Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy

Crowd source: You could pray for the long lines that plague the Vatican Museum's Sistine Chapel to move faster, but with upward of 20,000 people shuffling through each day, chances are you'll be standing and waiting for hours. Once inside, it's a (holy) cow-herding with little time to contemplate the priceless frescoes (that is, if you can even see them past all the other tourists). Hardly what we'd call a religious experience.

The shortcut: Rome resident Lee Marshall advises those hoping to avoid the long lines to visit off-season, from early January through March. "It's not so much about time of day, but time of year," he says. Otherwise, Marshall suggests investing some extra cash for an after-hours tour, which means you'll share the chapel with fewer than 15 people. Amen to that!

The Vatican Museums
Tel: 39 06 698 85518
From $98

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