Rome: Colosseum with Arena Floor, Forum and Palatine Guided Tour
Rome, Italy
+20
- 2 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Knowing where to start when visiting Rome's archaeological sites can be daunting, especially for first-time visitors. This group tour handles the planning, with an itinerary that includes the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. Step onto the amphitheater's restricted Arena Floor, something the majority of travelers aren't able to access. Gain deeper insights through your guide's commentary, which goes beyond what you'll find on the information panels.
- Choose from a variety of start times to suit your schedule
- Don't miss a word with an included audio headset
- Learn more than you could if touring these sites on your own
- Upgrade to a small-group tour for a more personalized experience
Why Travelers Choose This Tour
This tour gets you exclusive access to the arena floor, restricted to most visitors.
What's Included
- Official Professional Guide
- Audio Equipment to Hear the Guide
- Entrance to Colosseum, Roman Forum & Palatine Hill
- Colosseum entrance ticket with arena access (valued at €24 per person)
- Colosseum reservation fee (valued at €2 per person)
- Note: Colosseum fees are as above. The remaining cost of the experience covers other services
- Gratuities
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Transportation to/from attractions
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Basilica of Saints Cosmas and DamianVia dei Fori Imperiali, 1, 00186 Roma RM, Italy
The meeting point is in the square in front of the Santi Cosma and Damiano Basilica, in Via dei Fori Imperiali 1 (halfway, near the Roman Forum entrance). Our staff will be wearing a light blue vest with our logos on. Please arrive 15 minutes early—late arrivals cannot join the tour.
End point
- ColosseumP.za del Colosseo, 1, 00184 Roma RM, Italy
Itinerary
Your tour begins with a meeting at the local tour office near the Colosseum; then walk to the special entrance reserved for this tour.
Maximize your time at the Colosseum as you enter the amphitheater directly onto the Arena Floor, where gladiators once engaged in bloody fights. Visit the ring overlooking the underground sections of the Colosseum, and learn about its history from your guide, who has a degree in either art history or archaeology. Listen to anecdotes about the glory days of the arena and the lives of the emperors and senators of the time.
Next, leave the Colosseum and walk to Palatine Hill, one of the Seven Hills of Rome, where emperors and other wealthy residents lived. Take in views of the Roman Forum and Circus Maximus, then walk down the hill to explore the ruins of the forum, where your guide shares more stories and uses books and 3D pictures to show you how the site looked in Ancient Rome.
Your tour ends with a return to your starting point
Maximize your time at the Colosseum as you enter the amphitheater directly onto the Arena Floor, where gladiators once engaged in bloody fights. Visit the ring overlooking the underground sections of the Colosseum, and learn about its history from your guide, who has a degree in either art history or archaeology. Listen to anecdotes about the glory days of the arena and the lives of the emperors and senators of the time.
Next, leave the Colosseum and walk to Palatine Hill, one of the Seven Hills of Rome, where emperors and other wealthy residents lived. Take in views of the Roman Forum and Circus Maximus, then walk down the hill to explore the ruins of the forum, where your guide shares more stories and uses books and 3D pictures to show you how the site looked in Ancient Rome.
Your tour ends with a return to your starting point
1
Roman Forum
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
2
Palatine Hill
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
3
Colosseum
1 hour • Admission Ticket Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Near public transportation
- Most travelers can participate
- Please note that names provided must exactly match IDs/passports for all participants (including children), or the Colosseum will deny entry. Bring valid ID for everyone—no nicknames, missing, or incorrect names/last names allowed.
- For minors, the age must be 17 or younger on the day of the activity
- The entrance tickets to the Colosseum cannot be changed or refunded
- Each traveler must show a valid ID matching the booking name for entry. Without ID, entry is not guaranteed
- Please show up at least 15 minutes before to do the check in
- Meeting time is subject to change; if this occurs, you will receive a call or message from the activity provider. Please provide your correct phone number and country code
- Late arrivals or no shows will not be refunded
- In July and August due to the heat the duration of the visit is 2 hours
- All visitors must pass through a metal detector to enter the Colosseum. No exceptions
- Not Allowed: Big backpacks, pets, weapons, sharp items, large bags, alcohol, drugs, sprays, glass.
