Vatican Museums: Tickets, Hours and What You Can’t Miss

The Vatican Museums hold one of the most impressive art collections in the world, and of all the art collections in Rome, this is probably the most important. It's a vast series of rooms and galleries displaying works of great artistic value belonging to the Catholic Church.

The first pieces to fill these museums came from donations made by Pope Julius II (1503-1513), a patron of artists such as Michelangelo. It was this same pope who ordered the construction of the present-day St. Peter's Basilica, in the Vatican itself. The Sistine Chapel is without doubt its best-known room.

What to see in the most important rooms of the Vatican Museums

The Vatican Museums are one of the top things to see in Rome and, without a doubt, one of the most important sights of the Papal Court. Below we explain why, and which rooms and works matter most, so you can plan your visit better. After all, you'll probably only go once or twice in your life, so it's worth making the most of it.

These are some of the most important rooms you'll see in the Vatican Museums:

The Sistine Chapel, the jewel of the Vatican Museums

A treasure of history and of universal art that will take your breath away. In the Sistine Chapel you'll have the privilege of admiring frescoes by Michelangelo and by major painters of the Italian Renaissance: Perugino, Botticelli, Pinturicchio and Signorelli, among others.

Raphael Rooms

Museums of classical antiquities

Pio-Clementino Museum, Chiaramonti Museum, Braccio Nuovo, Gregorian Profane Museum.

Gregorian Etruscan Museum

Roman antiquarium and a collection of vases.

Ethnological Missionary Museum

The collection comprises 100,000 works from missions around the world, divided into Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.

Vatican Pinacoteca

The home of the paintings. Its 18 rooms hold works by the most celebrated Italian artists: Perugino, Raphael, Leonardo, Caravaggio, Crespi, Bernini and more.

Gallery of Tapestries

This room in the Vatican Museums displays an important collection of Flemish tapestries.

Gallery of Maps

This beautiful, light-filled gallery is lined with cartographic maps painted in fresco.

Carriage Pavilion

This room holds a curious collection ranging from carriages to the steering wheel from Michael Schumacher's Ferrari Formula 1 car, donated to Benedict XVI.

Room of the Immaculate Conception

This room is home to the «Ottocento», 19th-century Italian art.

Gregorian Egyptian Museum

It contains monuments and important remains from ancient Egypt, spread across 9 rooms.

Etruscan Museum

As the name suggests, this Vatican museum gathers pieces from the Etruscan civilization.

Borgia Apartment

Made up of 6 rooms: the Room of the Sibyls,  the Room of the Liberal Arts, the Room of the Lives of the Saints, the Room of the Mysteries of the Faith, the Room of the Pontiffs and the Room of the Creed. The Italian painter Pinturicchio covered the walls with paintings and frescoes, among them the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi and the Resurrection of Jesus.

Room of the Biga

The splendid Sala della Biga houses an imposing marble sculpture of a chariot drawn by horses, made in the 1st century AD.

Niccoline Chapel

The frescoes painted by Fra Angelico and his pupils are the highlight of this chapel, built as the private chapel of Pope Nicholas V.

Tips for visiting the Vatican Museums

• You must leave suitcases or large bags in the museum cloakroom.
• You can't bring in camera tripods or use flash.
• You'll go through a metal detector before entering, and knives, scissors or any tool that could be used to harm people or the artworks are not allowed.
• Dress appropriately. You can't enter in miniskirts, shorts, sleeveless tops or hats.
• Filming or photographing inside the Sistine Chapel is strictly forbidden.
• Some rooms may be closed for maintenance during your visit.
• There are two restaurants inside the complex, one for pasta and another for pizza.
• Lines tend to be shorter in the afternoon. You'll wait less around 2pm.
• Pick the route that interests you most and stick to it. There's far too much to see.
• Bear in mind that St. Peter's Basilica is closed on Wednesday mornings, as the papal audience takes place in St. Peter's Square. It reopens around 1pm, though.

Vatican tickets

There are several types of tickets to the Vatican Museums, with options to visit on your own, with or without an audio guide, or on a guided tour. Entry is free for children under 6.

Since there's so much choice, we've put together a complete guide on how to get skip-the-line tickets to the Vatican, where we go through the best types of tickets to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel one by one.

On the last Sunday of every month, entry to the Vatican is free (as long as that Sunday doesn't fall on Easter, June 29 (Saints Peter and Paul), or December 25 or 26. Entry is between 9:00am and 12:30pm, with closing at 2pm.) That said, be ready for long lines: in high season you can spend hours waiting.

Tip: You can get into the Vatican Museums for free if you have the Omnia Card or Go City Rome Pass Pass tourist cards.

Address of the Vatican Museums

The Vatican Museums sit right next to the Prati neighborhood, at Viale Vaticano, 00165 – Rome

How to get to the Vatican Museums

By Metro

Take line A of the Rome metro. Station: Ottaviano. From there it's about a 10-minute walk.

Buses

• 49, stops right at the museum entrance.
• 32, 81, 982 Piazza Risorgimento (a 5-minute walk from the Vatican Museums).
• 492, 990, Via Leone IV / Via degli Scipioni (a 5-minute walk from the Vatican Museums).

Vatican Museums opening hours

Admission from 9:00 (9 am) to 16:00 (4 pm). Closes at 18:00 (6 pm). The rooms must be cleared half an hour before closing.

Closed on Sundays, except for the last Sunday of each month (free admission day), and on the following dates: January 1 and 6, February 11, March 19, April 20, 21 and 27, May 1 (Ascension), June 29 (Saints Peter and Paul), August 14 and 15, November 1, and December 25 and 26