How to Get Discounts or Cheap Vatican Tickets

Vatican City is home to great artistic gems that are worth visiting. And yes, some are more expensive than others. If you want to visit the Sistine Chapel, you will inevitably have to pay for a ticket, but I'll tell you how you can lower the budget of your visit to the Vatican.

The best option

Rome Vatican and Sistine Chapel Skip-the-Line Tickets

Your skip-the-line tickets to discover the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel at your own pace

The most comfortable option to avoid long lines at the ticket office of one of the most visited monuments in the world.

From $35 at Hellotickets

If you want to visit at your own pace everything inside the Vatican in the most economical and comfortable way possible, this entrance to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel without queues is your best option.

• Recommended if... you want to avoid the long lines at the ticket office and purchase tickets in advance without a guided tour and at your own pace through the Vatican Museums. With the option to include an audio guide.

The most complete option

Guide tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica

The perfect guided tour to discover the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica.

Together with an expert guide and skipping the access queues, it is the most complete way to know everything that hides three of the main monuments of the Eternal City.

Duration: 3 hours

From $71 at Hellotickets

If what you want is not to miss any detail and delve into history, this guided tour of the Vatican Museums, St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel is your best option. It lasts approximately 3 hours and together with an expert guide you will learn all the details of the monumental complex.

• Recommended if... you are one of those who do not want to miss any detail of what you are visiting.

The Vatican offers two options for visitors. On the one hand, the skip-the-line tickets for the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, which allow you to enjoy in a more agile way, avoiding long waits. On the other hand, the guided tour, which provides a more enriching experience, since you will be accompanied by a guide who will give you all the information about the place. Depending on your preferences and the time available, each option has its charm. Which one do you choose?

If you want to spend as little as possible on your visit to the Vatican, I recommend you to buy the single ticket (without audio guide or guided tour) on official websites like Hellotickets. Below, I indicate the available options for you to evaluate which ones fit your budget:

• Tickets for the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel without queues, from 35.
• Tickets without queues for the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, from $45.
• Omnia Card 24h: Vatican, Catacombs and Rome sightseeing bus, from $74.
• Last minute tickets for Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, from $42.
• Early bird tickets for Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel with breakfast, from $89.
• Offer: Tickets to the Colosseum and Roman Forum + Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, from $109.
• Guided tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica, from 71.

Note that these tickets, purchased online, give you access to the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and the Rooms of St. Raphael and all without having to wait in the long lines that form at the ticket offices.

From about 45 € for general admission and 41 € with discount (for children from 7 to 17 years old), you can visit the infinite rooms of the monument and its entire collection of paintings and sculptures. In addition, if you prefer not to miss a single detail of the works of art that hides every corner of the Vatican, you can purchase an audio guide with your reservation.

To save money on your trip to Rome there are other options that may also be of interest to you. If you plan to visit other essential monuments such as the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, in addition to the Vatican, there are savings packs with which you can buy combined tickets at a lower price. You can choose between these two options:

Tickets without guided tour

If you are one of those who prefer to spread over several days the visit to the main attractions of the city, I recommend you to book your combined ticket to the Colosseum and the Vatican. I will tell you in detail:

• What it includes: Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica (you will also have audio guide and explanatory video).
• How much time I have to use it: 3 days.
• Price: about 76 €.

Combined guided tour

But there are travelers who want to go further and opt for the guided tour to have a more contextualized view and better understand its history. If this is your case, don't worry because there is also a way to save with the Vatican and Colosseum guided tour pack. Please note:

• What's included: Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel.
• How long it lasts: Half day tour.
• Price: about 88 €.

The Vatican Museums, with the Sistine Chapel inside, are fee-paying and you will need to buy your Vatican ticket to visit them. There are always exceptions and it is true that some groups can visit the museums for free.

Please note that even though access is free for these groups, they still need to purchase their free ** Vatican ticket** and, to do so, they will have to wait in line at the ticket office. These are the groups that can enter the Vatican free of charge:

• Infants and children up to 5 years old.
• Disabled persons with a recognized degree of disability over 74% (in this case, if they need to be accompanied, their companion can also enter free of charge).
• Pilgrims, priests or members of a religious congregation whose group has been officially accredited to enter the Vatican.

No. You will not find coupons or free tickets to the Vatican anywhere. That said, there are certain groups of people or collectives that are entitled to qualify for a reduced rate. These are:

• Children and young people between 7 and 17 years old.
• Students between 19-25 years of age who have official documentation from their university or school with which they can prove that they are still studying in the current year.

How does it work?

If you select the "reduced rate" option when booking your Vatican ticket online, you will need to bring documents proving your eligibility for this rate (identity card for minors, official student ID, etc.).

If you have made your reservation with a travel agency, make sure that they have the necessary documentation on your behalf to avoid surprises on the day of access to the Museums. If you have doubts or you are not sure that the documentation you can provide will guarantee you access at a reduced rate, you can always queue directly at the ticket office and ask at the counter.

If you are traveling with a religious congregation that has been previously accredited, you may be entitled to a special guided tour or some advantageous conditions when purchasing tickets, but you will have to check with your travel organizer.

If you want to save as much as possible on your visit, there is the option of free access to the Vatican: the Vatican Museums are free on the last Sunday of every month, from first thing in the morning until 12:30 pm. Honestly, it is a visit that I do not recommend you to make on a Sunday at all.

The crowds inside the Museums, the long lines to get in and the risk of not being able to enter despite having queued for miles can tarnish what is supposed to be one of the most interesting visits of your trip to Rome.

If you feel like visiting the Vatican, but you don't want to spend money on it, you can always settle for a stroll through St. Peter's Square and visit St. Peter's Basilica, which I recommend 100%.

Once inside you can delight, among other wonders, with the spectacular statue of Michelangelo's Pieta, a true work of art, as well as the spectacular nave, the Baldachin and the Dome of Bernini. Not bad for free, right?

Of course, in return you will have to wait in a long queue and go through a security check, but it is well worth it, I assure you.

An option that requires a slightly higher budget, but is the one that has the best value for money is to book a guided tour of the Vatican which, in addition to allowing you queue-free access to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, includes the company of an official guide who will accompany you during the tour.

With a guided tour, in addition to better understand the works and the context of everything you're going to see, you ensure the visit to the key points of the Vatican. This option costs about 48 € at Hellotickets and is very convenient considering all that it includes. What you will appreciate the most is the fact that you can skip the queues.

Vatican City itself is free to enter. You can walk across St. Peter's Square, walk through the colonnade and even enter St. Peter's Basilica without having to pay for it or buy a ticket. To make it clearer, here is a summary of what you can see for free at the Vatican and what you can't see for free:

No entrance fee and free of charge:

• St. Peter's Square.
• St. Peter's Basilica.
• Access to St. Peter's Square during the Papal Audience and the Angelus on Wednesdays and Sundays.
• Going to Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

Requires paid admission:

• Vatican Museums.
• Vatican Gardens.
• Sistine Chapel.
• Climbing St. Peter's Dome.
• The Vatican Catacombs: the crypts and the Necropolis, in the basement of the Basilica with the tomb of St. Peter.