Guide for underground & 3rd tier Colosseum

[Jade Cruise]

Hi, I was trying to buy tickets for the Colosseum underground and 3rd tier tour on the official site. Even though they seem to have only gone on sale yesterday this tour seems to be already sold out for the date I want in June. Entrance tickets are available. Can I just buy the entrance tickets and join a guide afterwards when we get there?

 

thanks

[tel2]

Hi, I was trying to buy tickets for the Colosseum underground and 3rd tier tour on the official site. Even though they seem to have only gone on sale yesterday this tour seems to be already sold out for the date I want in June. Entrance tickets are available. Can I just buy the entrance tickets and join a guide afterwards when we get there?

 

thanks

 

No, you cannot join a tour when you get there if there isn't room available. You can buy entrance tickets, and get in, and also you can hire a tour guide for the site that does NOT include underground and 3rd tier, but there are only two choices for the Underground / 3rd tier tour - book it yourself thru the official site, or if it is fully booked and you cannot get the date you want, book through a tour provider who gets blocks of tickets. Tickets went on sale Sunday for April May and June, and I tried to book Sunday night for a date in late April, and the morning was completely sold out already and afternoon had only a few time choices left. Ugh

 

Terry

Edited March 15, 2016 by tel2

[tel2]

Me again -- but are you sure you set the search correctly? If you put in a time and there is nothing available for that time, it will not show other available times for that same date. Set time to 00:00 and it will give you all availability for that day. I ask only because I just perused through June and there are very few dates not available for at least a few time slots in the day (unless you have a big group...)

[margeecruiser]

Be aware the underground and 3-RD tier tours get cancelled often. We've tried 3 times and never made it. If there are heavy rains it floods easily. I think they are concerned about safety issues too.

 

Good luck!

 

Margee

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[trophy_23]

No, you cannot join a tour when you get there if there isn't room available. You can buy entrance tickets, and get in, and also you can hire a tour guide for the site that does NOT include underground and 3rd tier, but there are only two choices for the Underground / 3rd tier tour - book it yourself thru the official site, or if it is fully booked and you cannot get the date you want, book through a tour provider who gets blocks of tickets. Tickets went on sale Sunday for April May and June, and I tried to book Sunday night for a date in late April, and the morning was completely sold out already and afternoon had only a few time choices left. Ugh

 

 

 

Terry

 

 

We happened to go on and book our tour on Sunday, for late April, and noticed many were booked. We managed to get a morning tour close to the time we were after so we got lucky randomly deciding on Sunday that we should book!

[Jade Cruise]

Me again -- but are you sure you set the search correctly? If you put in a time and there is nothing available for that time, it will not show other available times for that same date. Set time to 00:00 and it will give you all availability for that day. I ask only because I just perused through June and there are very few dates not available for at least a few time slots in the day (unless you have a big group...)

 

Hi, thanks for the advice, yes, there are some slots available on 8th June, but they are at 9.20, 9.40 or late afternoon. None of those are suitable as we were hoping to take the 9.18 train which gets to Ostiense at 10.18. We were hoping to get 4 tickets around 11.30 or 12.00 but that doesnt seem to be an option. Do you think buying an entrance ticket and audio guide will give a good experience, or is a guide essential? We are not history buffs but have never visited before and would like to visit the 'highlights' for 2-3 hours. thanks.:)

[HEINER]

No, you cannot join a tour when you get there if there isn't room available. You can buy entrance tickets, and get in, and also you can hire a tour guide for the site that does NOT include underground and 3rd tier, but there are only two choices for the Underground / 3rd tier tour - book it yourself thru the official site, or if it is fully booked and you cannot get the date you want, book through a tour provider who gets blocks of tickets. Tickets went on sale Sunday for April May and June, and I tried to book Sunday night for a date in late April, and the morning was completely sold out already and afternoon had only a few time choices left. Ugh

 

Terry[/quote

 

How can I tell when the tickets go on sale for September?

 

Also are there a lot of steps underground?

 

Thanks

[sippican]

How do you know when the tickets blocks are going on sale? We are looking forward to a tour in November.

[tel2]

How do you know when the tickets blocks are going on sale? We are looking forward to a tour in November.

