Rick's suggestion to buy Roma Passes which allow you to jump the queue at the Coliseum appears to no longer work. Our family of 5 were in Rome two weeks ago and bought the passes. We went to the Coliseum and we we
re told we had to line up with the general admissions or had to book online for 2 Euros. We went online and predictably, all times were booked. We then were doomed to buy a private tour to get access (and the tour was awful). So, the 150 Euros we spent on the passes were a waste of money. This is the first time that Rick's time saving suggestions did not work out.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
Yes, unfortunately, the Colosseum instituted that rule this spring. We've added it to https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/guidebook-updates. In addition, the Galleria Borghese "temporarily" stopped accepting the Roma Pass in June: http://www.romapass.it/.
If you've yet to go to Florence, the (more expensive) Firenze Card has similar changes, with the Accademia and Uffizi museums both requiring free advance reservations for cardholders: http://www.firenzecard.it/index.php?lang=en.
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
15804 posts
In defense of the guidebooks, changes in ticketing, passes, hours, prices, etc. can occur almost immediately after a book goes to press so it isn't possible for them to be completely up to date on everything. It's advised to keep a finger on the official websites of attractions and visitor amenities - like passes - for the most current info. Keeping tabs on the RS forums is helpful too as big changes are often topics of discussion.
Timed-entry reservations for the Colosseum became mandatory with the Roma Pass on March 1st.
Posted by
5 posts
I'm so glad I read this! Can we still skip the line for the Colosseum if we rent an audioguide or videoguide or do we still need advanced reservations? Also, if Roma Pass cover the cost of entrance (sans audio- or videoguide) ?
Posted by
Florida
274 posts
So glad I saw this! Just bought our tickets and made reservations for the Colosseum for our visit in December. Thankfully, there were still tons of time slots open. Seems like the Roma Pass is no longer worth it if you can't skip the lines and also can't use to to access the Borghese galleries.