Semi – Private Papal Audience Experience
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What a terrible experience.
Firstly you buy the tickets - €100 online and turn up early in long trousers and T-shirts in the 40 degree heat (as advised) only to queue in the burning sun (no shade) for about 30 mins.
When you are in there isn’t any air con, just one long grumpy queue (to be honest, I feel very sorry for the staff in this heat) all around the museums to look at the collection the Vatican has amassed over the years.
You finally arrive at the Sistine chapel - ordered to ‘cover up’ and are herded in and shushed, while countless more grumpy staff growl at people for taking photos.
You are then very pleased to leave (via an eternal exit literally past countless gift shops, and a pizzeria - who knew??!!) and out onto the burning streets again.
It saddens me that it was such a beautiful place left you feeling so ill. Countless galleries and museums do so much better…
Lots of religious pieces, was just lots of walking around to see many of the same items. Sistene chappel was impressive, but very crowded and controlled.
Wow, it's big, bold and amazing. A must for a visit to Rome. We booked via GYG and that was pretty easy. Not much queuing to get in - check with the staff early to make sure you are in the correct queue. Water fountains are around. Take a hat or umbrella for shade. We managed to do St Peter's B and square before our museum slot which suited us. The museum is enormous!!! Be prepared for a lot of walking through and the fact there is a massive one-way system so not much chance to deviate and skip stuff. Will take a while to get through and cunningly the Sistine is near the end of if all. Nice cafe (simple and not cheap) at the end which is good for a sit down.
So much walking and so many people!
There were lots of beautiful ceilings but it felt a bit like beautiful ceiling overload (something I thought I would never say!). By the time we reached the Sistine Chapel, we felt a bit numb to all the beauty which is a shame. We also felt that we were able to appreciate it as we were being herded through and there were so many people! The organisation of this needs to be much better, especially as everyone has such high expectations of a quiet and peaceful place.
The museums themselves were okay. Our favourite one was the Egyptian one (probably as it was quieter and much different to the others).
By the time we left, we were done so couldn’t bring ourselves to even so the basilica which is a shame as we were really looking forward to that.
Overall, we’re glad we did it but we don’t feel like we need to do it again. It was a bit too much for us and we felt that the crowds and heat didn’t help.
We had tickets for the 15:30 entry, but getting into the museum was a frustrating experience. Before reaching the entrance, there were several long queues with very little organization. As a result, lots of people were skipping the queue right in front of us.
There were three different queues depending on the type of ticket you had purchased, but because the lines stretched into another street, it was difficult to know where to wait. To make matters worse, it was slightly raining, so everyone had their umbrellas open (as people seem to be allergic to water), making the whole situation even more chaotic.
When we finally entered, there was a second long queue for the security check and another one for ticket control. Summarizing, it took us at least 45 minutes just to get inside.
Once inside, the museum is enormous. You can find lots of sculptures and paintings, as well as beautifully decorated rooms. Keep in mind that you’ll need at least two hours to see it properly.
In our case, as it was overcrowded, there were people in every single room of the museum, which made the visit stressful. Overall, the museum is well worth visiting, but I wouldn't recommend it if you dislike large crowds or if you're visiting it with young children, as you'll be walking for quite a long time.
