A trip to Rome isn’t complete without seeing Vatican City. But what is Vatican City? What is there to do there? And how do you visit Vatican City? Keep reading to find answers to these questions and more.
What is Vatican City?
Vatican City is an independent city-state located inside the city of Rome. It’s the seat of government for the Roman Catholic Church. And at less than 0.2 square miles, it’s the smallest country in the world.
Approximately 1000 people live in Vatican City, mostly clergy, other religious members, and lay people who serve the state – for example, the Swiss Guards who protect the Vatican, plus their family members. The most famous resident of Vatican City, of course, is the Pope. Today, that means Pope Francis, who was elected in 2013. The Pope is the head of state for Vatican City, and head of the Catholic Church.
What to do at Vatican City
These are the top tourist attractions at Vatican City.
St. Peter’s Square
St. Peter’s Square is the plaza outside of St. Peter’s Basilica. The space contains two fountains, designed by Bernini and Maderno, plus an Egyptian obelisk. It is surrounded by colonnades and the whole square was designed with the principle of allowing the greatest number of people possible to have line of sight to the Pope when he delivers messages from St. Peter’s Basilica or the Vatican Palace.
A white line painted around the perimeter of the square signals that you have left Italy and entered Vatican City. There is no entrance fee or passport control required to visit St. Peter’s Square.
Unless you visit on a Wednesday, when there is a Papal Audience, or on a Sunday, when the Pope delivers the Sunday Blessing, you won’t likely find much activity occurring in St. Peter’s Square. You may, however, find long lines of tourists waiting to enter St. Peter’s Basilica.
St. Peter’s Basilica
We’ve written a dedicated post about how to visit St. Peter’s Basilica and climb its dome. It includes tips about how to see the Pope at his regular appearances. You can find that post here:
How to visit St. Peter’s Basilica (including climbing the dome)
The Vatican Museums
The Vatican Museums are an extensive collection of artworks owned by the Roman Catholic Church. They include a number of priceless works by Raphael, da Vinci and Caravaggio. There are 24 galleries in total, the most famous one being the Sistine Chapel.
The Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel is perhaps the most famous part of Vatican City. Built in the late 1400s, the Chapel is the site of the Papal Enclave, the process by which a new Pope is elected. The reason why most visitors flock to the Chapel is to see the artwork that adorns it. The Sistine Chapel’s walls and ceiling are decorated with frescoes that were painted by Michelangelo in the 1500s. The center of the ceiling features The Creation of Adam, and the altar features The Final Judgment.
The Sistine Chapel is not a stand-alone attraction in Vatican City. Rather, it’s part of the Vatican Museums, located at the back of the building and (normally) the last thing you will see before you exit. It is a rather small room and the highlight of a visit to the Museums. Thus, it can be very crowded.
Admission to the Sistine Chapel is included with your ticket to the Vatican Museums. There is no stand-alone ticket to see the Sistine Chapel. However, there are a few strategies you can employ to help make your visit easier.
Vatican Museums tours
There are different types of Vatican Museums guided tours available. Many are offered directly by the Museums and may be booked on the Vatican Museums’ official website. Some of the options include:
- Early entry morning tours that will allow you access to the Museums before they open to the general public
- Guided tours that conclude after the Museums close to the general public and that allow you extra time in the Sistine Chapel
- Combo tours that include a guided tour of both the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica. In pre-Covid days, these tickets were a hot commodity because the tours made use of a shortcut entrance into St. Peter’s Basilica from the Vatican Museums that negated the need to pass through the security line again. Tourists who aren’t part of a tour group are not allowed to use this shortcut. However, shortcut access was closed during the Covid pandemic, and has not yet re-opened.
Vatican Museums on your own
You don’t necessarily need a special guided tour to maximize the efficiency of your visit to the Sistine Chapel. You can DIY this part of your trip, as follows:
- Book a regular entrance ticket to the Vatican Museums on their official website. Purchasing tickets in advance will allow you to bypass the ticket queue at the entrance to the Museums.
- Arrive at the Museums at a strategic time. Many visitors recommend an early morning visit. However, you should be aware that tour groups are allowed into the Museums before the general public. Even if you enter the first wave of general public visitors, there will be other guests ahead of you. (We didn’t find this to be a dealbreaker.) Other options include late-day admissions that tend to occur as crowds are starting to thin out.
- Plan your visit around your time in the Sistine Chapel. If you arrive early in the day, before crowds swell, head to the Sistine Chapel first, and then backtrack through the Museums to see the rest of the displays. If you time your visit at the end of the day, leave your visit to the Chapel as late as possible.
Vatican Museums ticket prices
Regular admission to the Vatican Museums (not including a guided tour) costs €17. Discounted admissions, for children under 18 or students under 25, cost €8. Children under 5 are free.
How to visit the Vatican Museums
The Museums are open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. (with final entry at 4 p.m.). They are also open on the last Sunday of every month from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. with free entry. These days can be very crowded at the Museums.
Even if you purchase your ticket in advance, through the official Vatican Museums website or through a ticket reseller like Tiqets, you will still need to queue for security. “Skip the line” Vatican City tickets are misleading, because there is no way to skip security lines.
If you buy Vatican Museums tickets in advance, whether from the official site or through a reseller, you will receive a voucher to print at home or show on an electronic device. Once at the Museums, you will need to present the voucher at one of the ticket booths inside the main entrance. Exchange your voucher for a physical paper ticket and then proceed up the escalators into the museum.
In conclusion…
A visit to Vatican City is well worth your time if you are in Rome. Even if you aren’t Catholic – we aren’t – and even if you aren’t Art History majors – we aren’t – it’s still impressive to see the scale and the ornateness, and to see the works of the masters that you are likely familiar with in-person. Visiting Vatican City, including St. Peter’s Basilica, a climb to the top of the dome there, and the Vatican Museums, can be done in about half a day if you are strategic about avoiding crowds and if you are only interested in a brief look around.
Conversely, if you are a major art history buff, you could spend days inside the Museums alone. There isn’t just one approach to visiting Vatican City, which means you can tailor your visit to suit your own interests. We hope this article gave you some ideas about what to do at Vatican City to help plan your own trip.
Do you have any questions about visiting Vatican City? Tell us in the comments below.
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