The Vatican Museum houses a large collection of artwork. Large is an understatement. There is no way to see everything. I recommend reading about the museum before you go to decide if there is anything you are especially interested in viewing.

Take a guided tour or a guidebook with you. It is easy to miss things as there is art EVERYWHERE - on the walls, the ceilings, the floor. A map is especially useful. There is a sort of one-way direction you are supposed to follow. There aren't many signs and things aren't really labelled, which makes a guide of some sort useful.

My favourite section was the Egyptian rooms. There are artifacts that are from about 2000 BC, a mummy, hieroglyphics (excuse the spelling). There are antiquities and modern art as well.

There is art from many famous artists(example Raphael) located throughout the museum as well. You can take pictures throughout the museum, except for the Sistine chapel (no flashes though).

Check ahead to make sure the museum is open, as it is not open every day. When it is open the front doors are open from 8:30-4:00. The cost was 14 Euro. There is one day a month it is free. Be sure to go early as there is often a line-up. There can be crowds, especially in the hallways with the maps that lead to the Sistine Chapel. There are two Metro stops nearby, Cipro is closer but harder to find.

We were fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity to tour the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peters the morning of our boat departure. Initially we didn't feel we would have enough time to see the Sistine Chapel on our own, so we jumped at the chance to get everything in during a 4 hour tour.

The tour itself was fairly ordinary, most companies seem to take a similar route to get you to the Sistine Chapel in reasonable time. The biggest benefit was not having to wait in line to eventually get into the museums. The nicest thing about the tours is that you're provided with a personal radio and ear piece so you can at least hear your guide amidst all of the commotion.

Following a similar tour route as many other reviewers, we were led through a wing full of sculptures, into the tapestry room, and through the room of maps. We were then given 15-20 minutes on our own in the Sistine Chapel to attempt to take everything in.

Though brief, approximately an hour and a half or two hours in the museum, we were able to get a feel for the massive collection of art housed here.

Following the Sistine Chapel we were led out of the museums and into St. Peters Basilica where we toured for an additional 45 minutes and were given time to wander the square.

For those who are in a time crunch, or aren't interested in waiting in line to get into the museums, a similar tour is a good option. It will cost you for your time savings, but with so much else to see in Rome, it can be worth it.

The Vatican Museums, located within the walls of Vatican City, has one of the most spectacular collections of art in the world and also the home to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. The Vatican Museums can be reached by metro (either Cipro Musei Vaticani or Ottaviano) or bus, or on foot, if you’re lucky to be staying in a hotel within walking distance of the museums. The museums are closed on Sundays and holidays except the last Sunday of the month, when admission is free. Keep in mind that these special Sundays are usually the most-packed ones. Opening hours vary by date but for the most part, it is open from 10am to 3:30pm.

Admission is € 13 for adults, € 8 euros for students (under 26 years) and children under the age of 14. It is free for children under 6 years and disabled people. For students, you must bring a valid piece of ID (i.e. a school student card or ISIC card).

The best times to go to the Vatican museums are in the afternoons and on Wednesdays. However, the museums take up a great portion of your time, especially if you’re keen on seeing everything. This may require you to wait in line before opening. We took the metro to Cipro Musei Vaticani and walked a short distance to the entrance and arrived there at 10am. They had already started to let people in but the line was massive! Luckily, the line moved quite fast and by the time it was 10:25am, we’d paid our admission. Some days, you may have to wait a few hours but we were lucky that day.

The collections are absolutely amazing and I’ve never seen so many Renaissance works of art. The Vatican Museums are truly not to be missed, especially the Egyptian collection! There are a few courtyards for tourists to relax but my favourite had to be the one prior to Sistine Chapel. There’s a lovely garden and fountain that provide people with great photo ops! Sistine Chapel is at the very end of the museums and certainly the most popular one. It’s over-crowded and sadly, there are people breaking the rules by taking photographs and videos of the frescoes which are a huge no-no. The guards are constantly shushing people and it can be very over-whelming in that atmosphere. If you want a picture, buy a postcard at the gift shop - it’s that simple. The Sistine Chapel is more beautiful in life and much larger than you would ever imagine it to be!

Overall, the Vatican Museums were one of the highlights of my trip to Italy. I would absolutely recommend it and if you can, try to get a tour guide for an even more personal experience!

Tip: No shorts/skirts above the knees and bare shoulders are allowed. Bring a pashmina shawl for easy cover-up – esp. if you’re entering religious sanctuaries!

We had a private tour through Context Rome for this tour. This was the smartest thing we did before going to the Vatican museums.

As we went meet our docent, we saw the line to the museums was probably a kilometer long. Our docent was in line for the tickets and saved us an hour and a half wait.

