Vatican Museums

Lonely Planet review

The entrance to the Vatican Museums (Musei Vaticani) is a 15-minute walk from Piazza San Pietro. From the piazza head to Piazza del Risorgimento and turn left, following the Vatican walls north until you come to an area with hundreds of people milling around. Join the queue, charge your batteries and prepare to enter Rome's richest museum complex.

The museums are huge and you'll never manage to see everything in one go - you'd need several hours just for the highlights. Each starts at the domed Quattro Cancelli area, near the entrance, and finishes at the Sistine Chapel, so if you want you can walk straight there. Bear in mind, though, that you can't backtrack once you're there. Each gallery contains priceless treasures but for a whistle-stop tour get to the Stanza di Raffaello, the Pinacoteca, the Gallerie delle Carte Geografiche (Map Gallery) and, of course, the Sistine Chapel. Unless they're of particular interest, you could skim the Museo Gregoriano Profano (Gregorian Museum of Pagan Antiquities), Museo Pio-Cristiano (Pio Christian Museum), and Museo Missionario-Etnologico (Missionary and Ethnological Museum).

The notoriously complicated opening hours change often, so check ahead.