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Visiting the Colosseum in Rome can be a rewarding but daunting experience, especially during the busy season. Until you do it yourself, it’s really hard to know what to expect!
During our recent trip to Italy, we had an amazing opportunity to visit this world-famous structure. While it was an incredible experience, we learned a number of things on the trip we wish we had known before going. I thought it might be helpful to share these lessons learned and provide some useful tips so your visit to the Colosseum is as enjoyable as possible.
What We Learned Visiting The Colosseum In Rome
Today, I want to outline some important lessons we learned from visiting the Colosseum (or “Colosseo” in Italian) in Rome, Italy. Hopefully, these will prepare you for your trip and give you helpful insight into how to plan your day and choose a tour of this historic place. Many may seem basic, but until you are actually there and navigating this experience yourself, it’s hard to envision exactly how a Colossum visit works!
I will go through them all in detail, but some of the important things we learned about visiting the Colosseum include:
- Plan your transportation ahead of time
- The Roman Forum is next to the Colosseum
- Colosseum tickets include the Roman Forum
- Guided tours help maximize the experience
- The Colosseum floor & underground cost extra
- Visiting the Colosseum is a full-day trip
- In the summer, start your tour early
- Pay attention to your tour’s meeting point
- It will likely be crowded at The Colosseum
- There is a place to eat in the Roman Forum
#1 Plan Your Transportation Ahead Of Time
To visit the Colosseum, you’ll need to find transportation to your designated tour meeting site. There are many ways to get around in Rome, but the sheer number of options can be confusing. Let me cover the choices.
Romes Public Transportation
The public transportation system in Rome is extensive and comprises three different modes: Metro, Bus, and Tram. The metro is a subway system. The bus is a standard city bus line. The tram is an electric bus that moves along rails in the street. Pretty much all of the city can be reached via the three modes. But, I didn’t find it as transit-friendly as other large cities unless you like taking buses.
Rome Public Transportation Tickets
Tickets for the metro/subway, tram, and bus are interchangeable. You can buy them at one of the stations, at news kiosks, or at cigarette and souvenir stores located along most city streets. To see the various public transport lines, routes, and stops, we found it very helpful to use an app like Apple Maps, Google Maps, Roma Bus, or Moovit.
Rome Public Transportation Colosseum Stops
There are several ways to get to the Colosseum using public transportation.
Metro: The “Colosseo” stop is located on the “B” line
Bus: Use bus #51, 87, 75, 117, or 118 to get to the Colosseum stop
Tram: Use tram #3 coming from Trastevere/Ostiense direction
Uber Or Walking To The Colosseum
The morning of our Colosseum tour was honestly stressful. We did it on our first full day in Rome, and while we are seasoned travelers, we had too many questions about the bus lines, the ticketing process, and the frequency of stops. The tram that runs from the Trastevere area doesn’t really get you super close to the Colosseum, either.
We checked Uber, but we often found it was in surge pricing and would have cost at least $60 from our Trastevere rental apartment. Our experience in Rome was that drivers frequently canceled the ride after several minutes of waiting, so it was just too unreliable and expensive to use Uber.
So we decided at the last minute to walk the 1.6 miles from our AirBnb in the Trastavere neighborhood to the Colosseum. On the way there, we walked by several cool sites, like the Circus Maximus, but it definitely made for a tiring start to what would be a long day.
The address of the Colosseum is: Piazza del Colosseo, 1, 00184 Roma RM, Italy
#2 The Roman Forum Is Next To The Colosseum
The Colosseum is located in the heart of Rome, a short walk or ride from the most popular tourist neighborhoods, such as Centro Storico, Piazza di Spagna, Prati, Monti, and Trastevere.
The Colosseo is located next to two other famous places: the Arch of Constantine and the Roman Forum. The Arch of Constantine is a beautiful, ornately carved Roman victory arch located just southwest of the Colosseum grounds. The Roman Forum is a large archeological park located directly adjacent to the Colosseum to the west. The Roman Forum includes the Imperial Fora and Palatine Hill.
#3 Colosseum Tickets Include The Roman Forum
Access to the Roman Forum (including the Imperial Fora and Palatine) is automatically included with any Colosseum ticket. There is no way to buy a ticket to visit only one or the other site. All the guided tour options include visiting the Colosseum and Roman Forum together. Even the official Colosseum ticket office bundles the two archeological sites.
However, you can buy a ticket to just the Roman Forum that does not include the Colosseum.
