Vatican Museum tickets - Completely necessary?

[MissBreezy]

Hi all,

 

We are planning to visit the Vatican next Wednesday and my husband and I are having a disagreement as to whether we should buy advance tickets or not.

 

We plan to go around 1pm as our flight gets in late morning. Are lines still very long in September? Does it help that were going later in the day?

 

I want to maximize our time there but my husband doesn't want to buy tickets in advance for no real discernible reason other than to possibly give me another thing to worry about! Lol

 

What say ye? Advance tix or roll the dice?

[euro cruiser]

First, the Vatican Museums are crowded every single day of the year.

 

Second, there's a Papal Audience in St. Peter's Square from 10:30 AM until about 1 PM every Wednesday in September (according to the Pope's on line calendar), so there will be a huge mass of people moving away from the square in the early afternoon, presumably some of them will be heading for the museums.

 

However, the line typically is pretty much gone by 2 PM most days.

[kuldalai]

25000 people go through the vatican museums every day, a wonderful goldmine for the rc church! Buy the tickets on line or you waste time like hours standing in queue dissapearing over the horizon. Tell your husband to get real.

[goose30]

Only buy the tickets on line if you want to get in after 1.

[CGYCruisingFamily]

We didn't go into the museums on our recent visit to Rome and the Vatican. However given that there was a 4hour wait just to get into St. Peters Basilica -yes the basilica NOT the museums- I would advise you get your tickets in advance. We were unlucky in the fact we hit it in the middle of a retreat for 50,000 German catholic students. But you never know. To be safe, I would get tickets in advance.

 

On a side note, our tour driver took us to St. Paul outside the wall Basilica instead and it was stunning.

Edited September 5, 2014 by CGYCruisingFamily

[Funster79]

We bought tickets online ahead of our visit to the Vatican Museum last year. We also went on a Weds when it was the Papal address in St Peter's Square. It was packed, but we went straight to the museum and missed the queues because most people were waiting to see the Pope and we had pre-booked tickets so got straight in without queuing to buy.

 

I have to say I wasn't impressed with the Vatican museum at all. St Peter's Basilica however is fabulous (and free to get in!!)

[CintiPam]

If you can get there while the audience still is going on, the lines are short. Otherwise, you will run into terrible wait times.

[We-R-Off]

Hi all,

 

We are planning to visit the Vatican next Wednesday and my husband and I are having a disagreement as to whether we should buy advance tickets or not.

 

We plan to go around 1pm as our flight gets in late morning. Are lines still very long in September? Does it help that were going later in the day?

 

I want to maximize our time there but my husband doesn't want to buy tickets in advance for no real discernible reason other than to possibly give me another thing to worry about! Lol

 

What say ye? Advance tix or roll the dice?

 

Definitely the best thing to do.