Coloseum & Vatican

If they stick to the same schedule as in the past they should release those tickets on the first Monday of July. They keep changing their ticketing procedures so it's really hard to say for certain if this will hold true in two months time.

For the vatican museums, yes it will be crazy busy but you should be fine navigating with the audio guide. I would suggest going early and planning to spend several hours there.

Donna

Hi, Erin,

Having just tried to obtain tickets for the Coliseum, I believe that you'll want to keep an eye on the CoopCulture website. They released quarterly available for July, August, and September this past Monday at 9am Rome time. The monthly availability for July opens on this upcoming Monday, the 18th. It says nothing further about the monthly availability for July or August.
(Website for reference: https://www.coopculture.it/en/ticket.cfm?office=Colosseo%2C%20Sotterranei%20%2C%20Terzo%20Ordine%20e%20Belvedere&id=0&evento=6)

We are doing a guided tour of the Vatican Museum with the Roman Guy, but when I went previously, in 2012, we did not use a guide or an audio guide. We just walked around and used our Rick Steves guidebook when we had questions. It was quite crowded, but not so crowded that we couldn't see what we wanted to. That said, we went in the afternoon when the crowds had thinned out some.

Hope that helps.

Hi Erin,
I tried to get tickets for the underground tour too, I just couldn’t, even though I was on their website at 9:00am Italian time. It was so frustrating, I ended up getting tickets for the Spanish language tour. Planning on using the Rick Steve’s audio tour, and researching a little before hand.
For the Vatican museums, we booked the Friday night tour offered on their website. It’s supposed to be less crowded than the day time.

Hi Erin,
I booked tickets for the underground tour for August this past Monday. It was a nightmare of a system- it was freezing and the pages were not loading. I got up at 3am and was unable to get tickets. However, in the evening I checked again and they had released a bunch of tickets for the day I needed. I would keep looking- maybe something will open up?

Thanks everyone! I guess I will just go ahead and book the regular Coloseum/ Arena tour ( assuming this helps me skip the lines still).

Also, for the Vatican, if we book tix online will that allow us to skip lines like a tour would? In August is it better to go early morning or late afternoon in terms of crowds?

Thanks!

Thanks everyone! I guess I will just go ahead and book the regular Coloseum/ Arena tour ( assuming this helps me skip the lines still).

We just did the Underground and Belvedere tour this morning....AND IT WAS AWESOME!

I got up at zero-dark thirty to get those tickets last March when the COOP Culture made some changes on how to order tickets.
There's plenty of info/help on a few of the threads here already.

The new location for tour ticket pick-up was at the stern entrance and the lines weren't that long. We did the 9:20 tour and it was a perfect day (got warmer by the end of the tour)

Also, for the Vatican, if we book tix online will that allow us to skip lines like a tour would? In August is it better to go early morning or late afternoon in terms of crowds?

We did the official Vatican tour at 2:00 PM a few days ago....and it was crowded. We pretty much breezed through since there wasn't a lot of folks in line for the pre-purchased ticket holders going in the museums.
The only added bonus we liked was going straight to the Basilica after finishing up our Sistine Chapel tour.
At least we avoided those long lines going in.

@knhellesky was it too hot at 2 pm for the tour? We are going in August and wondering if it will be unbearable... at this point i think we may skip it. I really want to go but had horrible time at Palace of Versailles in August last year ( so did my kids). The Vatican Museums seem just as bad from reviews. Feel bad not going since my kids have never experienced Sistine chapel.

It was hot...but if you’re inside or under a shade, it's bearable.