Vatican City Travel Guide

Travel Notes > Vatican City Travel Guide

Accommodation

Rome hotels – There are no hotels in the Vatican so you won’t be able to stay there unless you know a cardinal who knows a bishop, so something like that. For the rest of us accommodation for the Vatican is in Rome.

Travel Guides

vaticanstate.va – Home page of the Vatican City State.

mv.vatican.va – Official site of the Vatican Museums. Information on the cultural heritage and the art of the Holy See, virtual tours, collections, Sistine Chapel, Raphael’s Rooms, tickets, opening hours, guided tour for groups and schools.

Guide Books

Lonely Planet Rome (Travel Guide)

Tours

Vatican City Scavi Tour – How to View St. Peter’s remains – There are a number of tours in the Vatican City and on this tour you can view the remains of the Apostle Peter, by thertwguys.com.

Books

The Vatican: Secrets and Treasures of the Holy City by Michael Collins.

Written by a Vatican insider, this book is a behind-the-scenes look at the world’s smallest nation and the spiritual center of the Catholic Church. Produced with the full cooperation of the Vatican, this is a guide into the 2,000 year long history of the Vatican and papal influence, daily life and governance of the world’s largest religious body, and the art collections and other priceless treasures.

The Pope’s Army: 500 Years of the Papal Swiss Guard by Robert Royal.

Robert Royal takes us through the colorful 500-year history of the military guard that has witnessed every major Vatican event for half a millennium. Topics include the guard’s origins, the Medici Popes, the sack of Rome, the Napoleonic War, the unification of Italy, the Pope’s imprisonment; World Wars I and II; and the Nazi occupation of Rome.

Photos

Vatican Photo Gallery – Photo gallery of my visits to the Vatican.