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Guides for Colosseum

Good morning,

Need advice on guided tours for the Colosseum. My family of four (two teenagers, two adults) will be somewhat tight on time and not interested in the price or time investment of some of the longer tours through third party websites. I know it used to be that you could buy entry tickets and then grab a guide from in front of the Colosseum upon arrival, but I don't think this is the case any longer as the guide needs a ticket? And the new ticket entry system appears to only offer guides for the underground and/or arena and not the standard admission; does anyone know if this is correct? Trying to decide if we should book a shorter guided tour through third party or just wing it and attempt tickets on our own through the main website (at 2am one month in advance).

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!

Posted by
98 posts

I think a guide for the Colosseum and Forum is essential, and I wouldn't take a chance on someone you grab onsite. With a subpar guide (or no guide) you will miss out on so much historical context that really brings the ruins to life. We have had an excellent experience with guides through LivItaly (have used them multiple times in Rome). However, I don't know if they have access to the underground - it's been a few years since I have visited the Colosseum and I haven't kept up with changing ticket and access requirements.