 

It will tell you on the coop culture (official) website. Generally, tickets go on sale about 15 days before the end of the quarter. So, for example, Jan, Feb and march went on sale mid-December. April May and June went on sale last Sunday 3/13. So, for November, the block of October, Nov and December will likely be released sometime in September. I'd start checking in early September. The website itself usually has a notice on the right hand side of the Colosseum page under "News" telling you when the next quarter's tickets will go on sale. They don't put up that notice til near the end of the current quarter. It is an annoying system.

 

HEINER -- same thing for September. July, Aug, Sept will likely go on sale mid-June.

 

JADE CRUISE -- definitely worth it to do it with audio and no guide. Download Rick Steves audio tours to your smart phone -- I thought they were better than the official audio. They are free.

 

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours/italy

 

Terry

[sippican]

It will tell you on the coop culture (official) website. Generally, tickets go on sale about 15 days before the end of the quarter. So, for example, Jan, Feb and march went on sale mid-December. April May and June went on sale last Sunday 3/13. So, for November, the block of October, Nov and December will likely be released sometime in September. I'd start checking in early September. The website itself usually has a notice on the right hand side of the Colosseum page under "News" telling you when the next quarter's tickets will go on sale. They don't put up that notice til near the end of the current quarter. It is an annoying system.

 

HEINER -- same thing for September. July, Aug, Sept will likely go on sale mid-June.

 

JADE CRUISE -- definitely worth it to do it with audio and no guide. Download Rick Steves audio tours to your smart phone -- I thought they were better than the official audio. They are free.

 

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours/italy

 

Terry

 

Thank you for the great information. I am hoping tickets won't be quite as difficult to come by in November!

 

JADE Cruise - I agree with Terry's recommendation to go with Rick Steves audio guide/s. The tour is fantastic (as are his for other ports or points of interest). We used it at the Colosseum during our last visit, but since we were on a tour, time constraints did not allow us to listen to the full audio program. We have found his audio tours to be comprehensive, and interesting and in some cases, better than a personal guide. They are self-paced so you can go as fast or slow as you like.

[Jade Cruise]

thanks everyone for the good advice. I will look into getting Rick Steves:)

[vakamalua]

Don't forget that the tickets for the Underground Tour are only for that TOUR--you still need to buy a separate entrance ticket to the Colosseum itself.

[two_n_six]

I have been checking the coop culture website every day to find out when the 3rd ring tours will go on sale for September and the next 3 month batch is being released on 19th June. The tour price is 9 euros.

 

From Sunday, 19 June it is possible to book the Underground of Colosseum for July, August and September 2016.

 

You will also need to buy a colosseum entrance ticket, these are 12 euros.

 

http://www.coopculture.it/en/ticket....&id=0&evento=6

 

http://etickets.coopculture.it/index...0-CE0B6183CEFB

 

Information and booking Service will be open from 9am to 1pm and from 2pm to 5pm.

 

It is possible to book on line guided tours for individuals from 9am of Sunday, 19th of June

 

The entrance for groups can be reserved only by call center.

 

Please note that the terms and conditions of sale, access and visit of the Underground of the Coliseum, shared with the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome, are solely those notified directly by the Concessionaire and published on the site http://www.coopculture.it.

 

Please note the procedures for reservations shared with the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome:

prepayment by credit card required at booking

rates entrance for groups (max 50 pax) is € 50.00

each customer can reserve only one (1) slot of maximum 25 places per day

each customer can reserve maximum 6 places in the same individual guided tour

each customer can make only one reservation per call

any additional pre-sold ticket, although accepted and prepaid, will be canceled and will be refunded

it will be possible to book the Underground each three months. Reservation Service will be open 15 days before the three month period

 

the group slop of 10am and 2.40pm can be booked only by tourist guides

 

 

I would think that the tour operators will be trying to snap them up so that they can inflate the price and then sell on to tourists as part of their tours.

Good luck to anyone who is successful and set your alarms to try and get in first.

[trophy_23]

We bought ours for a late April tour online directly and it was very easy. As mentioned don't forget to buy tour tickets as well as admission. We just took our printed confirmation email with number to the booth and we were in in no time at all.

