Hallelujah and Praise Be! The Vatican Museums have become a lot easier to see and more hassle free to navigate because they extended their opening hours, which means less of a wait in line and not having to arrive in the morning to see the Sistine Chapel. Click through for new schedule and tips.

The Vatican has announced the new opening hours starting January 2, 2008. The museums will now be open all year from 8:30 to 18:00 (6 pm) (last entry 16:00 (4 pm)) .

The opening time has been brought forward to 8:30 a.m. from 10:00 a.m. Closing hours have been extended from 15:20 to 16:00, including Saturdays which used to produce nightmare lines because the museums used to close at 12:20 on what is typically very crowded day. Free Sundays (the last Sunday of each month) remain the same (tickets dispensed between 8:45 - 12:30). Click HERE for full schedule, including days closed. Furthermore, the governor of the Vatican City State, Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, has announced that starting June 1, tickets for the Vatican Museums will be available for purchase online at www.vaticanstate.va. So, it’s looking like the terrible lines to the Vatican Museums are a thing of the past. Let’s hope so!

The Vatican Museums’ line has struck dread into tourists’ souls since lines became outrageous beginning with the opening of the new museum entrance in 2000 and especially since additional security measures were implemented after Sept 11, 2001. The Vatican’s 2007 decision to actually diminish the opening hours in the morning caused huge lines that, according to Chris Felts who has shown 1000s of tourists around the Vatican, commonly caused a 90 minute wait, and that’s before the 1 to 1.5 hour walk to reach the Sistine Chapel. A common tourist strategy has always been to arrive to the Vatican early in the morning to avoid the legendary long lines; however, with the extended hours, according to Mr. Felts, visitors can rest assured about going to the Vatican in the late morning or early afternoon. Actually, he said, the line should be a lot more manageable and the museums less crowded later in the day.

What this information means to your Vatican Museums visit:

• To pay for the extended hours, ticket prices were raised by 1€ to 14€ regular and 8€ reduced.
• Lines should be considerably shorter, especially on Saturdays which used to be particularly grueling because of the short hours.
• Still, if possible consider visiting the museums Tuesday to Thursday as they are historically much less busy than the other days of the week.
• Throw away the conventional strategy of arriving to the Vatican at the crack of dawn to wait in line. Now it’s possible to go to the Vatican Museums in the afternoon, which is usually a much quieter time, and you won’t have to deal with the morning tour group rush.
• You no longer have to feel like you need to pay a premium for a tour company that advertises that they can “skip the line”. Save that money and have a nicer dinner, a gelato or a pint.

The Vatican Museums are a must for everyone visiting Rome. They are truly a fantastic exhibit of the culture and art that the Vatican has preserved for the last 2,000 years. Now, thankfully, with these new hours the lines and crowds will thin and tourists will be able to focus on the grandeur and splendor of the Sistine Chapel, Raphael Rooms and other thought provoking artworks rather than getting frustrated and tired in line.

Happy Travels!

By the way, here is the schedule of the remaining free and closed days in 2008. Remember that this is only for the Museums and not for other parts of the Vatican. Moreover, as of this update on August 14, 2008 all lines are down so it is looking like the long lines of the past are gone the way of Caesar.

NOTE:  For you non-Italian speakers the calendar is as follows: starting from the top: L= Monday, M=Tuesday, M=Wednesday, G=Thursday, V=Friday, S=Saturday and D=Sunday.