Colosseum Tour

[neil5054]

I will be in Rome in late October and intend to tour on my own since I've been in Rome before. The website for advance tkts to the Colosseum is confusing as it lists admission and tours but is not clear whether the prices are combined or separate. Anyone used the Colosseum tour? any idea how often they are given or worth it? Looks like the tour alone is 17E on top of the admission, but I'm not sure.

[lambs2]

We took the tour offered at the Colliseum. It was excellent. We all wore headsets so we could hear our guide easily. We did not prepurchase any tickets. We just bought our admission tickets to the Colliseum at the Palantine Hill entrance (no line) and then got in the shorter line for security at the Colliseum (the one for folks with pre-paid tickets). Once inside we walked up to a ticket window and purchased 2 English tours for a few €'s more. has to wait 20 minutes or so for the tour time, but we walked around the Ciolliseum and went upstairs on our own before joining the group for the tour which took about an hour or so. We felt we got far more out of our visit because of the tour. This was two years ago May.

[kruzseeka]

Hi, we bought our Colisseum tickets on-line (combined ticket for Forum too). We printed them off at home so didn't have to go and redeem a voucher - we walked past the queues and straight to the front for ticket holders. This is the site we used;

 

http://www.ticketclic.it/Gb/HTML/musei/colosseo.cfm

 

The advantage of this, for us, that we didn't have to detour to the Palatine Hill for tickets, or alternatively queue at the Colisseum and best of all - it isn't a timed ticket. It's 'Open' so you can roll up at a convenient time and you don't have to second guess your arrival time. Most other ticket sites I tried required you to select a time for entry. I think the price is 13.5E plus a 1.5E charge (for the service?). Of course a tour would be extra. We bought the radio commentary guides and found them very good as we were able to linger where we chose or even listen to some bits again and determine our own rate of progress through the site.

[neil5054]

We took the tour offered at the Colliseum. It was excellent. We all wore headsets so we could hear our guide easily. We did not prepurchase any tickets. We just bought our admission tickets to the Colliseum at the Palantine Hill entrance (no line) and then got in the shorter line for security at the Colliseum (the one for folks with pre-paid tickets). Once inside we walked up to a ticket window and purchased 2 English tours for a few €'s more. has to wait 20 minutes or so for the tour time, but we walked around the Ciolliseum and went upstairs on our own before joining the group for the tour which took about an hour or so. We felt we got far more out of our visit because of the tour. This was two years ago May.

Sounds like a good idea, so either with prepaid tkts or buying there, you were able to go inside and then get on the live tour. I definitely would like the live tour. I am guessing the english tours are given throughout the day?

[lambs2]

Sounds like a good idea, so either with prepaid tkts or buying there, you were able to go inside and then get on the live tour. I definitely would like the live tour. I am guessing the english tours are given throughout the day?

 

We there in late May and I believe the English tours at that time were offered about every hour. We just missed one that was forming and had to wait less than 1/2 hour for the next English tour.

[neil5054]

Sounds like a good idea, so either with prepaid tkts or buying there, you were able to go inside and then get on the live tour. I definitely would like the live tour. I am guessing the english tours are given throughout the day?

thank you.

[nparmelee]

For a comparison, the tickets are 12 euros there this year. I noticed that web site marked them up 1.50 euros for the print at home ones.

[luvcdays]

Hi, we bought our Colisseum tickets on-line (combined ticket for Forum too). We printed them off at home so didn't have to go and redeem a voucher - we walked past the queues and straight to the front for ticket holders. This is the site we used;

 

http://www.ticketclic.it/Gb/HTML/musei/colosseo.cfm

 

The advantage of this, for us, that we didn't have to detour to the Palatine Hill for tickets, or alternatively queue at the Colisseum and best of all - it isn't a timed ticket. It's 'Open' so you can roll up at a convenient time and you don't have to second guess your arrival time. Most other ticket sites I tried required you to select a time for entry. I think the price is 13.5E plus a 1.5E charge (for the service?). Of course a tour would be extra. We bought the radio commentary guides and found them very good as we were able to linger where we chose or even listen to some bits again and determine our own rate of progress through the site.

 

This website says "Open Tickets - Whithin Season" but does not explain those dates. Does anyone have a clue?

 

Thank you.

[kruzseeka]

This website says "Open Tickets - Whithin Season" but does not explain those dates. Does anyone have a clue?

 

Thank you.

 

 

Hmmm.... no! But if you go through a 'mock' booking process by clicking on the 'Print at home' option, it's possible to enter dates required and it then states 'OPEN Ticket valid on the selected day on opening hours'. This is what we had and the ticket clearly states that it's for the Forum, Colosseum and Palatine Hill. I've tried a number of different dates to try it out and it works through to and including August 2009. When you get to the stage where it asks for number of people (tickets) it says 'Ticket valid for all of day during the day selected'. So it's not at all ambiguous regarding the open nature of the ticket.

