Hi everyone,
I'm planning my first visit to the Colosseum this coming April. I can see that advance booking is recommended, but I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the options - self-guided tour, guided tour, or underground tour, plus trying to decide on the best time of day...
What would you recommend to get the most out of the experience?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Colosseum tickets are very tough to acquire. You'll need to be awake a few minutes before tickets are due to go on sale for the date and time you're hoping for. There's information about the ticket-release schedule in earlier posts in this forum. If I'm not misremembering, it's a rolling release schedule, so another block of tickets goes on sale every 15 or 30 minutes. I'd start by trying for as early a ticket as would work for my schedule. If you miss that ticket, just stay online and try when the next block goes on sale.
It would be very smart to walk through the purchase process a day or more ahead of time, so you'll know what to expect.
When you're ready to purchase, have all your credit cards and debit cards right in front of you, because you never know when a European ticket vendor will reject a US card.
I'd plan to hit the Colosseum fairly early during the stay in Rome. If you are unable to get a ticket on that day, you'll have opportunities on the following days. However, you should consider how you respond to the jetlag and sleep-deprivation of an eastbound transatlantic flight; you don't want to sleepwalk through the Colosseum and have no memory of the experience. Your first full day in Rome might not be the right time for you. (It wouldn't be for me.)
The Underground ticket is perhaps the very hardest Italian sightseeing ticket to snag. Think ahead of time about how willing you are to compromise and accept a different ticket, because (from my reading of this forum) your chances of buying an Underground-access ticket are very small. You don't want to miss out on the Colosseum completely just because you can't get into the Underground.
Plenty of folks have been willing to pay a bit extra for tickets including tours (even tours in languages they do not speak), because the cheaper, plain-entry tickets sold out before they could buy them. I think you'll find tours on the Colosseum website are somewhat less expensive than tours run by commercial companies.
Be aware that private companies will probably sell you Colosseum entry before the tickets are actually on sale. They are hoping they'll be able to buy the tickets they need, but that sometimes doesn't work out. On those occasions the tour company contacts the customer and says, "So sorry." There's not much a customer can do at that point, because all the (less expensive) entry options on the Colosseum's own website are sold out.
If you're interested in the Vatican Museums and/or the Borghese Gallery, those are other tickets that need to be purchased well ahead of time. Fortunately, they don't seem to be as challenging as the Colosseum tickets. However, you're traveling to Rome during Holy Year, and April is a busy month in that city even in normal years. I'd recommend looking at the ticket situation at the Vatican Museums and the Borghese Gallery for visits earlier than you plan to be in Rome. What does availability look like at your wake-up time on the day the tickets go on sale? Can you afford just to take care of those tickets after breakfast, or do you need another early wake-up call? I didn't have to set an alarm when I bought my tickets, but I was not traveling in April or during a Holy Year.
The Vatican Museums have a lot of ticket options, so--if you're interested in seeing them--you should explore the offerings ahead of time and establish a list of preferences. I think if you buy really early you'll be able to get a plain entry ticket, but tickets including tours don't seem to sell out quite as early. (Things might be different during a Holy Year, I guess.)
Hello!
We used a really great tour company for the Roman Forum & Colosseum. Check them out, not sure what they have available. It was incredible!
https://www.througheternity.com/en/rome-tours/colosseum-tour-ancient-rome.html
acraven - are there likely to be touts selling guided tours on the spot outside the entrance? If so that could be a fall back if the tour booked in advance gets canceled. The quality of the guide wouldn’t matter, as long as you can get inside the gate.
I have never heard of that happening at the Colosseum, though I cannot say it absolutely does not. I don't know what the ID rules are like at the Colosseum. I'm pretty sure the Vatican Museums specify that you must show an ID to convert your reservation into a physical ticket once you get inside, but I don't know how often they ask to see the ID. That's an example of a change made to try to reduce ticket scalping.
We hired a private guide for the Colosseum and the Roman Forum and it was the best thing we did on our month long trip.
Having being to other ancient buildings, I always find it difficult imagine things as they were, this guide, Agnes, brought the Forum, in particular to life for me and I enjoyed every single second.
She also organised all our tickets, including the underground ones, and we simply met her outside the Colosseum.
After a wonderful half a day, she recommended some of the best restaurants that we ate at in our entire trip, all of them full of Italians and not tourists.
She is a qualified historian, and born in the UK, but has been married to a Roman and lived there for many years.
Her company is Understanding Rome.
...what the ID rules are like at the Colosseum....
Just as acraven stated for the Vatican Museums, tickets for the Colosseum are all nominative now and you need your legal ID along for checks. This from the official website:
https://colosseo.it/en/opening-times-and-tickets/
"WARNING:
As of the 18th October 2023, the obligation of nominative tickets will be extended to all types of tickets available on the sales website, at the call centre and at the physical ticket offices. In case of mismatch with the identity document, access to the Colosseum will not be allowed and no refund will be granted. Your proof of identity must be kept on hand at the Park entrances together with the purchased ticket. Please be advised in order to avoid queues forming. Thank you for your cooperation."
"Please do not encourage the illicit resale of admission tickets to the PArCo and it is recommended to purchase them only through the official channels."
Yes, this is to put a lid on scalping. So, aside from purchasing a ticket at one of the 2 physical Parco ticket offices - and that is a last resort as lines at those could be VERY long - buy only in advance from the website or from one of the tour companies more often recommended on the RS forum and not off the street.
