Colosseum/Vatican

Yes, you can. It will be a full day if you're planning on the Forum and Palatine the same day, too, but as long as you're prepared for that (mentally and physically) you'll be fine.

You'll be tired but, its certainly doable.

Morning tour at the Coliseum is good, much better than late-morning or, afternoon where the area will be overwhelmed with people. Wander around afterwards to a cafe or, grab lunch, take a nap before heading out to your Vatican tour.

Figure the time spent at the Vatican will be between 2-5 hours depending upon the type of tour. This takes into account the time necessary to get to the location meeting your guide, getting through the entrance & security line, the tour itself, then taking your own personal time at the conclusion of the tour. Once done, you'll want to get off your feet, find a cafe or, hotel bar and enjoy an adult beverage and/or, head to dinner.

thanks. I will give it a try.

We just came back from Rome. What you’re proposing can be done but it would sure make a long day. We did a Coloseum tour in the morning and just did jist a bit of Forum and Palatine Hill as we got hungry and left. If we planned ahead we could’ve brought sandwiches with us to lunch & continue expolring the forum/hill area.

We did the Pristine Sistine and Vatican Museum tour along with St Peter’s Basilica and Square the following day. For us, separating the 2 sites made it more enjoyable. There’s so much history to soak in!

If you do it all in one day, plan for that lunch break and travel time between 2 sites. Have a great trip!

We did this. It was doable, but a long day. My advice is to plan a nice sit-down lunch in between, and not much else that day.

Your Colosseum/Forum tickets are good for 24 hours, so I’d highly recommend visiting the Forum the next morning instead. It was nearly empty at 9am opening time, and was quite lovely and peaceful. I think most people go straight from the Colosseum to the Forum, so the late morning line at the Forum is quite long!

i like that idea. i forgot that the tickets are good for 2 days with only the underground portion at the fixed time

i forgot that the tickets are good for 2 days with only the
underground portion at the fixed time

Just to clarify, all tickets for the Colosseum are timed-entry whether they include the underground or not. A general-entry ticket is good for 24 hours so if your colosseum reservation is for, say, 3:00 PM on one day, you could visit the forum/palatine the next morning.

Thanks. So as long as i just stay in the colosseum and the underground portion and do not enter the forum/palatine area, i can enter the latter areas within 24 hours. Did i get that right? how are they able to tell? Are there two different bar codes?

is the entrance for the forum/palatine area then different from the colosseum

There is a good bit of walking and climbing at Palantine Hill, the Forum, and the Coliseum. It's on a hill, after all. If you go in a warm month, it can also be very hot in the Coliseum (like a pizza oven) and there is no shade around the other ruins. I personally could not do the Coliseum area and the Vatican Museums in one day. The museums are also huge and it can get hot in the crowded hallways. Rome's metro system is not all that extensive so there is usually a good bit of walking from the metro stop to where you are going. Do you feel capable of walking 6 miles or 12 miles in one day? And bring water.