But we learned you aren’t required, per se, to visit the Roman Forum with your Colosseum ticket. Our tour guide told us it was fine to leave the tour after the Colosseum if we felt like it. Because the tickets are good for the day, you could theoretically leave the tour after the Colosseum, do your own thing (like get lunch), and then visit the Roman Forum on your own in the afternoon. Only the Colosseum portion of the ticket requires a timed entry.
We really enjoyed walking around the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill; however, by the time we got there for the last part of our guided tour, we were hot, hungry, and tired! We knew to expect this, but it was just a lot to handle.
#4 Colosseum Guided Tours Help Maximize The Experience
When you are planning to visit the Colosseum, the first thing you should do is decide what type of tour you want to take:
- a guided tour
- an audio-only guided tour
- a tour on your own
Taking a Colosseum Guided Tour
When visiting the Colosseum, we highly recommend taking a Colosseum guided tour. The vast majority of first-time visitors elect for the guided tour route. A guided tour is helpful for two reasons. First, having a tour guide helps facilitate navigating the often long lines and overwhelming logistics of entry points and security checkpoints (inside and outside the structure). Secondly, a guide will provide a lot of useful background, history, context, and facts regarding the Colosseum and the ancient Roman civilization.
You have the option of booking regular group tours with approximately 20+ people, a small group tour, or a private tour. The price will go up accordingly. However, if you can swing the cost, a private tour is the most desirable. We did the group tour below.
Colosseum Audio-Only Tours
There are also app-based audio-only tours of the Colosseum. These may be great if you are comfortable independently navigating the Colosseum’s entries and checkpoints and want to avoid following a guide or being part of a group. You aren’t tied to a structured schedule. You can organize your day as you prefer and even see the Roman Forum before going to the Colosseum, or vice versa.
The Colosseum’s official website also offers a MyColosseum app with audio guides for free.
Visiting The Colosseum Without A Tour
If you choose to visit the Colosseum on your own without a guided tour, you can purchase tickets at the Colosseum’s Official Website.
They offer two main ticket options:
Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Ticket: This does not include the Colosseum floor or underground. Valid for one day.
Full Experience Ticket: This includes the Colosseum floor and underground. Valid for two days.
I like the idea of the 2-day ticket so that you can truly explore and savor the Colosseum on the first day and the Roman Forum on the second.
#5 Access To The Colosseum Floor and Underground Cost Extra
Before visiting the Colosseum, you’ll want to research exactly what portions of the structure you most want to see. As you see in the section above, the Colosseum floor and underground areas are not part of the basic Colosseum ticket.
The general admission ticket and standard tours will take you to the first (ground floor) and second floor (upper story) of the building. If you want to go down onto the half-finished “floor” of the Colosseum and feel like a gladiator, you’ll need to purchase a tour that includes the floor option.
Another option is to visit the “underground,” which takes you into the honeycomb of halls and rooms beneath the floor of the Colosseum. The Colosseum underground tickets are the most expensive.
When we visited the Colosseum, we booked a tour with the floor option. We enjoyed getting fantastic pictures of the family while marveling at the size and scale of the building. It is humbling to stand where so many gladiators fought and died amidst the cheering crowds of antiquity’s mightiest empire.
Many of the tour options offer the choice of ticket. Once you enter a date, it will often show the special access tickets. See the tour below for an example. When you enter dates and click Check Availability, it shows three types of tickets. These include the regular group tour, a small group tour, and a tour with arena floor access.
#6 Visiting The Colosseum Is A Full-Day Trip
We found out that visiting the Colosseum is not for the faint of heart! While most Colosseum tours list their duration as 2.5-3 hours, the truth is that the tours are much longer. The listed time does not include the time it takes you to find the tour meeting point, get checked in, activate earphones, walk to the Colusseum, wait in line, and go through security.
Remember that at the end of most tours, you will be standing somewhere on the west side of the Roman Forum and need to find a way to eat, use a restroom, and catch an Uber home.
For us, visiting the Colosseum and Roman Forum took about 6 hours in total. While the tour itself may last only half a day, your family will likely be exhausted from the walking, the stress of large crowds, exposure to weather, and the general hustle required to get everywhere. We wanted to stay longer, but we were wiped out during that June heat wave! So, I recommend not scheduling another tour or timed activity for the same day as your Colosseum tour.
Most Colosseum tickets are good for one day (24 hours) from the time your ticket time starts. So, after your official tour ends, you will still have time to tour the Roman Forum if you choose. Keep in mind that during the summer, the Roman Forum closes at 7:15 p.m.
