Small Group Colosseum, Arena Floor & Forum

Hi Berry- As to why tour companies cancel or attempt to reschedule, this Romewise video does a great job explaining why.

I think you're asking for the impossible.

We'd covered the potential pitfalls of booking tours which include the underground on any other site BUT the Colosseum's own in your previous threads, such as these:.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/night-tours-of-the-colosseum
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/viator-8e663b6b-7405-472e-9b21-698024e0ac0b

Here's some text from one of the more trusted tour companies: they're flatly up front about some of the cancellation/change possibilities for their underground tour. Pay close attention to the info about needing to keep your ENTIRE day open to cover for a change in tour time, and yes, it could be moved to a different day. As well, unless booking a private tour operated by a singular guide, you'll be assigned a random guide from their group of them and there's no guarantee that they'll all speak English comprehensively enough for your particular taste.

https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy/rome/colosseum-dungeons-tour-with-roman-forum-palantine-hill?guests=1&_gl=1*12vjanj*_up*MQ..*_gs*MQ..&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8OWFjsyxjAMVHXF_AB19tjQhEAAYASAAEgJY3_D_BwE&gbraid=0AAAAADM-panUKBFYlXbi7D3XiV_jMvzHN

What happens if it rains?
We run our Colosseum tours rain or shine. If rainfall is extremely heavy, the Colosseum management will sometimes close the restricted areas for safety reasons. If the restricted areas are closed, we will offer an €18 refund to compensate for missing these areas, but we'll still take you inside the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and Roman Forum.

Can my tour be canceled or moved to a different day?
Yes, it is possible. Colosseum Underground tours are very exclusive and are subject to changes, but we’re experts in this field and have staff dedicated to ensuring the best possible customer experience. If we are unable to acquire tickets on your behalf, we will let you know at least 14 days before your tour date, in which case we'll add you to a comparable tour or offer a full refund.

Is it possible The Tour Guy will change this tour time?
Yes, it is very likely to happen due to the exclusive nature of this tour. We recommend you keep your entire day open to accommodate your new tour time. Be sure to monitor your email as we will contact you at least 14 days before the tour with any new start time.

Liv Tours, Through Eternity, Walks of Italy and Context Travel - 4 other trusted companies; the last two mentioned were recommended by two posters on your TA forum thread - don't currently offer their tours which had included the underground (I checked the websites.)

Editing to add: I'm a bit surprised that you're even considering a tour of the Colosseum as you'd advised another poster 2 years ago that there's "Not much to see inside except a large hole." (wink)
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/colloseum-sold-out-for-may

Oh, and one more thing to be aware of? I see in your TA posts about an upcoming trip to Lisbon that you have a bad hip, asthma, a bad back + mobility issues. Most of the combo Colosseum+ Forum tours (and which usually include the Palatine too; well worth seeing) last 3-4 hours. They'll involve a lot of walking and standing still - no place to sit - for the duration of the tour. In the interest of having an enjoyable time, you might want to consider in advance if this is something you feel you can physically manage?

Kathy,
I travel to Europe a couple times each year. Yes, I have asthma but it’s currently well under control & I carry an emergency inhaler. Before every trip, I get a steroid shot in my back…it allows me to walk at least a couple miles each day on flat surfaces, without pain. Good for 3 months. I’m not planning to walk around Lisbon because of the steep hills I’ve read about. I’ve got a 4 man TukTuk for 6 hrs on our first day in the city. What I don’t see that day, won’t bother me bc I’m more excited about ALL the food of Portugal.

I’m coming to Rome w my adult son who hasn’t visited the Colleseum since he was 12. I’m doing it for him bc he wants me to… but every time I’ve toured it, I’ve been disappointed. (I won’t tell him this!) Many tour guides speak English badly, many guides speed through the tour & brush off questions from the guests. During my first visit in 1967, things were not marked well inside & for many years, one actually needed a guide to try & understand a few facts here & there. They have made improvements & made it more like a museum…. Plus, today guests have the internet & they know as much as the guide
knows.

For that matter, these days, it’s inexpensive enough to visit with tickets from the Official Site & enjoy without paying a pricey guide who rushes through the experience & disappoints…leaving the visitor feeling cheated. Today, Plaques & photos w explanations help those who won’t be needing a snippy guide…. Who’s anxious to make to his 2:00p tour waiting outside the subway.

As far as Palatine Hill, I’m going to see how I feel the day we go because I can always skip the “Beverly Hills of Rome” & meet up with the other 5 people in our group, later…. in the middle of the Forum. Texting has made catching up with your family much easier easy these days.

