Decision to Visit the Vatican Museums

The second time we went to Rome we decided a visit to the Vatican Museums was a must since we’ve never been. However, I have to admit I was hesitant since we’d be bringing along our baby and toddler. I was afraid that they’d cry the whole time and that the staff would be looking at us like, “Why did you bring a rambunctious toddler to a place full of priceless treasures?” It didn’t seem like a child friendly place. However, a visit to the Vatican Museums website put me at ease stating, “Family friendly: a warm welcome for families in the Vatican Museums!” Come to find out, the Vatican Museums are actually completely welcoming of families with children of all ages and have even added thoughtful features for families like a nursing room and highchairs in food service areas.

Good to know: Per their website, the Vatican Museums are happy to welcome families with children and strollers in tow and the Guard Corps will be happy to show families the easiest itinerary to follow and to point out the special lifts allowing easy access to the museum spaces. A nursing room and bathrooms with changing facilities can be located on the map of the Vatican Museums. Food can be purchased at both the self service corner and Pizzeria. Highchairs are available at both and the self service corner has a children’s menu. If you have a stroller and then decide you don’t want to use it, it appears you can store it for free in the Vatican Museums cloakroom.

Buying Tickets

While you can buy tickets to the museums in person on arrival to the museums, I think the best thing we did was buy our tickets in advance online. We didn’t realize what a game changer this was going to be with two small kiddos until we showed up and saw that there were separate lines for folks who already had tickets and folks who didn’t. There was almost no line for pre-purchased tickets (we waited only a couple of minutes to get into the museums) and a line with hundreds of people waiting to purchase tickets. We arrived about half an hour after opening, so can’t say what the line is like if you show up right when it opens, but I would guess people get in line even before it opens. Not something most people with a toddler want to do!

Good to know: Buy your tickets in advance online from the Vatican Museums website to skip the potentially super long lines to buy tickets in person. Lines were super long when we were there and we were extremely grateful to get into the separate “already have a ticket” line and breeze through with our toddler and baby.

Super long line for folks waiting to buy tickets to the Vatican Museums. This is just the end of the line. It extended way further along this wall and then around the corner to the doors of the museum.

Getting Around With a Stroller & Baby Carrier

We decided the most realistic thing for getting around and containing the kids once we were in the museums was to push our 2.5-year-old in a stroller and wear our 6-month-old in a baby carrier. We had read that there were elevators throughout the museums that staff would let you use if you had a stroller and we did find that to be the case. There were quite a few elevators and whenever the staff manning them would see us walk by with the stroller they would ask whether we needed to go up or down. Staff man the elevators because they are reserved for families with strollers and people with disabilities. We also found a long spiral ramp near the entrance spanning two floors that we could go up with the stroller. There were a few places with a short flight of stairs between a sort of half level that didn’t seem accessible by elevator or might require taking a really round about route. In those situations, we simply each took an end of the stroller, picked it up, and carried it up or down with our toddler still sitting in it. Not a big deal in our opinion.

*Pushing our toddler around in our BOB stroller*

Length of Time & Choosing Where to Go & Distracting Your Toddler

You could easily spend an entire day in the Vatican Museums, but we managed to explore for four hours before the kids started to loose it and felt like that was pretty good. Instead of just wandering, we strategically went straight to the areas that seemed the most interesting to us knowing that staying all day was unrealistic. These included the Gregorian Egyptian Museum, Gallery of Maps, Hall of the Animals, Bramante Staircase, and of course, the Sistine Chapel. I read about the different areas of the museums in advance to determine what areas we wanted to see most and would recommend this to families who know they won’t be able to stay very long. We saw a lot of other things along the way to the areas we’d picked out to see as every hall, nook, and cranny is crammed with art, sculptures, mosaics, and artifacts. As such, rest assured that you’ll get to see extra things while navigating to the main areas you’ve decided to see. Our 6-month-old loved people watching and even took a nap, while our toddler enjoyed some of the sites (especially going down the spiral Bramante Staircase) and then ended up using a tablet with headphones while riding in the stroller when he began to lose interest in endless sculptures and paintings.

Tip: If you’re willing to let your kiddo have a little screen time, something like a tablet or phone with headphones can go a long way in keeping your toddler occupied and quiet so you can have more time to explore the museums. The museums are very crowded and filled with priceless treasures, so letting your toddler run free is bound to be pretty stressful. We don’t do any screen time at home with our kids, but felt that this was the right time to use a tablet!

*Artifacts in the Gregorian Egyptian Museum*

*The details on the maps were incredible!*

*Descending the famous Bremante Staircase!*

*Looking back up the spiral Bremante Staircase from the bottom. Our toddler was completely fascinated.*

*View back up the staircase from the bottom*

Accessing the Sistine Chapel

The last indoor exhibit area we visited was the Sistine Chapel. We kept seeing signs for it but it took a long time to finally find it and when we did, we discovered it was sandwiched between two long flights of stairs! We walked around a bit to see if there was some ramp or elevator we had missed to access it, but didn’t see any way to reach it other than to traverse the stairs with our stroller as it was way too crowded to leave it sitting in the hallway before or after the chapel. As such, just like with the other stairs, we each grabbed an end of the stroller and carried it down the stairs to the entrance of the chapel. While a little heavy and difficult, we decided that was easier than folding and carrying it while also carrying the baby and helping our toddler down the stairs. Once inside the chapel we were able to push the stroller around again. We don’t have any photos of the Sistine Chapel as all photography inside is prohibited. It was pretty awesome though to take our children to such an iconic place, even if, to be perfectly honest, we found it slightly underwhelming (maybe it was how incredibly crowded it was in the chapel that added to that feeling?).

Good to know: After the fact, I did some research and found that you can access the Sistine Chapel via two ramps, two elevators, and a wheelchair lift. However, I don’t know if they would let you take your stroller on the wheelchair lift and it really seems easier to just pick it up and carry it or have one parent stay with the stroller and switch off going in to see the chapel.

Where to Take a Break

One of the great things about visiting the Vatican Museums with little kids is that they have some outdoor spaces where you can take a break and let your little ones burn off some energy to prolong your stay. We made a stop at the large Pinecone Courtyard to let our toddler race around on the sidewalks and play in the grass.

Good to know: Food and beverages, aside from water, are not allowed in any of the exhibit halls, so don’t plan on feeding your toddler or baby snacks as you walk around. As such, a stop in the Pinecone Courtyard can double as a food break as it has a restaurant, Bistrot La Pigna, which serves food and drinks, including coffee. Since you can eat food from the restaurant in the courtyard, I would also assume you can feed your children food you brought with you but couldn’t find a definitive answer. Leave us a comment if you have experience with this!

*One of the smaller courtyards where we took a quick run break - the kiddos of course also loved the fountain*

Finish With a Treat

When the kids reached their limit, we headed out before the crying began and ended our amazing day at the museums by getting a treat from the Old Bridge Gelato shop, located just a 5 minute walk from the Vatican Museums entrance.

Good to know: You can find the updated days and hours of operation for the Vatican Museums here