Visiting the Vatican? You Might be Doing it Wrong 😬

Surviving the Crowds: Practical Tips for a Better Vatican Experience 🇻🇦

Over the years I’ve ran so many tours and staycations in Rome that I’ve lost count. We always visit the Colosseum and Forum, Ostia Antica, Borghese Gallery and explore the small nooks and alleyways while sampling local food specialties. Generally I typically dedicate an entire day to the Vatican, but to be honest, visiting the Vatican isn’t easy.

It’s crowded, and with the recent passing of Pope Francis and the election of Pope Leo, plus the fact that this year is a Jubilee year for the Catholic Church, the crowds are only going to remain.

The Jubilee allows pilgrims to receive a special indulgence, a kind of blessing, if they visit within the year. It’s important to devout Catholics, and with a new pope in office you can see where this will go. More crowds. Enormous crowds.

The masses of tourists and pilgrims clog the streets around St. Peter’s Basilica all day and night. Public transportation in Rome limps along with just residents aboard but really groans under the weigh of all the additional visitors.

I recall the days of few crowds in the Vatican Museum when I started out as a guide, especially if you went in the afternoon. St. Peter’s has always had plenty of room for everyone. But it’s not true these days. The Vatican Museum crams as many visitors in as they can everyday and as an architect familiar with exiting requirements, I’m alarmed by how unsafe the museum is. This is a pretty normal experience these days, and my groups even have special reservations that skip the lines. As a tour guide, I want my clients to have a great experience but that’s really hard under these circumstances. So I offer to you a few hard-learned tips on how to do the Vatican better.