#7 In the Summer, Start Your Colosseum Tour Early
Visiting the Colosseum and the Roman Forum will take numerous hours, so decide what’s the best starting time for your group. The Colosseum opens at 8.30 a.m. and closes one hour before sunset.
Most tours offer starting times between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. daily. Of course, certain time slots are more popular than others, so you may not see every time slot available for a given day. You must check availability and book your tour as early as possible to secure your desired time.
The good news is that there are so many great Colosseum tours with great reviews and top ratings. You may have to browse various options to find the time and date that work for you!
Click here to browse top-rated Colosseum Tours on Get Your Guide!
Morning Start Time
Morning start times require you to get up early, but also mean some of your tour duration will likely be cooler and more enjoyable. In the summer the temperature can exceed 85 degrees in Rome. It was 94 degrees when we were there in early June!
You will also be doing a fair amount of walking (easily over 10,000 steps) outdoors. Lines may also be a bit shorter earlier in the morning, but most tours allow for “skip the line” access, which means you wait in different lines than general admission ticket holders.
Afternoon Start Times
Afternoon start times mean you have more time in the morning to get up, eat, and get to the Colosseum. However, you’ll be walking in the heat of the day and navigating large crowds that overlap between morning and afternoon tours. Afternoons may have slightly better access to Uber availability, as you aren’t competing against the morning rush of tourists calling for rides.
#8 Pay Attention To Your Colosseum Tour’s Meeting Point
When booking the tour be sure to pay attention to the location of where you need to meet your tour guide. The meeting point and a map are listed at the bottom of the tour description on sites like Get Your Guide and Viator.
Some tour meeting points are at the base of the Arch of Constantine, just to the southwest of the Colosseum. Other popular meeting points are just to the north of the Colosseum along a street, business, or in a park. But it could be anywhere. Most tour instructions will say something like, “Look for the purple flag that says XYZ Tours” or something similar. We found the whole area was very congested and our meeting point changed at the last minute, making this much more stressful than we anticipated!
#9 The Colosseum May Be Very Crowded
Our trip to Rome was in early June, so we visited the Colosseum during peak times. It was very crowded, but I hear that it’s even busier in July when European schools are out as well!
I was expecting the crowds. We’ve visited places like the Acropolis in Greece and The Louvre in Paris, but it truly was a sea of people and congested everywhere we went. I’m sure other times of the year are more relaxed, but you need to be prepared.
During the entire experience, you will need to be on your “A Game” to locate your meeting point, follow your guide, and stay attentive to what’s going on around you. We stopped to fill up our water bottles during our tour and lost our tour guide and group. Because of the crowd, it wasn’t easy to catch up, and we missed out on the part of the tour.
Keep your kids close and know where your family and group are at all times. I honestly recommend AirTag bracelets for your children—read all about them here!
#10 There Is A Place To Eat In The Roman Forum
It was well after lunchtime when we ended our guided tour. We were on the west side of the Roman Forum. At this point, everyone was really hungry and exhausted from a wonderful but tiring four hours of walking. We wanted to keep going, but first, we needed to fuel up. We asked around and searched the internet, and everyone said there wasn’t a place to eat in the Roman Forum. But we found out that wasn’t true!
There is a cafe located inside the Roman Forum where you can buy pastries, sandwiches, snacks, coffee, ice cream, treats, and drinks. It was an absolute lifesaver for us! We took a break there, ate, refilled our water bottles, recharged, and then spent another hour looking around the Forum and Palatine Hill.
It’s located right where the red pin is on the below map! And in the photo below that, it’s straight up the hill to the left of the church.
Lessons From Visiting The Colosseum
Visiting the Colosseum and Roman Forum is a true bucket list experience. It’s the ultimate destination for history lovers interested in exploring the vast arc of the once-mighty Roman Empire. The Colosseum stands as a testament to humankind’s architectural and artisanal mastery.
You absolutely can’t visit Rome and skip the Colosseum! It is an experience well worth the planning and time required. We hope you get a chance to visit the Colosseum and see this iconic place, and we hope the things we learned will help you make the most of your experience!
Click here for more fun things to do on your trip to Rome!
Other Europe Travel Blogs You May Enjoy
If you enjoyed this post, you’ll love our other family travel content! It’s full of firsthand experiences and valuable travel tips. You can browse all of my travel blog posts, but here are a few that you may enjoy reading!
- The Incredible Cap d’Antibes Hike
- Visiting The Pantheon
- Bruges Canal Cruises
- St. Peter’s Basilica Tours
- How We Find Flight Deals
- Top Paris Family Tours
PIN: Visiting the Colosseum in Rome, Italy
