the basilica.
The museum has an official map in PDF. Decide beforehand which wings you want to see.
Questions
€20 general and €10 reduced at the ticket office. Booking online on the official website adds €5 in fees.
It is not compulsory, but without a booking the queue can last hours in high season.
No. The basilica is a separate visit, with its own entry via St Peter's Square.
Yes, but the route is long. With under-8s, concentrate on the Gallery of Maps and the Sistine. Under-7s enter free.
Yes, without flash, in the whole museum except the Sistine Chapel.
With shoulders and knees covered, no low necklines and no hat. If you do not comply, you may not be let in.
Line A, stops Ottaviano or Cipro.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/italy/lazio/rome/things-to-do/vatican-museums
