Rome advice needed!

The Colosseum & Forum are so close together, I'd knock them out on the same day - unless you are staying very close by - there is No need to go back to that area twice. I'd do the Colosseum, Forum, and Pantheon on one day. Sorry I can't answer your other questions, we did Rome on a Rick Steves tour and they handled all the tours for us. The Vatican Museum & St. Peter's Basilica will take a while - save that for it's own day and tour smaller things late afternoon like the Trevi Fountain, etc. There is a neat shop run by the Nuns, you will pass by it leaving the Museum, on your way to the Basilica - it will be on your Left - a great place to make any purchases. There is also a post office at the Vatican - mail yourself a postcard from there - it will have a Vatican City stamp on it when it arrives home.

If you want to go in the Vatican Museums and the St Peters Basilica I'd recommend buying a timed entry or a tour that covers both in order to avoid the very long lines of people that have not .

http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en.html

IF you are staying near the Colosseum area, visiting Colosseum and Forum on consecutive early mornings could work for you -- we did Forum first (mid-day) because there was a very short line to get tickets, then went back for the Colosseum in the cool of the next morning (we were staying just a few blocks away.)

(Is it too much to visit the Forum in morning then Vatican City in the afternoon?)

It is 'possible', but you are really cramming too much into one day.

Suggest Colosseum and Forum ( and Pantheon) one day, and Vatican a different day, doing each as the as the main event for that day and work in other odds 'n ends Trevi fountain, Spanish steps etc as you wander about.

Decide how important the Vatican museum is to the three of you. The museum is what takes all the time / planning. If you just do the basilica and rest of Vatican area it is free, no tix needed, just show up any time and spend as long as you want. Enjoy your trip!

plan to visit the Museo Borghese by myself.

If you haven't booked a ticket yet, I'd do that ASAP before they completely sell out. There are very few tickets left for late June.

If you just do the basilica and rest of Vatican area it is free, no
tix needed,

There are parts of the "rest" of the Vatican besides the museums which cannot be accessed without a paid tour, such as the gardens and scavi. Only the basilica, the grottos on the first level underneath the church and St Peter's Square may be accessed for free. The scavi (deeper excavation underneath the basilica) and gardens require a separate, prior reservation and tour.

1. Is it better to visit the Colisseum and the Forum on 2 consecutive mornings (we are early risers)?

If you are buying "open" tickets (no inexpensive coopculture tours, which are probably sold out for June anyway, or timed-entry tickets) you cannot visit the Colosseum before 2:00 PM in the afternoon. Not sure this applies to the Forum/Palatine as well as the website doesn't specify afternoon-only access for those. Not sure how you intend to purchase tickets but you do NOT want to stand in line for them at the Colosseum. You might try going to the Palatine ticket office before the opening hour, buying your tickets there, doing the Forum/Palatine (they must be done together), taking break for lunch and then doing the Colosseum at 2:00 or later.

Thank you all for the quick replies!

Ticket is bought to the Borghese for the Thursday morning! And Vatican tickets - museums & Sistine Chapel - for noon on Friday. We’ll look around the free areas in the morning. I don’t want to overwhelm my son with too many tours and art and history and culture, so this will be plenty for us. This will be on the first full day for my husband and son, so will take us a while to get going and work out public transport.

Now I am a very confused about Colosseum tickets.

Kathy: you said
“If you are buying "open" tickets (no inexpensive coopculture tours, which are probably sold out for June anyway, or timed-entry tickets) you cannot visit the Colosseum before 2:00 PM in the afternoon.”

I find the Colosseum ticket options VERY confusing. I’m looking at the “Ticket Reservation with Scheduled Entrance Time - Monthly Availability” section and there is plenty of availability all morning for the Saturday we are looking at.
http://ecm.coopculture.it/index.php?option=com_snapp&view=event&id=D746C546-77AF-4A1A-03BE-0161AE477A35&catalogid=E2985DBA-41A7-2D3A-0C7A-0161B2D40436&lang=en

However, if I look at the 3-monthly page, there’s almost nothing until 11am on that same day. Is it Ok to use that ‘Monthly Availability’ page? And Kathy, what did you mean by ‘no inexpensive Coopculture tours’??

Mile grazie a tutti!

Is it Ok to use that ‘Monthly Availability’ page?

Yes. If it's showing availability for the Sat. you want to visit, book through that page. It was uncertain from your post that you were interested in timed-entry tickets.

what did you mean by ‘no inexpensive Coopculture tours’??

What I meant was that the reasonably-priced Coopculture tours for the Belvedere and/or Underground - which are in very high demand, and which went on sale in March-May - likely sold out as soon as they became available. Folks who really want to see these areas often end up booking more expensive tours through private companies who still have openings.

There are, however, tickets remaining for the Coopculture 5-euro, scheduled-entrance tours of just the general area of the Colosseum, if interested. You could choose this option versus the timed-entry ticket if desired.

http://ecm.coopculture.it/index.php?option=com_snapp&view=event&id=E6A1B5B3-BFDA-AC94-6929-0161B2E3A0C0&catalogid=23A77243-5FAB-1393-11A5-0161B2E6158E&lang=en

As recommended above, I'd do the Colosseum and Forum/Palatine on the same day as they're right next to each other. Really glad you already had your Borghese ticket!!! :O)

We just got back from Rome and purchased the combo ticket for the Colisseum/Forum. It is best done in one day--and going earlier is better, see the Colisseum first (as this is the most crowded) and then go to the Forum. If the first line for the Forum is long, then walk up the hill to the next traffic light and enter through the Palentine Hill entrance--no lines for us mid-day.

Note that if you do the combo ticket, read it carefully. We did a tour with the Colisseum/Vatican on the same day and then were not able to come back the next day and the ticket was only good on consecutive days. The ticket taker allowed us in anyway, but if he didn't there was a really long line to buy the ticket.

Have a great time.

We just got back from Rome and purchased the combo ticket for the
Colisseum/Forum. It is best done in one day--and going earlier is
better, see the Colisseum first....

Seeing the colosseum before 2:00 PM is no longer possible with a general-entry "combo" ticket. If one wants to see the arena in the morning, they need to purchased a timed-entry ticket for an A.M. time slot. This is a relatively new procedure.

We did a tour with the Colisseum/Vatican on the same day and then were
not able to come back the next day and the ticket was only good on
consecutive days.

Yes, tickets to the Colosseum/Forum/Palatine are good for 2 consecutive days and it has been that way for some years now. Also, the Forum and Palatine must be visited together, meaning you can't see one, leave, and then come back to do the other. So it's possible to visit the Colosseum on one day and the Forum & Palatine on the next, or vice versa, but it does make more sense to do them ALL on the same day as they're in the same area.