[jenZ]

Back from recent Rome trip (early May, 2016) and thought my observations might help those with future planning:

 

1) suggest buying your two tickets required at the same time to ensure you get your preferred underground tour time secured before buying the general Colosseum access tickets. I did not do this and that did not work out well for us! The general access tickets go on sale before the underground/third ring tour, and are basically undated and good for two days ( you could access the Colosseum on one day and the Roman Forum the next, for instance.)

 

In our situation, we bought general access first, because they were available online, and trying to get our to do list done and things paid for ahead of time. Then when the underground tour tickets became available, we could not get 6 tickets for the days or times we wanted. So we bought just two, the last two, at a compromised time slot because it was important for two to go on that tour. We really didn't know how the timing would work out but It wasn't a lot of money and felt it best to act and secure the slots. I also now believe (guessing due to information from other sites) that some of the time slots shown online have now been reserved for private tour groups, and one reason that the shown time slots appear sold out so quickly after they are available for purchase online.

 

2) fast forward to nearer our trip time, and studying the logistics more thoroughly, we concluded it would not work for two of the six to go in a different direction or do the Colosseum in the middle of the day and take longer for two. We researched private tour options, found one that still had 6 openings in the timeframe that worked for us ( many were sold out, a week or so in advance) and booked a private/ group guided tour for both the underground/3rd ring and the Roman Forum. So we 'invested' twice in the Colosseum access.

 

However we all agreed the guide and tour to both sites was well worth the extra money. The Roman Forum was much more fascinating than it appeared from photographs of a huge site with pretty trees and a bunch of stone! Without the benefit of a good storyteller to weave the context of the visuals we were experiencing in person into the historical insight of the life and politics of the past, it would have been just another ruin. I am sure an audio tour ala Rick Steves would be excellent as well, but I preferred the interaction with a real person and learned from others' questions. And a guide really helps with the pacing, especially with a group larger than two. Just figuring out where to go at intersections would have been taxing mentally with a group!

 

3) the most important observation for future trip planning: The lines. I had read the lines without tickets could be huge. I think people are catching on: the lines for those WITHOUT tickets were NIL! The line for those WITH tickets was LONG! ( granted, this was early in the season and 2:00 in the afternoon)

 

And with a private guide, you do in fact bypass the lines. A completely separate entrance. (and this was true in all our long line sites- private guides bypassed all lines, I say this because this was different than I had read in these forums). I tried to sell my pre-purchased Colosseum access tickets with no luck. Why take a chance on an undated ticket when there is no line to wait to buy one you know would get you in? I ended up giving them away- fun for me to see the surprise in the lucky folks!

 

4) yes, there are a lot of stairs for the underground and the third ring. A bit of stress on old knees and those with claustrophobia. But very doable. There is a controlled access elevator that houses up to 6 for those that can't navigate stairs.

 

No matter what size or who guides your tour group, two groups are combined for this section of the Colosseum. Even with audio headphones, it was a bit difficult to understand all of the guide due to the larger size group and the small quarters underground, due to lag time between matching the words to the visual as the people transitioned to the various spots. Still very interesting and well worth to see both underground and third ring part of the Colosseum.

 

5) In summary, while expensive, I believe a private tour is the best way to experience the Roman Forum and saves time for access to the Colosseum. Before I got to Rome, the Roman Forum wasn't on my must see list, just the Colosseum, but it was included in the private group tour. After I went, I liked the Forum better than the Colosseum, and actually, the history of the two is connected and makes both sites more interesting as a whole rather than two independent sites.

 

Given the cost of travel and room and board, the very knowledgeable and educated ( mostly PhDs) tour guides we had at all the historic sites were a small cost for a big payoff. (At least for your first time, even those in our group who had been before enjoyed it more the second time with a guide.) Not only the interactive learning part, but also logistically, which can make all the difference on a trip, adding ease and joy instead of stress.

 

The joy came from being up close and personal with a passionate LOCAL expert. Like getting twice the bang for your buck- historical knowledge and current, local culture at the same time! The ease came from focusing on just what your were seeing and hearing without worrying about which way to go or the time.

 

Isn't that what a vacation is all about?!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Good information, JenZ, thanks. Could you share the name of the tour company that you used for the Forum and Colosseum?

[LEtue]

I have used this site for booking many tours including the Colosseum underground. See if this helps.

 

http://www.tickitaly.com/tours/colosseum-dungeon-upper-level-tour.php

[jenZ]

Hello Wendy,

we used Walks of Italy, highly recommended by others on these forums. We did the VIP tour.

