St Peter’s Basilica sits on top of the grave of St Peter, the first Pope of Christianity.
St. Peter’s Basilica, also known as Basilica di San Pietro in Italian, is one of the most renowned and significant religious and architectural landmarks in the world.
It is almost always seen with Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel because they are all next to each other.
The basilica is renowned for its stunning Renaissance and Baroque architecture.
It was designed by famous architects like Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Together, they get more than 5 million tourists every year.
In this article, we explain everything you must know before buying St Peter’s Basilica tickets.
Top St Peter’s Basilica Tickets
# Guided Tour of Peter’s Basilica
# Guided tour of St. Peter’s Basilica, Dome Climb & Papal Crypts
# Peter’s Basilica: Dome Climb with Guide
Table of contents
- What to expect at St Peter’s Basilica
- Where to book tickets
- How do online tickets work
- Guided tours of St Peter’s Basilica
- St Peter’s Basilica combo tours
- How to reach St Peter’s Basilica
- St Peter’s Basilica hours
- Best time to visit St Peter’s Basilica
- How to avoid crowd at St Peter’s Basilica
- What to see in St Peter’s Basilica
- FAQs about St Peter’s Basilica
What to expect at St Peter’s Basilica
As you approach the Basilica, you will be immediately struck by its grandeur.
The facade, the dome, and the colonnades of St. Peter’s Square create a visually stunning and awe-inspiring scene.
The square is a vast open space designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, featuring a central obelisk and two sweeping colonnades symbolically embracing visitors.
It’s essential to dress appropriately when visiting the Basilica, covering shoulders and knees. Revealing clothing is not allowed.
The vast and ornate space of St. Peter’s Basilica is adorned with stunning artwork, including mosaics, sculptures, and paintings.
Don’t miss Michelangelo’s “Pieta,” a world-famous sculpture depicting the Virgin Mary holding the body of Jesus.
Beneath the basilica, you can explore the Vatican Grottoes, which contain the tombs of many popes and important figures in the history of the Catholic Church.
You don’t need to buy any tickets to explore St Peter’s Basilica – admission is free for visitors.
However, if you want to see and experience the better parts of the Basilica, you need to buy the appropriate ticket.
It is also better to opt for a guided tour so a local expert can take you around the massive building.
Where to book tickets
The tickets for St. Peter’s Basilica are available online in advance or at the attraction.
Online ticket prices tend to be cheaper than tickets at the attraction.
When you buy online, you can avoid the long queues at the ticket counters.
When you book early, you also get your preferred time slot and booking early helps avoid last-minute disappointments.
How do online tickets work
Go to the St. Peter’s Basilica ticket booking page, and select your preferred date, time slot, and number of tickets to buy.
You will receive the ticket confirmation in your email after the booking.
There is no need to get printouts of the ticket.
You can show the e-ticket on your smartphone when you visit the attraction.
Guided tours of St Peter’s Basilica
If budget is not an issue; you must opt for a guided tour of St Peter’s Basilica.
Here are the two reasons why a guided tour makes so much sense –
- Besides being a religious site, St. Peter’s Basilica is also a heritage site containing some of the World’s most famous artwork. A local expert guide can explain the importance of everything, making your visit more worthwhile.
- These guided tour tickets also help you skip the line, thus saving you a waiting time of approximately one hour or more.
We present three of our favorite St Peter’s guided tours.
St. Peter’s Basilica with Dome Climb and Crypt
This guided tour starts at 7.30 and 8 am, and the first item on the agenda is to explore the Basilica.
Then, you take an elevator to the first terrace of the dome to experience the mosaics in the morning light.
Next, you see the work of the artists – Bernini’s Baldachin, Michelangelo’s ‘Pieta’ etc.
When you visit the Papal Crypt, you get insights into the history of St Peter’s Basilica.
During this tour, the guide takes a small group tour of around 15 tourists.
The local guide will be with you for two and a half hours, after which you can roam.
Ticket Price
Adult Ticket (15+ years): €44
Child Ticket (2 to 14 years): €39
Infant Ticket (up to 1 year): Free entry
St. Peter’s Basilica guided tour
This guided tour of St Peter’s Basilica is just like the previous tour.