- By purchasing this tour, you agree to our Terms and Conditions
- If you select the semi-private option, our tours generally include up to 12 guests per guide for a more personal experience. From time to time, we may adjust the group size to accommodate families or friends traveling together, and some tours may also run with fewer participants. This flexible approach allows us to offer the best experience possible.
- The Ancient Rome tour involves Steps and a lot of walking on un-even path especially in the Roman Forum . We highly suggest flat confortable shoes. This tour is not suitable for any person with recent surgeries, with disabilities and for people in wheelchairs due to the street level , up street level and steps.
- 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
4.3
based on 6,628 reviews
Sort by: Most recent
Great tour, guide was very knowledgeable. She showed pictures and took us to great viewpoints with cool anecdotal details
Be prepared for an experience of a lifetime from a guide with more information than most university professors. There are a few physical requirements for walking the entire tour, heat during the summer, uneven footing throughout and stairs plus loud crowd noise. These are minor inconveniences for the experience but should be considered.
DO NOT MISS THE OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME, JUST DO IT !
If you are lucky enough to have Georgia as a guide it is a double bonus!
Interesting and enlightening tour. Plethora of information. Lovely and funny tour guide. Made the long tour enjoyable
Wear comfortable shoes, there’s lots of walking on uneven paths.
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Incredibly well organised, constantly updating information and prompt responses when needed, would definitely advise anyone to book through yourself, to feel relaxed in your trips, and to get the very best experience possible.
Really informative. We enjoyed this very much!! Marcea gave us a really great tour. Never felt rushed through.
This is a totally worthwhile tour. The guide Paula was great! She’s exceedingly knowledgeable and a great story teller! The Colosseum, the Hill and surrounding are so fascinating! Be warned, if any walking difficulties, this can be a challenge! .
Arianna was so great! She was so knowledgeable and dispensed that knowledge with a constant smile. I highly recommend this tour!
The Guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. He was able to point out many details about the Colosseum that we would’ve never known.
There are no words to describe the massiveness and history of the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill. Our tour guide, Paola, was extremely friendly, knowledgeable and articulate. Her command of the history of these ruins was quite impressive. A beautiful afternoon and a highly recommended experience.
The whole tour was wonderful! Our guide was so knowledgeable, and passionate about Roman history. Plus, skipping the line was so worth it!
Favi (sp?) led an outstanding tour of the Colosseum, Forum, arena floor, and Palatine Hill — knowledgeable, patient, and clearly passionate about history. Our first stop was walking through the stadium entrance onto the arena floor — very dramatic, goosebump-inducing, as if you yourself were a gladiator and you could hear the stadium roar. Favi wove in rich historical context at every stop, sprinkled in current Roman anecdotes where appropriate, and thoughtfully guided us to shade before diving into each site's story, which made a big difference starting just after 3pm in the heat. Honestly, without a guide like Favi, it's just a pile of ancient rocks — she brought it all to life. Highly recommend if you want a smart, fair, and genuinely engaging tour of these sites. She was the best tour guide I had across all guided tours I took on this Italy trip. Highly recommend!
We weren’t given good directions. Was there 20 minutes before the check in time and ended up missing tour by 3 minutes. The girl on the phone was helpful but still missed tour. Very upsetting and disappointing.
We did not actually go to the first or second floors of the colosseum, only the arena floor and then back out. That was disappointing bc we chose this tour so we could do arena AND other floors. The tour pace was a little slow for us. Felt like a lot of standing/waiting around.
our guide was great . she had an large personality, which brought everything to life. the Colosseum and forum were amazing. obviously you are going to be into your history if you are on this tour,and it doesn't disappoint.
Headsets were static continuously and it was very difficult to hear. Guide did not keep track of
Tour group and it was very easy to get separated from the group.
