Vatican Museums and St Peter's 2026: Tickets, the Sistine Chapel, the Dome and Papal Audiences

I spent a Tuesday afternoon in late November 2025 at the Vatican: the Museums first, a late lunch just outside St Peter's colonnade, then the Basilica until dusk. The Museums and the Basilica are separate visits with separate rules. The Museums need a booked ticket; the Basilica is free.

Vatican Museums tickets

Children under 7 go free. Booking online costs €5 more, and "allows you to skip the museum entrance line". You still go through the metal detectors, and staff check your ticket against your ID, so bring it.

• Students: the Museums' website asks for a document from your school or university confirming you're enrolled this year, while the ticket office asks for an International Student Identity Card. Carry both.
• Over 65s get no discount.
• Disabled visitors with a certified disability of at least 67% go free, with a companion if they need one. Those tickets can't be booked online; they're issued at the desks in the entrance hall.
• Claim only what you're entitled to. If you buy a reduced ticket you aren't entitled to, it's cancelled and you have to buy a full one.
• No changes and no refunds. You can't change the date, time, number of people or names on a booking.

The ticket includes the Sistine Chapel, but not St Peter's, which is free anyway. An audio guide is €8 when you book. Since October 2026 there's also an official app, Musei Vaticani Official, for €8. There's no Wi-Fi inside, so download it before you go. The Museums' own guided tour costs €40 (€30 reduced), ticket included, and takes about two hours.

They sell out

On 13 October 2026, the standard ticket was sold out for every open day to the end of the month. Two days later, it was sold out to 7 November. Even dates still on sale were mostly gone: for 3 November, 15 of the 20 entry times had sold out. Entry times run every half hour from 08:00 to 17:30. The Museums don't say how far ahead dates go on sale. In mid-October, the ticket office was selling up to 30 December.

If the official site has sold out for your date, resellers may still take a booking. Weekend in Italy Affiliate link sells Museum entry for €25.50, or €16.50 reduced, which is 50 cents more than the official full price and €1.50 more than the reduced one. Know what you're buying:

• the time you choose is only a preference;
• your booking goes on a waiting list until the Museums confirm it, and your card is charged the next working day;
• bookings close four days before the visit;
• once confirmed, it can't be cancelled.

Its page also repeats some out-of-date rules on who pays less. Go by the Museums' rules above. Citorah earns 10% when you buy museum or monument tickets through that link, at no extra cost to you. It doesn't change the advice: book on the official site first.

Opening hours

• Monday to Saturday: 08:00 to 20:00, last entry 18:00. You're asked to leave the halls 30 minutes before closing.
• Sundays: closed, except the last Sunday of the month.
• The last Sunday of the month: free, from 09:00 to 14:00, last entry 12:30. In 2026 that leaves 25 October, 29 November and 27 December. It doesn't apply when the last Sunday falls on Easter Sunday, 29 June, or 25, 26 or 31 December, so in 2027 there's none in March or December.
• Holidays: for the rest of 2026, the Museums are closed on 1 November, 8 December, and 25 and 26 December. On 24 and 31 December they open 08:00 to 15:00, last entry 13:00.
• Evenings: the Museums' 2026 calendar has no evening openings.

Clothes, bags and photos

Dress code. It covers the Museums, the Sistine Chapel, St Peter's and the Vatican Gardens: "Sleeveless and / or low-cut garments, shorts above the knee, miniskirts and hats are not permitted."

Bags. The cloakroom is free and comes after the metal detectors. It's compulsory for bags bigger than 40 × 35 × 15 cm, rucksacks (except small ones), medium and large umbrellas, and tripods. You collect everything the same day, from the exit hall at the foot of the spiral staircase. If you're going on to St Peter's, the Museums ask you not to leave bags with them, and St Peter's has no cloakroom. So travel light.

Photos. Personal photos are allowed everywhere in the Museums except the Sistine Chapel, and never with flash. The Museums' rule for the chapel: "In the Sistine Chapel it is forbidden to take photographs or films with any type of electronic equipment. The guard staff is authorised to request the immediate cancellation, in their presence, of video or photographic material produced in contravention of this rule." They also ask for absolute silence there.

Food. You can't eat or drink in the halls. There are cafés, a self-service restaurant and a pizzeria along the route.

The route

The official map runs:

1. On the first floor: the Egyptian Museum, the Chiaramonti and Braccio Nuovo sculpture galleries, and the Pio-Clementino, around the Pinecone Courtyard.
2. On the second floor: the long Galleries of the Candelabra, the Tapestries and the Maps.
3. The Raphael Rooms, then a short way through to the Sistine Chapel.

My visit followed it: the Egyptian and Assyrian rooms, the sculpture galleries and the round hall of the Pio-Clementino, the long galleries, the Raphael Rooms, then the Sistine Chapel. From my first photo in the Egyptian rooms to my last, on the spiral staircase at the exit, was about an hour and three quarters.

