We will be in Rome arriving by train mid morning on Friday September 20th - Tuesday 24th. Not ideal timing over a weekend but just how it played out coming from Florence and stopping in Rome on way to Amalfi coast. We are trying to tour the Colosseum and Roman forum one day and then Vatican and St Peters another. I had planned & have 2 booked through Liv Tours -Vatican on Saturday at 9am and Colosseum with arena floor but NO underground at 11 am on last full day Monday. My question is now that I have gone down the rabbit hole of threads (LOL) on last minute cancelations at the colosseum tours this year would the experts who have done these places before recommend. Should I change Colosseum to Saturday I have found a few for 8am / 9:15 with The Roman Guy tours or Sunday at 4:15 ( not sure how hot that one might be?). Then do Vatican on Monday or even Friday afternoon after we arrive? Any advise on tour companies great appreciated.
Posted by
133 posts
Just curious…why not book your tours for the Vatican Museums and the Coliseum directly and not through a 3rd party tour company that will be more expensive…that would eliminate the chance of a last minute cancellation if the tour company is unable to secure the tickets. Tours for the Coliseum do not include the Forum…you could book that separately with a tour company and feel safe as that does not sell out.
My preference would be to book the Vatican Museums tour late on either a Friday or Saturday afternoon when they stay open a bit later…we always find these times are the least crowded…although still very crowded. Tickets for these tours come on sale 60 days in advance, so I would check tomorrow. You could book a tour of the Basilica separately, if you want.
For the Coliseum, I would choose either early morning or again late afternoon when it might be cooler.
If you schedule your Vatican Museums tour for late Friday afternoon, you could visit the Basilica first after you have checked into your accommodations and had a relaxing lunch. Then you could schedule your Coliseum tour and Forum visit for sometime on Monday…leaving all day Saturday to wander Rome and see any other sites you might like.
https://tickets.museivaticani.va/home/fromtag/2/1726804800000/Biglietti-Musei
https://ticketing.colosseo.it/en/categorie/visite-guidate/
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you that’s helpful.. as far as the third-party tour we just assumed by going that way we would get more in-depth knowledge of what we were looking at then just booking it and going on our own with skip the lines. I will look at booking the Vatican /sistine chapel, and St Peters separate in the beginning, I was nervous about that, but it may be the better option price wish.
Posted by
133 posts
With the official Vatican guided tours and the official Coliseum guided tours, you have a guide just like you would with a 3rd party tour company. I have never taken a guided tour of the Vatican Museums (we just always visit on our own)…but if you want more in-depth information as to what you are seeing, the guided tour would be valuable. We did once take the guided tour of the Underground and Attic levels of the Coliseum through the official Coliseum website and we thought it was very good.
Posted by
Phoenix🌵
3097 posts
If you decide you want to use a third party to book your tours, I used https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/ on my first visit to Rome pre covid. Go to the Vatican as early as you can. The crowds are awful.
Since then, I’ve discovered I really like smaller, less crowded museums. I’ll be in Rome the same time as you and have booked small museums and archeological sites.
Posted by
1 posts
I’d love to hear more about the smaller museums!
Posted by
Los Angeles
1202 posts
If you go to the following link on the RS website and open At A Glance, you'll see a list of attractions that includes many of the museums: