Vatican City. Absolutely stunning. You need more than half a day to do the Vatican. There are three important things to do at Vatican City.
First is St. Peter's Basilica (San Pietro). This is actually 1 and 2. There is the church, which is free to enter, and the climb to the top of the cupola to see the Vatican gardens and the entire city of Rome from up high. The cupola costs 4 Euro to use the stairs and 7 Euro to take the elevator (which you still have to climb stairs afterward).
Don't skip the cupola. To get there, once you're past security to enter the Basilica, instead of going in the front door, follow the path on the right which takes you around the side of the building. This is the admission gate for the cupola. If you do it first, the stairs down will put you inside the Basilica.
The Basilica is just unbelievable. No point in describing it. You just have to see it to believe that such a building exists. Depending on your interest in art and religion, you'll spend anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour (or maybe more) taking it all in.
The third part to Vatican City is the Museum (the Sistine is in the museum). To get to the museum, you head left out of the piazza (if your back is to the Basilica) and follow the Vatican wall until you hit a line up. The line is long. Very long. Depending on the time of day (or the day), it can be up to 3 hours long. A trick I learned was to go around 1 pm. At that point of the day, the line is only about 30-40 minutes. The risk though, is that the museum closes at 4 or 420 or something. There is so much to see in there that you simply wont see it all. Chances are that you'll go into sensory overload and you'll stop caring after seeing your thousandth sculpture.
If you just sort of follow the crowd or the signs for the sistine, you'll get there in about an hour or two. Try to save at least 15 minutes for the Sistine. Beware that the Raphael rooms are right before the Sistine and you may find yourself staring at some of his frescoes for a while.
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