Simon Calder: What tourists can expect from visiting Rome and the Vatican after the death of Pope FrancisSource: The Independent
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00:00Following the sad death of Pope Francis aged 88, Rome is in a very different situation
00:09from normal. The Holy Father will be laying in state for the next few days at St. Peter's
00:17Basilica in the Vatican City, which is surrounded by the city of Rome. The main attraction in
00:28the Vatican is the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. They will be closed completely
00:36from the day of the funeral, Saturday the 26th of April, through to the end, I understand,
00:44of the conclave to elect the next Pope, which could be anything up to the 12th of May. Between
00:54now and then there will be many people who wish to go to Rome to pay their respects to the late Pope.
01:05Remarkably there is quite a lot of flight availability to Rome at the moment. I'm seeing
01:12prices typically under £100 each way from many of the UK airports to Rome. Accommodation is going to
01:21be trickier because there is a surge in demand for rooms, but even so you may be able to put together
01:29a relatively low-cost package holiday if you want to go there and booking a package gives you much
01:37better consumer protection. In terms of tourist attractions, apart from the Vatican Museums and the
01:46Sistine Chapel, most places are likely to be operating normally. The exception will be on the day of the
01:55funeral when you can expect a very heavy police presence. That may also extend to Santa Maria Maggiore
02:04Church, which is quite close to Roma Termini, the main railway station, which is where Pope Francis said he
02:13wished to be buried. It's also conceivable that there will be some disruption in places where there is
02:22a large population of devout Catholics. I'm thinking anything from Poland through to the countries of
02:30Latin America and that's likely to be particularly on Saturday the 26th, the day of the funeral. A number of
02:39people have been concerned about having trips to Rome booked that they now feel they don't wish to take
02:48because they are simply not wanting to go somewhere which will be very crowded and very, I imagine, sombre.
02:58Well, unfortunately at this stage there's very little that you can do to change your trip. It's certainly
03:06worth talking to your holiday company if that is the case, but the assumption is it will go ahead as
03:12normal. The one exception would be if you have booked a cultural tour with the main site being the
03:20Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, then you might be entitled to get a refund or postpone that trip.