I’m not much impressed by the most collosol site in Rome, because those gladiator who are dressed ups, covered in tattoos…stink of cigarette smoke while actively blowing it into our faces as they promise they’ll only charge €5 for a picture in MY camera… then the price goes up to €25 once it’s taken & they’ll chase you away from the Colleseum, if u don’t pay up, trying to confiscate my camera if I don’t pay up!!! That was back when they charged for you to use your camera… to take a picture of them looking like jailbirds dressed as a gladiator (back in the 1980s & 90s.) It’s fun to sit & watch what the Gladiators models do to the poor, unexpecting Japanese businessmen, half their size…the thieving gladiators want to change enormous prices for photos taken by the visitors. I watch & see them finally “pay up” or get their cameras taken away,

Everyone should ride by the Colleseum once while in Rome. It’s a marvel. But unless you have a great guide who CAN TAKE their time with you (knowing that guests have come a long way to see this 2000 yr old masterpiece …). It’s still a hole in the ground that upsets hundreds of guests every day. Cancelled tours, no refunds on cancelled tours, moving the tour to next week…when the guest will be in Poland. Believe me, I’ve had terrible guides who couldn’t speak the kings English. I’ve had lovely French & British guides who were paying for tuition at university while working as a guide. Some of the best… but it’s the luck of the draw. Brixit expats & British university students making wonderful guides …. things have changed in the last 30 years but you’ll only see the underground by booking through the official site. Tour companies WANT to tell you they have the tickets, but they don’t. They’ll make up a thousand lies about why they can’t show you the underground. You can see it from the areana .

...a tour company that’s reliable & has English speaking guides who are easily understood & full of interesting Roman history.

Check out Rick Steves' Europe. Rick, their guide, has excellent diction and provides excellent historical context in his audio tours, available on his Audio Europe app. And the price is right.

My goodness.

Tour companies...make up a thousand lies about why they can’t show you
the underground. You can see it from the areana .

As noted in the previous post, the tour companies most often recommended in the Rome forum have either currently ceased to offer underground tours altogether or, like the text included from the Roman Guy website, have included an honest, up-front disclaimer regarding no-fail ability to land tickets for specific dates and times.

Very kindly, if you already know that much of the underground is visible from above (Yes it is; I've been there) and that you can visit much of the rest with inexpensive general-entry tickets + audioguide, then that's probably what you should do. As well, as you're obviously not a fan of the place to begin with and are apparently expecting not to enjoy the experience, then maybe your adult son should make his arrangements and visit on his own?

I’m not planning to walk around Lisbon because of the steep hills I’ve
read about. I’ve got a 4 man TukTuk for 6 hrs on our first day in the
city. What I don’t see that day, won’t bother me bc I’m more excited
about ALL the food of Portugal.

Given a 2/5/2025 TA review of a Lisbon restaurant that you did not enjoy, you've already completed that trip? Hope you found more of Lisbon to your liking.

Hi Kathy,
Thank you for your observations & suggestions!
I’m excited to get back to Rome & share the experience with my son…
I’ve reserved a 6 person tour of the Colleseum & Forum w a reputable company & I’ll be seeing it again with fresh eyes. We’ve watched the Gladiator movies & even 1961’s Spartacus. He & 1500 of his followers were crucified on the Appian Way. To remember him, we have an E-Bike Tour along the AW to one of the catacombs & a picnic lunch at the aqueducts.
On our arrival day, we’ve an evening Food Tour w a walk from the Jewish Ghetto to Trastevere. I’d recommend the J Ghetto to everyone interested in the history of Jews from early Rome. The museum there is terrific . It is said that many of the Jews who are still in the area are direct descendants of those in Israel during Jesus’ time.
The Capuchin Monk Bone Tour is on our list too. The Priscilla Catacombs are nearly for anyone who wants to see one. They’re all pretty much alike…no bones just tunnels w lots of steps.
I love Trastevere & we’ve always stayed in at the peaceful Hotel Santa Maria. This year we’re changing it up & staying at the Hotel Smeraldo, mainly for its roof top bar & the busy night life in the area.
We have the Vespa Sidecar Night Tour booked & the Capuchin Monk Bone Tour scheduled. I like to do an opera at the Baths of Caracalla, but we’ll be there too early for those. I highly recommend. An alternative is St Paul’s Within the Wall, which has a “Three Tenor” experience that’s quite good.
We might do a golf cart tour but I find those carts are rough riding on those cobblestone streets.
I looking forward to an amazing trip…mostly comprised of suggestions from Rick Steves over 30 years!! His guide books are my favorites…it’s like traveling w a friend on all my trips!!

