We will be in Rome 2 days in early October. On one we'll see the Vatican/St Peter's and the other the Forum/Colosseum. It would be great if we could avoid prebooking so that we can check the weather and if one day is rainy, we would go to the Vatican that day leaving the nice day for outdoor touring. Ron in Rome says that the lines die down at the Vatican by 11:30 if you go on a Tues, Thurs or Friday during off season, but I don't know if October is late enough in the year. Also his post was in 2012 so I don't know how accurate it is now. We would go to St Peter's first, then head for the museum around 11:30 or so. Regarding the Colosseum, we would buy our tickets at Pallatine Hill where the lines are shorter. Does anyone have any input? It would be nice to be flexible, but of course we don't want to spend hours in line at either place.
Posted by
San Jose, CA
1994 posts
I was there in early October of last year, and it was crowded, with a long morning and midday line for the Vatican museums. I would make a reservation at that time of the year. I've also been in late January, and at that time found no lines and no crowds.
Also, as an FYI, we were unable to do the underground Colosseum tour because it had been raining the previous day, and it was closed because of flooding (from what I could see, puddles).
Posted by
Pa and Italy
4152 posts
October is still high season in Rome. You can expect long lines at the Vatican museums until later in the afternoon. I wouldn't try to get in before 1pm or so. At the colosseum, a lot of people are now aware of buying tickets at the palatine hill entrance and the lines there can be quite long. Without pre-booking it's impossible to say how long you may or may not wait.
Donna
Posted by
OP
63 posts
Thank you Sherry and Donna! That's all I needed to push me in the other direction. I went ahead and got Vatican tickets and will buy the Colosseum tickets soon.