Vatican Museums Tours and Tickets

There are plenty of ways to experience the Vatican Museums. Looking at ratings and reviews previously given by customers, these are the best tours available right now:

• Skip-the-Line Group Tour of the Vatican, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter's Basilica

• Skip-the-Line Vatican, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter's | Small Group

• Skip the Line: Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel + Optional Basilica

• Skip the Line Vatican, Sistine Chapel, and Basilica Guided Tour

• Rome: Skip the Line Vatican, Sistine Chapel, St Peter Small Group

Admission tickets to the Vatican Museums are €20 for adults and €10 for children aged 7–18 and students up to the age of 25 (with a valid ID). There’s an additional €5 to book a timed-entry skip-the-line ticket—well worth it if you’re visiting at peak times. Tickets include the Sistine Chapel, but access to the Papal Palace and Secret Garden is an additional €12. Kids under 7 years old enter for free.

Yes, housing one of the world's most magnificent art collections, the Vatican Museums are brimming with treasures, from the elaborate Gallery of Maps to Michelangelo's masterful Sistine Chapel and the Raphael Rooms. The sprawling museum covers more than 4 miles (7 kilometers) and attracts hundreds of daily visitors, so visiting with a guide—and a skip-the-line ticket—is money well spent if you don't want to spend an entire day trying to find your way.

Per one customer who booked the Skip-the-Line Group Tour of the Vatican, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter's Basilica, "The guide provided to us was extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and spoke excellent English. The level of service we experienced exceeded our expectations and proved to be well worth the cost of the tour. It was also nice to see that we did indeed "skip the line" as we walked right past a line of at least 300 people."

Yes, you can visit the Vatican Museums without a reservation. You can buy tickets upon arrival, but the lines can be extremely long, particularly on weekends and during school vacations. Most travelers opt to book online tickets with skip-the-line entry or join tours that include skip-the-line access.

No. Most travelers have to pay to enter the Vatican Museums, although St. Peter’s Basilica is free. Children under 6, some people with disabilities and their carers, and some academics and museum professionals can visit the Vatican Museums for free. Everyone enjoys free entry on the last Sunday of every month.

Vatican Museums tickets include access to a range of galleries, museums, chapels, and apartments replete with priceless works of art. The Sistine Chapel, with Michelangelo’s iconic Last Judgment, and Raphael’s Rooms are particularly popular. You can also usually access St. Peter’s Basilica through the Vatican entrance, beating the lines.

Yes. The Vatican Museums require that visitors dress as if they were going to church. In practice, that means no hats, legs covered to the knees, and covered shoulders, upper arms, belly, and cleavage. Clothes don’t need to be formal, but they shouldn’t be overly street: Leave the ripped jeans at home.

Yes. You can take pictures for personal use in the Vatican Museums, but you can’t use flash anywhere and you can’t take any photos in the Sistine Chapel. Professional equipment, including tripods and drones, and selfie sticks are banned. Professionals need permission from the Directorate of Museums and Cultural Heritage.

Yes. The Vatican Museums are fully accessible to people who use manual wheelchairs, with accessible bathrooms, step-free connecting routes, and loaner chairs (documentation required). However, people who rely on mobility scooters or electric wheelchairs may not be able to access certain parts of the museum due to space constraints.

There are tons of fun things to do when you're done visiting the Vatican Museums. According to travelers, these are some of the top attractions in Rome:

• Colosseum

• Roman Forum (Foro Romano)

• Sistine Chapel

• Palatine Hill (Palatino)

• St. Peter's Basilica

View Viator's guide to all the best attractions in Rome.