Except for two differences –
- It doesn’t include a trip up the Basilica’s dome
- The duration of this tour is one hour
Once the one-hour guided tour is over, you can hang around inside the Basilica and explore on your own.
You can opt for the 10.30 am or the 12 pm slot on the ticket booking page.
Ticket Price
Adult Ticket (18+ years): €24
Child Ticket (7 to 17 years): €19
Infant Ticket (up to 6 years): Free entry
Audience with Pope Francis
This tour is a fantastic opportunity to pray alongside Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Square.
Everything is taken care of by your tour guide, including a good spot in front of the Pope.
You also receive a set of headsets so that you can hear everything.
This 4-hour long tour is possible only on Wednesdays.
Ticket Price
Adult Ticket (15+ years): €39
Child Ticket (4 to 14 years): €34
Infant Ticket (up to 3 years): Free entry
The Rome Tourist Pass is a super saver. For just €97 per person, the pass includes entry tickets to Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and Pantheon and a guided tour of St. Peter’s Basilica. You also get a 10% discount code, which you can use (five times!) to get discounts on future purchases.
St Peter’s Basilica combo tours
Combo tours are pretty popular in Rome for two reasons –
- There is so much to see in both the Vatican and the city of Rome
- Combo tour packages help save around 15 to 20% on ticket costs
We present four combo tours quite popular among tourists visiting St Peter’s Basilica.
Vatican Museums + Sistine Chapel + Saint Peters
Distance between Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica: 1.2 km (0.7 miles)
Time Taken: 6 minutes by car
Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and Saint Peter’s Basilica have long lines at the entrance.
This one-guided combo tour can help you skip the lines and enter all three of these attractions without having to wait.
The duration of this guided tour is 3 hours.
After the guide leaves you, you can explore more for as long as you wish.
Ticket Price
Shared Tour in English
Adult Ticket (18+ years): €143
Child Ticket (6 to 17 years): €133
Infant Ticket (up to 5 years): Free
Tour without St. Peter’s Basilica
Adult Ticket (18+ years): €55
Child Ticket (6 to 17 years): €48
Infant Ticket (up to 5 years): Free
Private Tour
Adult Ticket (18+ years): €1200
Child Ticket (6 to 17 years): €500
Infant Ticket (up to 5 years): Free
Vatican sites + Colosseum
If you are in Rome for a day or two, this is the perfect guided tour.
In six and a half hours, you can cover all of the following:
– St. Peter’s Basilica
– Vatican Museums
– Sistine Chapel
– Colosseum
– Roman Forum
– Palatine Hill
At all these attractions, you will skip the lines, thus wasting no time.
You will also get a headset so that you can hear the guide.
Ticket Price
Adult Ticket (18+ years): €121
Child Ticket (3 to 17 years): €99
Infant Ticket (up to 2 years): Free entry
Vatican Museums + Papal audience
This tour is possible only on Wednesdays because the Pope gives an audience at St Peter’s Basilica.
You start this four-hour guided tour with an audience of Pope Francis I.
You can decide to pray with him or enjoy the surroundings as the sermon continues.
The Papal audience goes on for two hours.
At 8 am, you start your guided tour of the St. Peter’s Basilica and. soon enough, also meet the Pope.
Ticket Price
Adult Ticket (18+ years): €28
Child Ticket (6 to 17 years): €20
Infant Ticket (up to 5 years): Free entry
St. Peter’s Basilica + Square + Papal Grottoes
This tour starts at 2 pm, and after meeting your professional English-speaking tour guide and Vatican expert, you will take in the extraordinary architecture of St. Peter’s Square before exploring the wonders and works of art inside the Basilica.
Walk through the past of St. Peter’s admire the beauty of the Renaissance and Baroque eras, and see works of art created by Michelangelo, Bernini, and Bramante.
Lastly, head to the Papal Grottoes to see the space where previous pontiffs were buried.
After this 90 minutes tour, you can stay inside the basilica.
