Rome: Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill Guided Tour
Rome, Italy
+27
- 1 hour 30 minutes to 3 hours (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Exploring the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill on your own can feel overwhelming, especially on a short stay in Rome. This guided experience brings these three landmark sites together in one structured visit, with commentary from a guide to help you understand what you’re seeing as you go. Instead of navigating vast ruins without context, follow a clear route and learn about gladiator games, imperial politics, and how daily Roman life shaped the ancient city.
- Learn more than you would on your own with a guide leading the way
- Gain a historic perspective on Rome as you uncover its unique origin story
- Check off three must-see historic attractions in just a few hours
- For deeper understanding, ask your guide questions as you go
Why Travelers Choose This Tour
Many tours pass by the exterior of the Colosseum, but this one takes you inside for an immersive experience.
What's Included
- Access to the Colosseum, Roman Forum & Palatine Hill
- Guided tour of the Colosseum with an expert licensed guide (Guided tour options only)
- Headsets to hear your guide clearly
- Colosseum Arena Floor access (Arena options only)
- Audio guide on your smartphone (Audio Guide option only)
- Colosseum entrance ticket included (€18 value, or €24 with Arena access)
- Colosseum reservation fee included (€2 value)
- Note: Colosseum fees are as above. The remaining cost of the experience covers other services
- Gratuities
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Largo Gaetana AgnesiL.go Gaetana Agnesi, 00184 Roma RM, Italy
Meet your guide at Largo Gaetana Agnesi, on the little square above the metro line B (blue line) stop "Colosseo". Your guide coordinator will be waiting here wearing a blue City Wonders polo shirt or jacket for easy recognition.
End point
- Palatine HillVia di S. Gregorio, 30, 00186 Roma RM, Italy
Itinerary
1
Colosseum
1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
2
Palatine Hill
1 hour • Admission Ticket Included
3
Roman Forum
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Near public transportation
- No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
- Most travelers can participate
- Please note: All participant names are required at the time of booking in order to enter the Colosseum.
- Every customer on this tour is required to present a valid government issued ID or Passport at the Colosseum, that matches their name on the reservation, or entry will be refused. Name changes are not permitted once the booking is confirmed
- Please note that the itinerary for our tours may differ from the advertised order of destinations. We assure you that any changes made to the tour itinerary are carefully planned and intended to enhance your overall experience
- On this tour, some of the venues or parts of the venue may be subject to last-minute, unpredictable closures. When this occurs, we are happy to offer customers an extended tour in keeping with the advertised total length of the tour
- May experience delays in clearing security checks when entering the venue
- Please note: During periods of hot weather, much of the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill is exposed with limited shade. We recommend bringing a reusable water bottle, wearing comfortable walking shoes, and using appropriate sun protection, including a hat and sunscreen, to ensure a comfortable visit.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 24 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 3 days in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.6
based on 25,774 reviews
Sort by: Most recent
This was a great tour with a terrific guide. Hisam was wonderful. Courteous friendly informative. He answered all of our questions and provided lots of insight and guidance
Giorgio was awesome. He grew up beside the Colosseum and was very knowledgeable. He took time to stop at major landmarks and take questions and seemed eager to educate.
They made the pre-tour process simple and outlined everything needed in advance. We got to skip most of the lines. I took my wife, she loved it.
I would highly reccomend to anyone that needs an English tour guide.
Guide was thorough and knowledgeable. It was worth not having to wait in long lines, and to do the tour instead to save time and have someone explain areas better that trying to do on your own.
This was a great tour, and the tour guide Andy was the best I’ve had in Italy. He explained everything and answered all questions, was easy to understand and really funny!
started with Palatine Hill, then through the Forum, finish with Colesseum. Guide shows pictures of sights as they were in early Roman times. Worth the price just to skip line to Colesseum.
Fabio was great, full of energy, very informative and moved along at a good pace. Colosseum was a great experience and amazing location to visit.
