Address: Piazza San Petro, 00120 Città del Vaticano
To have the nicest view while entering the Vatican, I would recommend to go to the Sant Angelo castle and start the nice walk over to the Vatican City. The closer you get the bigger you see St Peter’s square and how impressive it is.
We went here early morning (09:00) but already people in que to enter St Peters Basilica. We decided to go in the Basilica immediately and explore the square later on to avoid the long ques to come. As we came with kids we always like to avoid ques in general, as we have discovered that this almost always end with bad experience.
Most I say that this is a very impressive church so visit, with wonderful colors and paintings all over. Just imagine to be here during conclave and all the ceremonies that take places here to be able to se how it all works. You can even go down under the church and se the resting place of many of the passed pope’s during the history.
When we left the Basilica around 1 hour later, oh boy oh boy it was long queues to get in to the Basilica. To enter the Dome the security guars estimated the waiting was up to 2 hours in que. We even noticed the security line to enter the Vatican City was very long.
St Peters Basilica is free to visit and is open 07:00 – 18:30 daily. With the only exception on Wednesdays when the Basilica is used for papal audience and is open from around 12:00 or 13:00.
If you like to explore more of the Vatican, you can buy tickets to the different sites and museums. I recommend to buy the ticket at home before the trip to save time in the long, long, long queues to the ticket office. I mean who wants to spend hours just to get the tickets and then be in a bad mood when finally you enter all the wonderful places in this small country.
The museums are open Monday to Saturday and closed on Sundays and some days during the year. Make sure to look before going so it’s not closed that specific day you plan to go.
The official website of the Vatican to buy tickets: https://tickets.museivaticani.va/home
How to get here by metro
Closest metro stop on Line A is Ottaviano about 10 min walking to the Vatican City.
Hope you will have a nice day in this small little but important country The Vatican City.