Ticket Price
Adult Ticket (18 to 64 years): €25
Child Ticket (6 to 17 years): €18
Seniors Ticket (65+ years): €25
How to reach St Peter’s Basilica
St Peter’s Basilica is a UNESCO World Heritage site located on Vatican Hill in Vatican City.
Address: Piazza San Pietro, 00120 Città del Vaticano, Vatican City. Get Directions.
Vatican city is so small (1/6th of a square mile, or 0.44 of a square Km), that even though it is a separate state, it comfortably rests right in the middle of the city of Rome.
Rome’s public transport moves in and out of the Vatican City, and there are no barriers or checks.
By Metro
Ottaviano–San Pietro–Musei Vaticani is the nearest Metro station to the Vatican City.
Line A Metro trains, available every few minutes, can take you to this station.
Once you get down at the Metro Station, a brisk ten-minutes walk can get you to St Peter’s Basilica, located at the end of St Peter’s Square.
By Train
St Pietro is the nearest train station to St Peter’s Square.
If you are traveling from Civitavecchia, the cruise port for Rome, this is your best option to reach the Basilica.
A 12-minute walk from the train station can get you to St Peter’s Square.
By Bus
If buses are your preferred mode of transport, look out for buses No. 64, No. 62, No. 40, or No. 81.
Bus No 64 is one of the most used lines because it connects Termini station with Vatican City.
Roma Termini bus station is right in front of the Termini Train station.
Safety Tip: Beware of pickpockets when you get into buses in Rome.
By Car
If you’re traveling by car, turn on your Google Maps and get started.
There are enough parking garages around the attraction.
St Peter’s Basilica hours
From 1 April to 30 September, St. Peter’s Basilica opens at 7 am and closes at 7.10 pm.
From 1 October to 31 March, the Basilica continues to open at 7 am but closes an hour early – at 6 pm.
Papal audience timings
Every Wednesday, the Pope meets people, which includes both believers and tourists.
This Papal audience at St Peter’s Basilica usually starts at 10 am. In the winter months, it may even begin at 10.30 am.
The security check begins from 8 am to 8.30 am, and people arrive early to get good seats. The good spots get taken by 9 am.
The Papal audience is almost 2 hours long.
Important: Since the Papal audience is only available on Wednesdays, it is in high demand. Book your 2 hours with the Pope
Hours for Mass
Many tourists want to know English Mass timings at St Peter’s Basilica.
However, you must understand that there are no scheduled English Masses at this Basilica.
If you are okay with Mass in Italian or Latin, check the schedule here.
Best time to visit St Peter’s Basilica
The best time to visit St Peter’s Basilica is as soon as they open for the day at 7 am.
Till about 9 am, the notoriously long lines of the Basilica are yet to form, and you get to explore in peace.
If you can’t make it in the morning, the next best time to visit this Vatican attraction is 4 pm.
By this time, large group tours have either left or are planning to return to Rome.
How to avoid crowd at St Peter’s Basilica
Besides timing your visit, here are two other tips to help you avoid the crowd and long lines at St Peter’s.
Avoid Papal appearances
If you visit St Peter’s Basilica as a pure tourist (and not as a believer), chances are you aren’t interested in Papal appearances and Mass.
If you don’t wish to see the Pope, avoid visiting the St. Peter’s Basilica on Sundays and Wednesdays when it gets crowded.
Similarly, it would help if you avoided holy days such as Easter and Christmas, which see many crowds.
Book a guided tour ticket
The best way to avoid the St Peter’s Basilica queue is by booking a guided tour.
These guided tours allow you to skip the long lines and enter the Basilica through a dedicated entrance for the ticket holders.
If you are traveling with kids and seniors, we highly recommend guided tours because they can help you save an hour or more of waiting in the sun.
What to see in St Peter’s Basilica
St Peter’s Basilica is one of the four most significant basilicas in the world.
With a capacity of over 60,000 people and spread around 22,300 square meters, it is one of the world’s largest religious buildings.
Check out St Peter’s Square, the Piazza San Pietro, before of the Basilica. It has two fountains on each side.
In front of St Peter’s Square, you will find two statues – St. Peter and St. Paul.