 

From September it says something to the effect 'No events available for this show' (I think it's a standard message for a variety of events for which they act as ticket agents.) I had this problem when we were trying to book ahead - I think they just don't sell tickets that far in advance. I kept trying until they were available. It was very straightforward apart from that. If your trip is before September it should work ok - otherwise you may have to wait for months later in the year going on sale. Hope that helps! :)

[luvcdays]

Hmmm.... no! But if you go through a 'mock' booking process by clicking on the 'Print at home' option, it's possible to enter dates required and it then states 'OPEN Ticket valid on the selected day on opening hours'. This is what we had and the ticket clearly states that it's for the Forum, Colosseum and Palatine Hill. I've tried a number of different dates to try it out and it works through to and including August 2009. When you get to the stage where it asks for number of people (tickets) it says 'Ticket valid for all of day during the day selected'. So it's not at all ambiguous regarding the open nature of the ticket.

 

From September it says something to the effect 'No events available for this show' (I think it's a standard message for a variety of events for which they act as ticket agents.) I had this problem when we were trying to book ahead - I think they just don't sell tickets that far in advance. I kept trying until they were available. It was very straightforward apart from that. If your trip is before September it should work ok - otherwise you may have to wait for months later in the year going on sale. Hope that helps! :)

 

Thank you. We are not going till the middle of October, so I will try closer to that date. Our hotel is close to the Colosseo and we were going to go to the Palantine first to buy the tickets first thing in the morning. Since I don't know if the Palantine is worth the visit (I haven't researched it yet), this will save some time for a few euros more.

 

Thank you for your help.

[lambs2]

The Palantine is definitely worth a visit, but ONLY is you do some research in advance to know what the ruins are that you are seeing! There are some good books that have overlays showing the ruins today and with the overlay how they looked back in their useful days. I find these kinds of books very helpful and informative when visiting what remains of past civilizations.

[texancruzer]

We did a private tour - just guide, dh and myself.

 

But for those doing it on your own....... right outside the entrance to the coliseum are vendors selling various items...... most of them have this wonderful book (as mentioned before) showing the ruins as they look now and then a clear overlay shows how they looked way back when....

 

This book is really a good value and also makes a great souvenier. I have mine on the bottom shelf of my coffee table along with other I bought of the same design.

 

It will really help when looking at the ruins to make it all come alive for you. If you can.....buy one.

[neil5054]

We did a private tour - just guide, dh and myself.

 

But for those doing it on your own....... right outside the entrance to the coliseum are vendors selling various items...... most of them have this wonderful book (as mentioned before) showing the ruins as they look now and then a clear overlay shows how they looked way back when....

 

This book is really a good value and also makes a great souvenier. I have mine on the bottom shelf of my coffee table along with other I bought of the same design.

 

It will really help when looking at the ruins to make it all come alive for you. If you can.....buy one.

 

I saw the similar book at Olympia when we toured there last year. I bought it from Amazon when I got back!! Bet they have one for Rome too.

[CoralReef]

I saw the similar book at Olympia when we toured there last year. I bought it from Amazon when I got back!! Bet they have one for Rome too.

 

Yep, I got a "Like-New" copy of Frommer's "Rome Past & Present" on Amazon for cheap.

 

Alta Macadam's "Blue Guide Rome" is also a great guide, especially for the Forum, Colosseum, and Palatine. Best Palatine map and description I've found anywhere.

[desertminky]

Hi,

We are going with 4 children and I am wondering if they need tickets or are considered "free". There appears to be conflicting information on that subject. In some cases it appears only under 6 are free (they are over) and sometimes I read that only EU citizens are free. After having gotten the adults tickets ahead of time to skip the line I would sigh loudly if I had to purchase tickets for the kids in a long line. The day we hit Rome there are 14,000 cruise ship passengers in town. Thank you in advance for your reply.

[sea-explorer]

Hi,

We are going with 4 children and I am wondering if they need tickets or are considered "free". There appears to be conflicting information on that subject. In some cases it appears only under 6 are free (they are over) and sometimes I read that only EU citizens are free. After having gotten the adults tickets ahead of time to skip the line I would sigh loudly if I had to purchase tickets for the kids in a long line. The day we hit Rome there are 14,000 cruise ship passengers in town. Thank you in advance for your reply.

 

I think it is only EU citizens that qualify for the discounted or free tickets as indicated here.

 

http://www.ticketclic.it/gb/HTML/musei/colosseo.cfm

 

When we were there we were asked where we were from when we asked for the discounted tickets. We did have ID on us, but they didn't ask for it, although I had started to open my bag when they asked. (However, I know it wasn't your question, but we had to produce our passports in Greece in order to obtain them.)

[takeavacation]

We did a private tour - just guide, dh and myself.

 

But for those doing it on your own....... right outside the entrance to the coliseum are vendors selling various items...... most of them have this wonderful book (as mentioned before) showing the ruins as they look now and then a clear overlay shows how they looked way back when....

 

This book is really a good value and also makes a great souvenier. I have mine on the bottom shelf of my coffee table along with other I bought of the same design.

 

It will really help when looking at the ruins to make it all come alive for you. If you can.....buy one.

 

Thanks for the info -- do you remember the approx. cost? Thanks!