A few things to look out for:

• The Gallery of Maps is 120 metres long, with 40 maps of Italy painted in 1578–80.
• The Pinecone Courtyard is named after the ancient bronze pinecone in its niche, which once stood in the atrium of St Peter's. Its restoration was celebrated on 6 October 2026.
• Michelangelo's Last Judgement has been cleaned. Maintenance work, which ended on 27 March 2026, removed a whitish film from it.

From the Sistine Chapel to St Peter's

No official page describes a route from the Sistine Chapel straight into St Peter's. A guide site, Romewise, says that as of 2025 only tours that include the Basilica can use that shortcut, and that the Museums' own tickets and tours can't. Otherwise, you leave by the Museums' exit, as I did, and go round to St Peter's Square.

St Peter's Basilica

Entry is free. It's open every day from 07:00 to 20:00, with last entry by 19:15, "subject to visitor flow and waiting times for security checks". If you'd rather not queue, the official booking site sells a timed entry for €7. It includes a digital audio guide and a dedicated entrance route. It isn't required, but the Basilica recommends it to avoid long queues.

Security is run by the Italian State Police, in the right-hand colonnade as you face the Basilica. The busiest days are Wednesday, the usual day of the papal audience, and Sunday, when the Pope says the Angelus at noon.

What to wear: cover your shoulders. The Basilica's own pages disagree on legs. The FAQ says men need long trousers and women skirts below the knee or trousers; another page allows below-knee trousers. Long trousers, or a skirt below the knee, are safe.

Photos: the pages disagree here too. Its rules ask visitors "not to take photographs, even for personal use", while its FAQ says photos without flash are allowed. Tripods and selfie sticks aren't. No food, drink or smoking inside.

The Basilica says a visit takes one to two hours. The Vatican Grottoes, with the tombs of many popes, are free. I spent about half an hour inside, late in the afternoon, under Bernini's baldacchino and the dome, and came out into the square at dusk.

The dome

Both include entry to the Basilica, with the digital audio guide, at a time set by your booking. The Basilica's pages give different rules for whether that's before or after the climb, so follow the time in your confirmation. Dome tickets can't be changed or refunded. A few can be bought on site, if any are left.

The dome is open 07:00 to 18:00 until 25 October 2026. Last winter it was 07:30 to 17:00; the dates for winter 2026–27 aren't posted yet. The Basilica doesn't recommend the climb if you have heart or breathing problems, vertigo, claustrophobia or difficulty moving, or if you're pregnant.

Papal audiences and the Angelus

Tickets are always free. You request them from the Prefecture of the Papal Household, through its online portal, which needs an account.

• The General Audience is on Wednesdays at 10:00, in St Peter's Square or sometimes indoors, unless the Pope has other commitments. In mid-October 2026, the portal listed 21 and 28 October; 4, 18 and 25 November; and every Wednesday in December. There's none on 11 November. Check the portal before you plan around one.
• The Angelus is on Sundays at 12:00 in St Peter's Square, and "NO tickets are required".
• At Christmas, Midnight Mass on 24 December is at 22:00 and Christmas Day Mass is at 10:00, both in the Basilica and both by ticket request. The Urbi et Orbi blessing is on 25 December at 12:00 in the square, with no tickets.

Skip it

Skip: websites that look like the official one

The Museums' own warning: "The only official site for purchasing tickets online is https://tickets.museivaticani.va Please beware of potential scams and websites that use domains similar to the official one, which may charge significantly higher prices." Check the address before you pay.

Questions

How much are Vatican Museums tickets in 2026?

€25 online on the official site (€20 plus a €5 booking fee), or €15 reduced for children aged 7 to 18 and students up to 25. At the door it's €20, or €10 reduced. Under-7s go free.

How far ahead should I book the Vatican Museums?

Weeks ahead. In mid-October 2026, every open day for the next three weeks had sold out. The Museums don't publish how far ahead dates go on sale.

Is St Peter's Basilica free?

Yes. An optional timed entry with an audio guide costs €7. Climbing the dome costs €17 by the stairs or €22 with the lift, Basilica entry included.

Can I take photos in the Sistine Chapel?

No. Photos and filming are forbidden there with any device, and guards can ask you to delete them. Elsewhere in the Museums, personal photos without flash are allowed.

When is the Vatican Museums' free day?

The last Sunday of the month, from 09:00 to 14:00 (last entry 12:30), unless it falls on a holiday. In 2026 that leaves 25 October, 29 November and 27 December.

What's the dress code at the Vatican?

No sleeveless or low-cut tops, shorts above the knee, miniskirts or hats in the Museums, the Sistine Chapel or St Peter's. For St Peter's, long trousers or a skirt below the knee is the safe choice.