There is also a 40-meter high Egyptian obelisk, brought to Rome in 37 B.C.
It is also best to admire St. Peter’s Baldachin, a 29-meter-high bronze canopy under the Basilica dome.
Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini worked on it from 1623 to 1634 – a total of 11 years.
The Baldachin stands over the papal altar, directly above St Peter’s tomb.
Another attraction at St Peter’s Basilica is St Peter’s statue, which was placed in the Basilica in 1605.
The statue, which features St Peter seated on a throne, was created by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1300.
Pilgrims touch or kiss the statue’s feet, which has led to the wearing out of the right foot.
Interested in free entry to the Colosseum, Vatican Museums, St Peter’s Basilica, and Sistine Chapel? Buy the Omnia Card
FAQs about St Peter’s Basilica
Here are a few frequently asked questions about the Basilica:
St Peter’s Basilica has a history dating back to 2000 years ago.
Work on it was begun by Pope Julius II in 1506 and completed in 1615 under Paul V.
However, this is not the original church of St Peter. What we see today is the second.
The original church was built in the 4th century by Emperor Constantine on the spot where St. Peter was buried.
By the early Renaissance, though, the ancient church was in serious disrepair.
Later, Pope Julius II went head to head with Michelangelo to build the St Peter’s Basilica by tearing down the old structure and making a new one.
The world’s largest Basilica is a whopping 186 meters (610 feet) tall (218 if we consider the porch), with a height of 46 meters (151 feet) in the central aisle.
The main dome of the Roman Basilica is 136 meters (446 feet) high and 42 meters (138 feet) large in diameter.
Construction on the current St. Peter’s Basilica was started by Pope Julius II in 1506 and completed in 1615 by Paul V.
The original church was built in the 4th century by Emperor Constantine on the spot where St. Peter was buried.
The dome of St. Peter’s Basilica was designed by Michelangelo, who took on the dome’s construction in 1547.
However, after Michelangelo died in 1564, his pupil, Giacomo Della Porta, took over the construction of the Basilica’s dome. By then, the structure had reached the drum of the dome.
Giacomo Della Porta raised the dome’s vault about 7 meters and completed the construction in 1590.
The dome has a double calotte with an inner diameter of 42.56 meters (140 feet), and it measures 136.57 meters (448 feet) from the base to the top of the cross.
The lantern is 17 meters (56 feet) high.
St Peter is supposed to have been buried under St. Peter’s Basilica. However, the Basilica is known to have many more graves.
It is a shrine built by the Vatican to memorialize the site of St. Peter’s burial.
No, St Peter’s Basilica is not the largest church in the world.
Basilica of Our Lady Peace, in Ivory Coast, is the largest church in the world as per the Guinness Book of World Records.
St. Peter’s Basilica was once the largest church, but in 1990 after constructing the Basilica of Our Lady Peace, it became the second-largest church in the World.
St. Peter’s Basilica is famous for many reasons. Since St. Peter’s Basilica is in the Vatican City, the Pope often says mass here.
St. Peter’s is one of the largest churches in the World, with a capacity of 60,000 people.
Its architecture goes back to 1506.
St. Peter’s Basilica also houses work by famous artists like Michelangelo and Bernini.
St. Peter’s Basilica has many treasures. These include Christian relics, the tombs of Popes, and many other influential personalities.
There is no admission fee to enter St. Peter’s Basilica. It is open to the public, and visitors can access the basilica free of charge.
Yes, you can purchase tickets in advance, especially for access to the dome or other attractions within the basilica. Buying tickets ahead of time can save you time and help you avoid long lines.
You can purchase St. Peter’s Basilica tickets online through the ticket booking page. These tickets may have specific time slots for your visit.
Recommended Reading: St Peter’s Basilica facts
Tourist attractions in Rome
Sources
# Wikipedia.org
# Britannica.com
# St-peters-basilica-tickets.com
# Rome.net
The travel specialists at TheBetterVacation.com use only high-quality sources while researching & writing their articles. We make every attempt to keep our content current, reliable and trustworthy.
