Hi I’ve been planning a trip to Italy that’s coming up in June… I booked a Vatican tour with walks of Italy but was thinking I would do the Colosseum ticket on my own with an audio tour. I can’t seem to quite figure out how to purchase tickets on the website – it looks to be about a 30 day rolling opening of availability to buy tickets but constantly looks entirely booked up. Does somebody know exactly how far in advance the dates are opening and what time of day one should be online to purchase tickets? It seems as though walks of Italy is no longer offering the underground portion of the Colosseum on any of their tours. Any other helpful suggestions would be more than welcome thanks
Posted by
192 posts
I had a thread on here a couple of weeks ago. I looked a little after midnight and again at 4 am 30 days out. The tickets were not for sale around midnight and sold out for the underground by 4 am. They are very hard to get. But there were lots of arena floor tickets left at 4am. I used the official site.
Posted by
119 posts
It is 30 days, You just have to be quick and LUCKY! I woke up at midnight my time to check, no tickets available. I woke up at 1:30 am and no tickets were available. I woke up at 2:30 am and still no tickets available. I woke up at 3:30 am and they were sold out. I had to settle for the Full experience with arena tickets. So either stay up all night and keep refreshing or skip the underground.
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
15807 posts
If you think you MUST access the underground and can't land coopculture tickets, you could see if The Roman Guy's version of the WOI tour is still operating?. At this point, it looks to be that way but you could always text them.
https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy/rome/colosseum-dungeons-tour-with-roman-forum-palantine-hill
That said, that under their FAQ section is this text:
Is it possible The Tour Guy will change this tour time?
"Yes, it is possible. This tour is highly coveted and the reservations are hard to get. This is an industry challenge for tour companies. Times often change by a few hours and we will almost always update you at least 7 days before your tour. We really want you to be happy as a traveler and will do our best to meet the needs of your schedule. That being said, we are limited by a very low supply from the Colosseum. If necessary, The Roman Guy will call the number you've provided or email you with the goal of informing you of this change. If you are nervous about keeping up with time-changes we recommend booking a different Colosseum Tour. If you want to make sure your Colosseum tour is going to run as scheduled please email or call +1 888 290 5595."
So booking the tour doesn't mean it'll happen. The limited amount of tickets for the underground is a challenge even for the tour companies....which is probably why WOI isn't offering it anymore. You can see into the underground from the arena floor so if not interested in the Forum + Palatine - included in TRG tour, and areas which benefit from a guide - then try for the "Full experience with arena" coopculture ticket.
Posted by
3 posts
It looks like they are releasing tickets throughout the night (in the US) at somewhat random times. I got tickets to the Colosseum and Arena at 12:20 AM (PST). Tickets for the underground went on there at the same time, but was already sold out by the time I was there. I had refreshed a few minutes before, so they were sold quick. Looks like some more were released at about 1:30 AM PST. I didn't get the underground tickets I wanted, but guess that's how it goes. Good luck to everyone else!
Posted by
San Francisco
4 posts
I haven't been stalking the non-tour Full Experience + Underground ticket but I have been for the English Underground Tour version of the ticket. Here is what I have learned for right now (things change often):
- There are a very limited number of tickets sold each day and are limited to 6 at a time and 25 max daily
- For the tour, the tickets are released exactly 30 days before and on the hour of the tour in IT timezone. I would imagine for the non-tour, it would be on the hour of the park opening time or possibly an hour earlier. If the opening date falls on a holiday, they will be open the next day (I think.. not 100% sure on this but do know they don't sell on holiday).
- Tickets are sold out within seconds
- Any tickets that fail credit card authorization will be released again. This is pretty random and I cannot figure out the pattern, but you can find random openings the next day and then periodically due to this. I have heard rumors they also release more again 7 days before the date, but have found no evidence of this.
Tips:
1. First use https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html and use the calculators to find the exact 30 days before and the hour you need for your dates and timezone.
2. Go to https://ecm.coopculture.it/ and find the opening time for the tour you want and/or date you want. I would actually start a little earlier to be on the safe side. The way I did this was unchecking the box for available only on the date (or nearby date) and looked to see what times tours were offered that day. This changes so check frequently and then pray it doesn't change when you need it
3. Get your second hand on your watch ready.
4. Do a practice run a few days before. I've been practicing now a few months
5. Make sure your credit card is authorized for 2FA authorization so it doesn't get rejected. You may need to call your cc provider to make sure it will work.
On the date and a few minutes before the time, get the https://ecm.coopculture.it/ website up and clicked through to the ticket type you want. Using the second hand on your watch, when you are about 15-5 secs before refresh the page. The date will turn green and select your tickets as fast as possible and click through to payment.