The Vatican Museums map, floor by floor, with the route I'd take

The Vatican Museums floor plan looks nothing like a typical museum’s. It isn’t one building with rooms in a row, it’s several popes’ palaces stitched together by courtyards, galleries and staircases, and on paper it resembles a maze. I’d read it as three levels and one fixed direction, and then it stops being scary. Below is where to get the official map, how to read it and the route I’d mark on it. If you’re after a plan of the whole state, with the basilica and gardens, head to the Vatican City map.

Where to get the official map

The Museums publish it on their website as a free PDF in English, under visitor services. It runs to two sheets. The first is the entrance area with the first floor, the second combines the second floor and the basement. The Museums recommend using it to plan your visit, and inside there’s a QR code that opens it on your phone. I wouldn’t rely on that QR code, as there’s no wifi anywhere in the museum, so I’d save it before leaving the hotel.

There’s a second map, in Italian, showing the barrier-free route. It marks the accessible areas, lifts, ramps and a stretch of the route that runs outdoors. If you’re using a wheelchair or pushing a buggy, that’s the one I’d use.

Three levels and 22 numbers

The map numbers 22 museums and rooms, colour-coded by type of art. On the first floor, where you come in, are the Egyptian Museum (1), the Chiaramonti (2) and the Braccio Nuovo (3), the Pio Clementino (4), the Pinacoteca (19) and quieter collections such as the Pio Christian Museum (18) or the Gregorian Profane Museum (17). On the same floor, but at the opposite end, sit the Borgia Apartment (11) and the Sistine Chapel (12).

The second floor is almost a straight line. It starts at the Etruscan Museum (5) and runs through the galleries of the Candelabra (6), Tapestries (7) and Maps (8) to the Room of the Immaculate Conception (9) and the Raphael Rooms (10). Down in the basement you’ll find the Philatelic and Numismatic Museum (20), Anima Mundi (21) and the Carriage Pavilion (22).

To get your bearings, the map uses four codes worth learning. CC is the Cortile delle Corazze, 4C the Atrium of the Four Gates, CP the Courtyard of the Pine Cone and Q the Giardino Quadrato. Nearly everything revolves around those courtyards.

Which way do the arrows point?

The map uses arrows to show a direction of travel. From the Pio Clementino you climb to the second floor through the Etruscan Museum, walk the long gallery in a line (6, 7 and 8) and finish at the Immaculate Conception and the Raphael Rooms. From there you head down towards the Borgia Apartment and the Sistine. The detail I care about most is a small label, «short itinerary to 12», a shorter route that heads for the Sistine from the end of the gallery.

That shortcut is handy if you’re really pushed, but I’d find it on the map so I don’t take it by accident. Take it and you may miss the Raphael Rooms, which for me are the second reason to come. Also bear in mind that from the galleries onwards the arrows lead to the chapel and I wouldn’t count on doubling back, so I’d see the Pinacoteca (19), in another wing, first.

The route I’d draw on it

With a pen in hand, I’d plot five stops. The Pinacoteca (19) first, straight to three paintings. Then the Pio Clementino (4), with Laocoön in the Octagonal Court. From there up to the second floor and along the long gallery, stopping above all in the Gallery of Maps (8). Next the Raphael Rooms (10), and finally the Sistine (12), where photos and phones are off limits.

With time to spare, I’d add the Egyptian Museum (1) at the start and the Etruscan (5) on the way up, as both sit on my path. The minutes I’d give each stretch are set out in Vatican Museums visit length, with plans from 90 minutes to half a day.

The practical bits the map also shows

The map shows more than rooms, including the cloakroom, toilets (accessible ones too), lifts, ramps, baby-changing tables, cafés, bookshops and even a Vatican Post Office. The Museums also list five courtyards with seating for a breather, the Cortile delle Corazze, the Pinacoteca courtyard, the Giardino Quadrato, the Cortile della Pigna and the Cortile delle Carrozze. The Cortile della Pigna and the Giardino Quadrato have panels explaining the Sistine, and I’d read them before going in, since total silence is requested inside.

What you won’t find is the basilica. The map stops at the Museums’ walls, with the entrance and exit side by side on Viale Vaticano.