Ah, yes....Appia Antica; our favorite day in Rome to date; good to see that you'll be doing some of it. This is what I wrote about it for another travel site:

A 21st-century pilgrim on the Regina Viarum

"We jumped off the train at tiny Torricola and crept cautiously along a narrow shoulder of modern highway to its crossing at another several thousand years older. Here, surrounded by quiet fields miles outside of the busy center of Rome, we stepped onto one of the greatest achievements in Roman history: a pre-BC avenue so important to the story of the empire that 10 of its once 365-mile reach have been preserved as a national park.

Via Appia Antica was the first of many thousand of miles of road to eventually spring from the center of Rome to the remote provinces. These meticulously engineered surfaces of stones and concrete, enabling the great Roman armies to move troops and supplies quickly from one outpost to another, were instrumental to successful conquest and control of the expanding empire. Built on the orders of one Appius Claudius Cieco in 312 BC, the Regina Viarum - Queen of Roads - was a massive project with one goal: to provide the shortest, most direct route possible from point A to B, obstacles be damned. I've read that a 39-mile stretch of it is still considered the longest straight road in Europe!

Aside from its purpose as a military artery, it was a triumphal way for victorious legions, trade route, and prestigious location for expensive villas, baths, an emperor's private circus, and tombs. Burials being forbidden inside the city walls, the busy road provided visibility for elaborate mausoleums and easy transport of the materials needed to construct them. More darkly, it was also the site of public executions and grisly display of the corpses as a fearful warning against rebellion and crime. Most famous are the recorded accounts of the miles and miles of decaying, crucified remains of 6,000 captives of the Spartacan revolt in 71 BC.

These are the scenes we tried to imagine as we made our way along the 6 miles back into the city past crumbling ruins and overgrown rubble of sculptured monuments. Most of the original basalt pavers were covered over as this is still considered a drivable road (go figure) but a few feet of ancient surface had been left exposed here and there so our feet could pad across cobbles the sandals of Romans trod over 2 millennia ago.

Walking the Appia Antica is free but some of the larger ruins and catacombs you may visit along the way have entry fees. See the park's excellent website for information, and my individual reviews on those we were able to visit."

(Those included Villa of Maxentius, Capo di Bove Baths, Chiesa del Domine Quo Vadis, Basilica and Catacombs of San Sebastiano.).

Enjoy your trip. :O)

Kathy,
I loved reading about your adventures on Appia Antica. Maybe you can help me with the name of a restaurant outside of the city!
In 2010, I had read in a travel magazine, about a Michelin Star Restaurant built in catacombs on the Appian Way. I was taking my young teenage son & a friend of his to Europe that summer & we were doing everything by Eurail sleeper cars, which was great fun.
I decided we’d try this catacombs restaurant, so we took a bus to the farthest edge of the city & walked about a mile to the restaurant. It didn’t disappoint! It was an actual catacomb & the food was delicious. I remember I had charred octopus!

When dinner was over, I knew there were no buses running that late & here we were miles from our hotel. The restaurant owner offered to call a cab, to which I was very grateful.
That was the night I learned that: 1. Having a restaurant call a taxi for you, can be expensive. 2. Eating out on a Saturday night, when taxis charge more…can get expensive. 3. Getting a taxi after a certain hour in the night, makes the ride expensive.
I was grateful for the taxi ride, but the 20 minute ride back to our hotel, taught me a valuable lesson about travel in Rome… there are few taxis outside the city after dark…. and the taxi begins charging when they get the call.

Even with the extra costs, I would still go back to that hidden gem. Do you know the name of the restaurant in the catacombs? I doubt that there’s more than one! Thanks!

Hmmm, I'm unaware of any restaurants "in" a catacomb, and would have a difficult time - given they're both considered sacred spaces and that only a few of the known 60+ can even be accessed due to instability - thinking there would by any located far below surface. However, there are some of note out that way that are located either near some catacombs or on/very near the site of ancient tombs. You might look at these?

https://lavocedinewyork.com/en/travel/2024/09/06/dining-near-the-catacombs-gastronomy-on-the-via-appia-antica/

Trattoria Priscilla:
Via Appia Antica 68, 00179 Rome Italy

Ristorante L'Archeologia:
Via Appia Antica 139, 00179 Rome, Italy

Hostaria Antica Roma:
Via Appia Antica, 176, 00179 Roma RM, Italy
(This one comes up a lot on searches for dining on the Appia Antica)

LOL, not a foodie, me. We packed energy bars along for our breakfast and lunch at various places on our trek, and (believe it or not) bought an entirely passable pick-me-up cappuccino from a vending machine outside San Callixtus.