Is the Colosseum Underground worth it

I did the full experience and enjoyed it, but I'm not sure how you define "worth it."

You can see into parts of the underground from the arena, but not all of it. I also liked the experience of viewing the colosseum, including the arena, from below. I liked that we weren't in a big crowd for our time below.

We did see and learn about some of the below-the-scenes operations and how that worked, including seeing a replica of one of the lifts that brought animals, etc. to the arena level.

That said, I don't think the underground is the main/most crucial part of the Colosseum experience. So, if you can manage to get tickets to it, great. If you can't, don't feel terrible about it.

I got tickets by following the advice here and setting my clock to get tickets as soon as they went on sale at the official site. I won't go into more detail than that, since the site and procedure have changed since I did it. You should be able to find other posts on that topic.

Good luck!

Hi and a warm welcome to the RS forums, Libby!
A suggestion? The Colosseum is a reasonably easy structure to understand as it was the model for today's large sporting arenas: it could efficiently handle the entrance and exit of very large numbers of people, and even in Roman times they all had tickets for specific seating. That said, I've been twice, didn't do the underground and never felt we've missed out. You can see down into a large part from above, and I frankly don't have interest in fighting for those nearly-impossible tickets; so many other interesting things to see in Rome!

But of equal, if not more, importance are the Forum and Palatine right next door. These are more complex sites that greatly benefit from a guided tour. Unfortunately, official website doesn't offer a tour that's inclusive of all three but there are independent companies which do. Some of them also include the Underground but given even the professional tour companies have trouble landing those tickets, some of them state that you need to be flexible to an after-booking change in tour time, and others have thrown in the towel offering underground access altogether as they ended up having to cancel their bookings enough times to be an annoyance.

Anyway, something to think about? Here are some oft-recommended companies to look at:
https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy/colosseum-tours
https://www.througheternity.com/en/colosseum-tours/
https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/

Others may have additional suggestions.
As with any booking, read the small print carefully, OK? :O)

Hi Libby! I got to do the underground at the Colosseum a couple years ago with my family. Really special experience, but I seriously had no idea how exclusive it was until this year. I heard only like 1% of travelers get to do the Underground now! Seriously wild. Apparently with the Jubilee this year, tickets to the Underground have been so crazy to get, because if people arent at the Vatican, they are at the Colosseum... HA. I actually spoke to a customer service rep from The Tour Guy a couple months ago as I was planning my trip and they gave me sooo much insight into the behind the scenes of ticketing. Apparently tickets to the Colosseum Underground arent confirmed by the colosseum til almost 2 weeks in advance. This is why there's those disclaimers on everybody's website like "Your tour and time is subject to change!" etc etc. Best luck I've had on my journey is with https://letsseeitaly.com/tour/colosseum-underground-dungeons-with-ancient-temples-tombs-tour/ (they seem to have like an inside connection or something because they always have availability).

or https://thetourguy.com/tours/rome/colosseum-dungeons-tour-with-roman-forum-palantine-hill

What I love both about Let's See Italy and The Tour Guy is that if your Underground tickets get cancelled they have a back up option for you, like an arena floor tour, so you're not left without. From everything I've read it seems like the best thing to do it stay flexible as the tour gets closer, and leave whatever day you have set aside for your underground tour, completely open. In case things change.

But of equal, if not more, importance are the Forum and Palatine right
next door. These are more complex sites that greatly benefit from a
guided tour.

Kate beat me to it. I've never done the Underground tour so I can't comment on its worthiness, however I thought the Forum and Palatine Hill with a tour were far more interesting than the Colosseum.

Hi,
You may want to look at the attic tour. My wife and I went there last March. It is almost as hard to get as the underground ticket. We loved it. They only let so many people up there. You ride an elevator to the top. When you get there you have the whole area almost by yourself. You get great views both inside and outside the colloseum.
It's crazy to see thousands of people on the regular tour and you get this entire area without thr crowds. It was raining that day, so many people had umbrellas. I'm 6'2", perfect hight to get poked in the eye so being away from the crowds helped.

Worth mention is that the OP's trip was back in October so in the rearview mirror at this point.

It felt very worth it when my Ancient Rome-obsessed 14-yr-old son and I did it ten years ago. The English speaking guide was a good storyteller and well informed. Going out into the arena felt pretty special as well.

I am going to Rome again on NY Eve, and this time I'll be doing the attic tour.

As others have noted, that's also a difficult ticket to get. I set my clock for 3am wake up and was unsuccessful for 2 days, even though I kept hammering that buy button every 20 minutes til 5am. Later on the second morning, as I was blearily eating my breakfast, I thought, "Eh, what the hell, I'll give it another go, and this time I was succcessful - felt like a miracle! (This was the first activity I booked for our visit, so I had some wiggle room.

I hedged my bets by booking a fully refundable much more expensive tour on Viator. As soon as I secured my official tix, I cancelled those and the refund showed up promptly. Knowing I had a backup plan made things feel less stressful.

Thank you for the great info! We ended up with “Full Experience Arena Floor” tickets that we were able to book 7 days out. Such an amazing experience, and you could see the underground from the arena floor.

Yay! Glad you were able to have the experience you wanted.

@ayun.halliday, please report back on tomorrow's Attic experience! I'm contemplating the Attic or the Underground, would love to hear your perspective.

It seems the Attic and Underground tickets are available 30 days out, not 7 days out?
https://colosseo.it/en/tickets/full-experience-attic-panoramic-lift/
https://colosseo.it/en/tickets/full-experience-underground-arena/

Do they sell out within minutes when a new date is released? We have a party of 4 traveling in late April.