Vatican City (Holy See) is an independent nation of 49 hectares surrounded by the city of Rome. It is also home of the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica, two of the most popular sightseeing attractions in all of Italy. Both are very crowded with many thousands of daily visitors, meaning it is best to know opening hours and have a plan in mind for your visits, each of which can take a significant amount of time. Entry to the Vatican Museum now start at €20 per person for general admission and are based on time slots. Various combo tickets and guided tours will cost you a bit more. It is recommended to book well in advance to ensure you secure tickets on the day you intend/plan to visit. Entry to St. Peter's Basilica is free but queues to clear security quickly extend all the way across Piazza San Pietro and take quite a while to clear before being able to enter. Both attractions have good websites with plenty of information related to collections and highlights, best to research in advance so you know what to look for and how to allocate your time, especially within the Vatican Museums, which has a lot to see. A leisurely visit within St. Peter's can easily last an hour or more while the Vatican can quickly take up 2-3+ hours if you plan to view all of the important collections, exhibition halls in addition to highlights like the Gallery of Maps, Raphael's Rooms and Sistine Chapel. Having a game plan in mind prior to your visit can greatly help in maximising your time sightseeing around Vatican City. Lastly, best to allow another half hour just to see and enjoy St. Peter's Square and another 45 minutes to an hour to make way to/from Vatican City depending on your mode of transportation. Octavian is the nearest Metro station, taxis and Uber can get you fairly close while many may chose to simply walk over from the city centre side of the Tiber River, enjoying other sightseeing along the way.

Vatican City is an independent country and is the smallest state in the world by size and population. It is the seat of power of the Catholic Church and the residence of the Pope. It is where you will find two of the highlights of a visit to Rome including St Peter's Basilica and adjacent St Peter's Square and the Vatican Museums which includes Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. St Peter's Basilica is truly spectacular. Not only is it beautiful but the sheer size of the church will leave you awestruck. It is the largest cathedral in the world. Inside is Bernini's altar with its bronze baroque altar and Michelangelo's Pieta. You can pay 10 Euro and climb to the top of the dome of St Peter's. After taking the elevator to the roof, it is 323 steps to the top. It is strenuous but well worth it as the views are spectacular. If you are at St Peter's Square at noon on a Sunday, the Pope will often appear at his residence window and give a blessing to the crowd below which was pretty magical. The key to visiting St Peter's is to arrive early before crowds build as there is a long line to get through security and to enter the Basilica. I would get here between 730am-830am. The key to visiting the Vatican Museums is to book a ticket in advance online. Plan for it to always be crowded.

One of the smallest states in the world, but within which there is a panorama of artistic works that almost no one can boast. It takes a whole day between St. Peter's, the Museums and the Vatican Gardens to visit it decorously without going into detail. I definitely suggest getting tickets in advance where applicable.

Without any resa for the museums and the Chapel (too late), we went on a Sunday morning to visit St. Peter's Basilica anyway. The site itself is grand enough to have the pleasure of wandering around. The basilica is exceptional. A mass was in progress with bishop and choir adding a bonus to this visit. And to close this morning at 9:30, the Angelus recited by Pope himself at his window. A moment of sharing with the crowd even without being Catholic.

There are three big sites to visit in Vatican City: the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica. Visit all three as its amazing. Avoid the tour with the lunch as it is poor. We only purchased the visit with lunch as its was all I could find as far as skip the line tickets.

It is a must while you are in rome. There are many busy places to visit, the museum, the sistine chappel, the square and st Paul basilica. Yiu will be searched like an airport in order to get inside the city.

2024.04.29 I visited Vatican City. It is the smallest country in the world with a population of 800 people. I visited St. Piero Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and the Vatican Museums. It was a wonderful trip with great weather.

Such a great day to the Vatican City. It is so interesting. We had a guided tour of the gardens and the hallway down to the Sistine chapel, which was amazing! I would definitely recommend booking a tour in advance as the queue was so long and we were able to walk straight in. Also the tour guides are so knowledgeable!

We used “What as life tours “ for our tour today 3rd of May 2024 it was great tour and the tour leader Adriano was superb. His knowledge was amazing and we learned so much information about this city. Words can’t explain how amaze this building and history.

If you have to make a choice of visit, no hesitation in choosing the Vatican with of course a ticket purchased in advance on the Guet your tour site with skip the line. Without the ticket purchased in advance and skipping the line, prepare to wait in line for hours. The site is just incredible, you will be amazed from start to finish. The beauty of the site, the works, the gardens.