 

https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/colosseum-underground-tours

 

It was expensive @ 95€ per person. May not have chosen them if others had the time slots. Partly because of the expense but mostly because the tour was 3.5 hours. I thought that was too much time to allocate to one site during our 3 night stay. So much to see, so little time.

 

But I must say, it was not enough time! And we spent maybe one hour more!

 

In hindsight, I feel we lucked out and got a great tour company, by default, and a great guide. I definitely recommend them if you can swing the fee.

 

My DH LOVED Rome, and definitely wants to go back. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it too. I see why many CC posters say they have been back five times and still haven't done all they want.

 

Enjoy the planning and especially enjoy visiting Roma!

Jen

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[vakamalua]

I second the recommendation for Walks of Italy Tour--VIP Underground Coliseum and Forum. Did this tour in early May; definitely worth the money. The large group had two guides who sometimes shared information--both were extremely knowledgeable. In addition to the three levels of the Coliseum, we toured the Palatine Hill and the Forum. You enter at the Coliseum and exit through the Forum. Note: the tour requires climbing multiple sets of very steep steps in the Coliseum and over three hours of standing/walking on uneven surfaces.

[two_n_six]

I have been checking the coop culture website every day to find out when the 3rd ring tours will go on sale for September and the next 3 month batch is being released on 19th June. The tour price is 9 euros.

 

From Sunday, 19 June it is possible to book the Underground of Colosseum for July, August and September 2016.

 

You will also need to buy a colosseum entrance ticket, these are 12 euros.

 

http://www.coopculture.it/en/ticket....&id=0&evento=6

 

http://etickets.coopculture.it/index...0-CE0B6183CEFB

 

Information and booking Service will be open from 9am to 1pm and from 2pm to 5pm.

 

It is possible to book on line guided tours for individuals from 9am of Sunday, 19th of June

 

The entrance for groups can be reserved only by call center.

 

Please note that the terms and conditions of sale, access and visit of the Underground of the Coliseum, shared with the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome, are solely those notified directly by the Concessionaire and published on the site http://www.coopculture.it.

 

Please note the procedures for reservations shared with the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome:

prepayment by credit card required at booking

rates entrance for groups (max 50 pax) is € 50.00

each customer can reserve only one (1) slot of maximum 25 places per day

each customer can reserve maximum 6 places in the same individual guided tour

each customer can make only one reservation per call

any additional pre-sold ticket, although accepted and prepaid, will be canceled and will be refunded

it will be possible to book the Underground each three months. Reservation Service will be open 15 days before the three month period

 

the group slop of 10am and 2.40pm can be booked only by tourist guides

 

 

I would think that the tour operators will be trying to snap them up so that they can inflate the price and then sell on to tourists as part of their tours.

Good luck to anyone who is successful and set your alarms to try and get in first.

 

Just a reminder the 3rd ring tour tickets went on sale today for July, August and September and are going fast.

[lightsleeper]

Just purchased third ring tickets

Only option I saw for the tickets was pickup at ticket window

 

Is there a special line for "will call" tickets or must one wait in the general ticket line

If so, can these ticket be picked up at the other ticket windows (Palatine Hill) or must you go to the Colosseum?

[trophy_23]

I emailed to ask before we went and they told me the only place I could pickup was at the Colosseum. There is a separate line, it did not take us long to get our tickets.

[DENNAS]

I second the recommendation for Walks of Italy Tour--VIP Underground Coliseum and Forum. Did this tour in early May; definitely worth the money. The large group had two guides who sometimes shared information--both were extremely knowledgeable. In addition to the three levels of the Coliseum, we toured the Palatine Hill and the Forum. You enter at the Coliseum and exit through the Forum. Note: the tour requires climbing multiple sets of very steep steps in the Coliseum and over three hours of standing/walking on uneven surfaces.

 

You mention very steep steps to climb, in the coliseum, are there hand rails?

[lightsleeper]

Did you purchase the general admission tickets ahead of time or when you picked up the underground/third ring tickets? Already purchased third ring but not general tickets yet

[trophy_23]

Did you purchase the general admission tickets ahead of time or when you picked up the underground/third ring tickets? Already purchased third ring but not general tickets yet

 

 

I purchased both online at the same time.