To get to the ticket booths, we ascended a very long escalator. The ticket area is quite new, built for the 2000 jubilee celebrations of the Catholic Church. (Entry ticket is €13; €8 with student ID. Closed on Mondays.)

We began our tour of the Vatican Museums in the courtyard where our docent explained the basic origin of the museums and discussed the Sistine Chapel because it would be hard to do once we are in there. We looked at the two most significant ancient sculptures in the museums' collection, the Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoön. From there, we went to the chronologically-arranged-picture gallery known as the Pinacoteca, where there are paintings from the late medieval to high Renaissance periods. This took us through the halls of the Vatican palaces, visiting the most important rooms of the museums, including the ancient statuary collection of Julius II and the papal apartments decorated by Raphael.

The hallways are amazing too. One has maps of Italy done in frescos, another tapestries including some designed by Raphael. The Raphael ones were woven in Belgium and have gold thread which sparkles as we looked at them because someone had accidentally pulled back the draperies over the window and allowed the sunlight in. The Stanza della Segnatura has one of my favourites, Raphael's School of Athens.

From the Raphael rooms, we went to the Sistine Chapel, where many people ignored the signs and announcement saying no flash. A guard somewhere kept asking us to be quiet, but to no avail. The photos we took are very blurry because we did't use our flashes. It is all so impressive and also oppressive because of the crowd.

We left the Sistine Chapel to go to St. Peter's Basilica, and looked at Bernini's Constantine statue which is at the end of a staircase just next to the entrance to St. Peter's. When we stopped to snap a photo, a guard told us not to stop. It seems silly that you can't look at this great piece. The area is very wide and we weren't blocking the flow of lines into St. Peter's nor the long lines to the dome or the crypts.

In St. Peter's, we visited the major works by Michelangelo, the dome, La Pietá, and Bernini's Baldocchino (the canopy) and a statue for the tomb of Pope Alexander VII hanging over a doorway.

Finally, we went out to look at St. Peter's Piazza, designed by Bernini. There were chairs being set up in the square and inside the church, all to prepare for Easter service.

This is a place not to be missed despite the crush of people.

The best time to visit the Musei Vaticani is in the afternoon, the closer to 1pm (which is lunchtime), the better. We tried it, and were inside the museums, clutching our tickets (€12 per person), within 10 minutes of having joined the queue.

Someone estimated that if you spent 8 hours everyday at the Musei Vaticani, with a minute at each exhibit and one hour off for lunch, it would take you 12 years to complete the circuit. That should give you an idea of how vast this collection is. It exemplifies the grandeur and the wealth of the Vatican, actually, which is mirrored in the Basilica next door.

But for those who can’t afford to spend 12 years seeing the Musei Vaticani, there’s a shorter route through the top attractions of the museums. We followed the crowd, through a series of rooms, and though we almost certainly didn’t see even a hundredth of the exhibits, we were pretty satisfied with what we did see.

We began with a tour of the rooms that house marble statues from ancient Greece and Rome. Among the most stunning (and famous) works here are the Laocoön Group, depicting Laocoön and his two sons battling sea serpents; the Belvedere Torso; and Perseus with the head of Medusa.

From here, we wandered on, past the Room of Raffaelo’s Tapestries (the tapestries were woven in Brussels based on cartoons created by Raphael); the Room of Maps (a long, airy gallery with frescoes of medieval maps); and the Room of Chiaruscuros. This room, in particular, was exceptionally striking. It was decorated with paintings of people in black, white and shades of grey, and each painting had a wonderful three-dimensional effect that almost made it look like relief.

The `quick route’ through the museums took us past a series of rooms, most covered with murals executed by Michelangelo and his students. En route, we also stepped briefly into more modern times- in the Borgia Rooms, which contain Christian art by masters such as Gauguin, Van Gogh and Salvador Dali- there’s a `crucifixion’ by Dali that’s absolutely mesmerising.

Our tour of the Musei Vaticani ended at its most famous section, the Sistina Cappella or the Sistine Chapel. As just about everybody knows, the walls and ceiling of this splendid chapel showcase the genius of Michelangelo: the Creation of Man, the Fall of Man, the Last Judgement, the Temptations of Christ, and many more depictions of Biblical episodes adorn the room. The colours are vivid, the figures perfectly portrayed, the musculature anatomically correct. And although other masters- including Botticelli and Roselli- worked on the chapel, it’s really Michelangelo who made it what it is.

Photography’s allowed in the Musei Vaticani but not in the Sistina Capella. Also note that since it’s a place of worship, you have to be decently clad (no bare shoulders or knees), and you have to keep mum. Ushers at the door constantly hush the crowds flocking into the chapel.