This tour was the absolute perfect experience for these must see sites! Giorgio (George) was our tour guide and he was phenomenal! He was extremely knowledgeable about the area and has been doing these tours for 12 years! He came around before the tour and shook everyone’s hand and got to know us a little! He truly made the tour worth it! He took us to all of the perfect locations for meaningful history accounts and great views for pictures and taking your breath away! You are given a small necklace radio to put on so you can hear Giorgio loud and clear no matter where you are in the pack! I honestly feel like this experience may be underpriced with all of the education, sites, and line cutting you get to do! Lines for every site to get into were all at least 40 minutes long! But we were in each area within 5 minutes! He also stated that you need to book a tour either early morning or afternoon, if you book between 10-1 everything will be packed!
Gabrielle was fantastic, very knowledgeable, and patient with all the stairs! Highly recommend this for all ages as I traveled with a senior.
Definitely take this tour even if you aren’t a first timer. I’ve been to Rome three times and saw and learned more from this tour than I have before. Georgio does a great job!
An Excellent Tour with Ursus!
We had a wonderful experience touring the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill with Ursus. He was an excellent guide and truly made the experience special.
I had originally hoped to see the complete Colosseum experience, including the arena and underground areas, but unfortunately those tickets were not available. At first, I was disappointed because I really wanted to see those areas. However, after spending the day with Ursus, I realized that I had no reason to be disappointed. He brought the history of the Colosseum and ancient Rome to life through his explanations of what happened, why it happened, and the incredible stories behind the places we were seeing.
Ursus was extremely knowledgeable, but what impressed me most was how attentive and caring he was toward everyone in our group. He maintained eye contact, made sure people were following along, and genuinely seemed concerned about making sure everyone was having a good experience.
Considering the limited time available and the enormous amount of history there is to see and understand, Ursus did an excellent job. I honestly don’t think I would have gotten nearly as much out of the Colosseum, Forum, and Palatine Hill without him.
Thank you so much, Ursus, for making our visit to ancient Rome so memorable. You were fantastic, and I would absolutely recommend your tour to anyone visiting Rome!
Great tour for our first full day in Roma. Our tour guide (ugh can’t remember his name but tall, 30ish, black curly/wavy hair) was fantastic, knowledgeable, great storyteller and funny.
If you need a first day orientation to one of Roma iconic sites this is a good start.
Emanuela our guide was AMAZING! Knowledgeable, friendly, and hilarious I cannot say enough good things about her. The tour itself was very informative and guided us through all of the major sites at the Flavian Amphitheater and the surrounding area.
This was the worst tour ive ever had booking through Viator. They outsourced the tour through an unreliable tour company called City Wonders who then outsourced their tour guide to a free lancer who didnt bother to show. Viator used to actually vet and make sure tour guides were knowledgeable. Now its just a money.
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Dear Taylor_H,
We sincerely apologize for your disappointment and are sorry to hear about your experience. We are a reputable company operating tours every day in several cities, and we take the organization of our tours seriously.
If you booked a tour operated by us, your booking confirmation should have included clear information about the meeting point, as well as our contact details should you need assistance. Our booking information also clearly states that late arrivals cannot be accommodated and that missed tours are non-refundable.
We understand your frustration, but we would like to clarify that the meeting and contact information is provided in advance to help ensure guests can arrive at the correct location on time.
It was great! We were there in October and we did have a few drizzles, so bring a rain jacket or umbrella.
Content of the tour was great. However the tour guide was incredibly pushy and kept telling us to speed up and push past others. Im not interested in how good looking actors are either. Had to leave the tour 25 minutes early. Sent a message to the company afterwards but the response was incredibly rude and the tour guide tried to gas light me. Customer service not at all good from this guide. Did two tours with this company. One was excellent and one was poor. It all comes down to the tour guide. The content is world class but the guide can make or break an experience.
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Dear Michael,
Thank you for your honest feedback. We’re glad you enjoyed the tour content, but we’re sorry to hear that the guide’s approach and our response afterwards left you disappointed.
