Early Access Vatican Tickets – Price, Inclusions, Discounts, Etc

Here’s how the system works: Standard visitors are only admitted from 8 am onwards, and by that time, long queues outside have already stretched around the Vatican walls. Inside, the early access groups have already had enough time to go through security and reach experience the Raphael Rooms, the Gallery of Maps, and the Sistine Chapel in peace. By 8 am, when the regular visitors get to the security checks and enter the museum in another 15 to 20 minutes. Soon they will have streamed in, the main galleries are already busy and the serene experience is gone.

If it’s your first time planning to visit the Vatican and you wonder how long the queues could get? Here is a snap from our recent visit. This is the waiting line at 7.30 am, 30 minutes before the museum opens. It wraps around the wall of the city and stretches for 500 meters.

The Vatican early access tour begins at 7:30 am. After meeting our guide outside the museum gates, your group will be admitted swiftly through a dedicated entryway. On your way, you will get a brief about the museum, its history, significance, etc. After passing through an airport-style security check, you will be exploring the galleries with just your group around. At the Sistine Chapel, instead of hundreds of visitors shoulder to shoulder, we found ourselves with just a few dozen others – enough space to quietly admire Michelangelo’s masterpiece.

By the time the doors opened for general admission, you would have already seen the highlights in calm and comfort. Later, as you walk back through the same galleries around 9:30 am, the atmosphere would have completely changed – the halls were bustling, guides holding flags leading large groups, and the Sistine Chapel was packed wall to wall.

Post your museum tour, your guide will escort you to St Peter’s Basilica. Here you can experience the grandeur of St Peter’s Dome, the architecture, history, religious significance and more. At the end of the tour, you will have ample time to spend in the basilica and the St Peter’s Square on your own too. 

So, were the early access tickets worth it? For anyone who values a quieter, more intimate experience of the Vatican’s treasures, we would say absolutely yes. For more assurance, here is how it looks during an early morning tour of the Vatican.