Vatican Museums

Entry to the magnificent piece of art, the Sistine Chapel, is to be purchased only together with the entry to the Vatican museum. The tour with a guide will take 3-4 hours and strolling around with baby can be very exhausting. Self-guided museum tour might sound like a better idea, though don’t let yourself appease by the flexibility, it’s just on the contrary (you have to follow the path which is anyway full of people). The only advantage is that you can go straight to...

Entry to the magnificent piece of art, the Sistine Chapel, is to be purchased only together with the entry to the Vatican museum. The tour with a guide will take 3-4 hours and strolling around with baby can be very exhausting. Self-guided museum tour might sound like a better idea, though don’t let yourself appease by the flexibility, it’s just on the contrary (you have to follow the path which is anyway full of people). The only advantage is that you can go straight to the chapel. Entering the hall you would wish for the museum to offer baby playground with a “nanny” (like in Ikea), where you could leave your youngest one and enjoy the atmosphere of the sacred place. Well, silence is strictly required in Sistine chapel, so once your baby starts fussing, you’ll be asked to leave. On the contraty, the guard staff is very helpful to show you around and point the easiest route and direct you to the right elevators. There are baby changing rooms available at multiple places and some of the refreshment areas will provide baby chairs too. Again, it’s highly recommended to book the tickets online in advance, otherwise you’ll spend countless minutes (sometimes even hours) waiting in the line. Children under 6 years are for free, adults will be 17EUR starting January 2018. Here is the full map of the museums including the baby changing rooms: http://www.museivaticani.va/content/dam/museivaticani/pdf/visita_musei/servizi_visitatori/mappa_musei_vaticani.pdf and here you can find the accessibility map showing you all elevators, stairs and lifts here: http://www.museivaticani.va/content/dam/museivaticani/pdf/visita_musei/servizi_visitatori/mappa_disabili_en.pdf