Very informative and entertaining. Guide (Paula?) was very well prepared and concerned about our understanding and well being (very hot!)
Beautiful experience and our tour guide was very knowledgeable. Colosseum visit was only 10 minutes, would have liked to spend a little more time in there.
We had a wonderful Colosseum tour! Our tour guide was fantastic and provided so much interesting history and information throughout the experience. She was also very thoughtful about the heat and made sure to keep us in the shade during our stops. Her knowledge and consideration made the tour even more enjoyable. Highly recommend!
Great tour! Guide was friendly, funny and very accommodating. Would recommend Flavia! I learned a lot about the history of Rome
We had Georgia as our tour guide for the three sites and she was perfect, very funny, so knowledgeable and kind. We were visiting in 38° heat and she was able to find us shaded spots away from the busy crowds in order to give us information. It was such an immersive atmosphere being in the sites and Georgia’s stories were really brought to life via her usage of printed photos. The tour lasted around 3.5 hours but it absolutely flew by with the magic of Georgia’s storytelling and knowledge. A brilliant trip and would highly recommend, and thank you again to Georgia for making it so fantastic.
We had an absolutely wonderful experience exploring the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and Roman Forum with our amazing tour guide, Paola.
Paola was incredibly knowledgeable, engaging, and passionate about Rome’s history. She shared fascinating stories and historical details throughout the tour, making the ancient ruins come alive and helping us truly imagine what life was like in ancient Rome. Her explanations were easy to follow, interesting, and kept both adults and kids engaged.
The tour was very well organized, and Paola was patient, friendly, and happy to answer all of our questions. Her passion and enthusiasm made the experience so much more meaningful and memorable.
We are truly grateful to Paola for making our visit to the Colosseum and ancient Rome such a special experience. We highly recommend this tour and especially Paola as a guide
Group too large for 1 guide. Waited 30+ minutes (standing) before tour started. Guide late getting going. Group around 25 persons of different walking levels. Guide needed to accommodate 2 persons on elevator which left rest of group waiting 15 minutes. For return-several members left as tired of waiting. Suggestion would be to indicate different walking levels, less people per group, decent waiting area.
We really appreciated Georgia, our guide, who was knowledgeable and entertaining. She made sure to keep everyone hydrated and shaded whenever possible in a very hot day. It was amazing to walk onto the Coliseum arena and in the forum ruins.
Very informative. Great experience. Covered so much history about Ancient Rome and the colosseum. Was well worth it.
Tour was great. We were presented with everything we were promised. The guide was very lacklustre which was disappointing. Historical tours are always better when the guide is enthusiastic with what they are touring. This felt a bit like being on a class trip with a history teacher that had gone over the content a million times. Maybe it was the heat or the technical issues that the group had. Either way, it was fine but could have been so much better.
This is an awful company for families. 1) the agency said we must have an infant ticket to enter the Colosseum. They told us we needed to pay another $160 because they cannot include our 6-month old on the tour. I got a last-minute ticket for our infant for $86. The tour then said they do not need the infant ticket. 2) At the Colosseum, the tour guide left us behind because we had to carry a stroller. The tour guide did not bother to wait for us. 3) i called the tour operator and asked her to connect us with the tour guide. She said she could not give my nuumber to the guide, cannot give the guide’a number to me, ans cannot inform the guide that we were waiting. We were left at the Coloseum!
Again If you have a family with elderly or amall children, you are in with this company for a nightmare. Be Ware!!!
Very good experience. After a bit of confusion in relation to start time, the tour ran very well and was interesting
It was a great experience saw so much. I’m really sorry I can’t remember the tour guide tonight but he was amazing Antonio perhaps.??
We recovered the Colosseum and the Palestine and forum which was very informative
It was ok. Lots of vague history. We had no issues with the walking but If you are looking for a short tour this is not for you. A lot of walking. Forum was better than the Coloseum had little info and little history. It was an ok tour
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