After the Roma Pass and the Roma 48 Hours Pass there is now, for the first time, a pass combining Rome‘s religious and secular tourist attractions. However, although the pass includes both the Colosseum and the Vatican Museums, it is not necessarily worth it.
Omnia Vatican & Rome Card 2022
(Note that not everything is open during the Covid-crisis. The Vatican Museums and the Mamertine Prison will reopen on May 3rd.)
The Vatican City and the Vatican-run Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi have joined forces and created the Omnia Vatican & Rome card. The card is valid for 3 days and costs 113 Euros for adults and 65 Euros for children aged 6 to 12 (although sometimes 10% discounts are offered).
Their website claims:
With OMNIA you have a unique portfolio of services that permits you to visit basilicas, religious and cultural monuments, and it also gives you access to the Roma Cristiana Open Bus and the city’s public transportation system.
What is included?
- Fast-track access to the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel.
- Fast-track access to St. Peter’s Basilica, or to the Vatican Gardens, plus a panoramic tour by Minibus and audio guide.
- Fast-track access to the Basilica of St. John in the Lateran and cloister with audio guide
- Fast-track access to the Mamertine Prison and multimedia tour
- Fast-track access to the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and Roman Forum with audio guide. You will still need to make an obligatory reservation, though, which will cost 2 Euros per person extra.
- Entrance to one of the museums or archaeological sites included in the Roma Pass circuit.
- Visit Rome with the Roma Cristiana Open Bus and Minibus Experience
- Easy access to Rome’s public transportation system included in the Roma Pass.
- Two information leaflets on museums and information on the Roma Pass.
- 4 itineraries with audio guide to visit the city individually
- City center map of Rome
Is the Omnia Card worth it?
Some of this sounds better than it is in reality, though. The fast-track access to the Basilica of Saint John in the Lateran would be great if not for the fact that there is never a queue anyway. The same goes for the Mamertine Prison. The two (wow!) information leaflets on museums and information on the Roma Pass can easily be found on the internet. A visit to the Vatican Gardens is definitely an added pleasure to the usual Rome tourist itinerary, but that would mean forfeiting your fast-track access to Saint Peter’s Basilica.
The price of the Roma Pass is 34 Euros, the price of the Omnia Pass is 95 Euros, so basically you are paying 61 Euros for fast track access to the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel (20 Euros normally), fast-track access to Saint Peter’s (which in itself is free) and to the Basilica of Saint John in Lateran (free), the Mamertine Prison (10 Euros for adults, but would you normally have visited this?) and the Roma Cristiana Open Bus tour (18 Euros for adults, but would you normally have done this tour, apart from the fact that you might be running out of time by now?).
You can purchase the Omnia Vatican & Rome Card online or at the ORP Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi offices and the Tourist Information Kiosks. If you buy the pass online you will need to exchange your voucher at one of the ORP offices. The Tourist Information Kiosks do not exchange the vouchers.