We take your comments seriously and will share them with the team. We’re committed to ensuring every guest receives the high standard we aim for.
We really enjoyed our tour. Our tour guide, Alba, was amazing. Very knowledgeable and made the tour very interesting, she was friendly and we couldn’t have asked for a better guide. We were slightly disappointed that we did not get to see more of the colosseum. The “guided tour” part of the colosseum was just to the arena floor and no other area so that part of the description is slightly misleading. Alba advised we would need an entirely separate ticket to see any other level of the colosseum. Regardless it was still an incredible experience and the Roman Forum was breathtaking.
Our guide, Francesca, was very engaging and knowledgeable about the history of the city. She answered any questions and made sure you understood what she was saying. The plus for me was the devices we used for listening to the tour. While they were the older units, I could actually hear her at all times unlike a similar tour I took the day before that kept cutting in and out.
The tour guide was friendly, flexible and very knowledgable. Very thorough, enjoyable experience and just the right amount if time.
Meeting point was easy to find. Guide was nice. A lot of info about Colosseum. Wish we had more time at Roman Forum.
Had a great experience on the tour, our guide Alba did a great job explaining the history of the Colosseum during our guided tour. She answered questions and thoroughly provided information as we made our way through the site. Highly recommend!
Doing the tour with viator was a seamless. I had an amazing tour guide Maria-Luisa who was so informative and I learned so
much, it was an unforgettable experience.
A unique experience, and incredibly touching as well! Our guide Lucia was super friendly, funny, and extremely knowledgeable! Seeing the Sistine Chapel feels like a once in a lifetime experience - an absolute must when visiting Rome! The tour was definitely worth the expense and as St Peter’s Basilica was at the end of the tour we had loads of free time to wander and explore how we wanted. The queues were extremely long and would’ve taken hours to get through - this tour where we skipped the queues was a must in my opinion!
Hisam was terrific! He was so knowledgeable and explained things so well. It really was quite the experience!
Carlo was amazing in the tour, he is incredibly knowledgeable and presented so many interesting facts while showing us everything. Very smooth meeting the folks from the tour and getting our tickets. I’ve done multiple of these type of tours now and this is definitely one of the best ones.
It’s a very complete and comprehensive archeological and historical tour. Carlo was a great tour guide with so much knowledge!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Our tour guide was awesome! Very knowledgeable, friendly, and made the Colosseum experience even more enjoyable. Highly recommend this tour!
I don’t think our negative experiwnce had anything to do with our guide…. First we didn’t go in the order that the itinerary said…. We did the opposite.. we practically ran through palatine hill and forum to meet some entry time at colosseum…. Just really disappointed in the whole experience
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Dear Todd_A,
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We’re truly sorry to hear that the tour did not meet your expectations and that you came away disappointed with the experience.
While the itinerary is normally presented in a particular order, there are occasions when, due to timed entry slots and operational requirements at the Colosseum, the tour may need to be operated in reverse. We understand, however, that this can affect the flow of the experience, particularly when there is a feeling of being rushed through the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill in order to meet an entry time.
We’re pleased to hear that you did not feel the experience was a reflection of your guide, but we sincerely regret that the overall organisation and pace of the tour fell short of what you expected.
Your feedback is very important to us, and we will certainly take it on board as we continue to review how we manage the itinerary and timing. We apologise again that we did not provide the experience you were hoping for.
Andy was an awesome guide. Knowledgeable and funny. Even my 10 year old enjoyed himself. Would do again!
Very informative guide friendly and efficient very obliging always checking in on the group as different people different ages and mobility amazing tour helped what would have been very daunting without help
Tour had good pace, lot of interesting facts and history talk but evenly distribute buried throughout the whole length. Lot of walking, don’t do other tours before or after it. Haitham was an amazing guide, his tour was engaging and he wasn’t making it boring at any point.
Member Pricing
From
$36.88
per personWas $38.82(-5%)
up to 3 days in advance
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