Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel

Musei Vaticani e Cappella Sistina

A 7km walk that ends under Michelangelo's ceiling

⚠ Closed Sundays; book ahead

Hours

Mon–Sat 08:00–20:00 (last entry 18:00). Closed Sundays except the last Sunday of the month, 09:00–14:00, free (last entry 12:30). Closed on religious holidays

Tickets

Adults €20 on site / €25 online (incl. €5 booking fee); ages 7–18 and students up to 25 €10 / €15 online; under 7 free. Not covered by the Roma Pass

Address

The museum entrance on Viale Vaticano along the Vatican's north wall, 10–15 minutes' walk around the walls from St Peter's Square

The route from the entrance to the Sistine Chapel is a museum in itself. You pass the Pinecone Courtyard, the Laocoön, the Gallery of Maps with its endless gilded ceiling and Raphael's School of Athens, and just as your legs give out you reach the Sistine Chapel. While you stare up at the Creation and the Last Judgement, guards call out "no photo". A guided tour helps, because on your own it is easy to walk past everything without knowing what you saw.