Colosseum Arena Floor Guided Tour, Roman Forum & Palatine hill
Rome, Italy
- 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
Overview
Don't miss your chance to see one of the world's iconic monuments, the Colosseum, up close. This experience grants you admission to the Colosseum and access to the often-restricted arena floor, first, and second levels, plus the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. An included e-book or printed version provides context on the ancient ruins to enhance your experience.
- Explore the Colosseum at your own pace with an e-book
- Learn about ancient Rome and the monuments from the e-book
- See the Colosseum arena floor—not always open to the public
- Visit the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill at your own pace
What's Included
- Access to the Colosseum with Arena floor & 1st and 2nd floor
- Roman Forum and Palatine Hill visit (valid 2 days)
- Electronic or printed guidebook (if option Selected)
- Colosseum entrance ticket with arena access (valued at €24 per person)
- Audioguide Apps for Smartphone users (if option Selected)
- Live Guided tour (if option selected)
- Note: Colosseum fees are as above. The remaining cost of the experience covers other services
- Access to the Underground level
- Access to the Colosseum's 4th and 5th floors
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- P.za del Colosseo, 21, 00184 Roma RM, Italy
near the 'M' Metro sign on the upper level, close to Caffe Roma. Just look for the Discover Rome Tours staff, and you’ll easily spot us there!
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
1
Colosseum
1 hour • Admission Ticket Included
2
Roman Forum
1 hour • Admission Ticket Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Near public transportation
- Infants must sit on laps
- Infant seats available
- Most travelers can participate
- Due to the Jubilee, some monuments may be under restoration. Please pay attention to any messages we may send regarding potential changes.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 49 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
This experience is non-refundable and cannot be changed for any reason. If you cancel or ask for an amendment, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.0
based on 76 reviews
Yu_Z, Apr 2026
Overall, this tour was disappointing and did not match what was advertised.
It was difficult to find the guide at the meeting point, and tickets were only provided on arrival. This made it impossible to download the required audio app due to lack of Wi-Fi—something that could have been avoided if tickets were sent in advance.
Most importantly, the listing stated that arena floor access was included, but we were given basic entry tickets with no arena access. This felt misleading.
I would not recommend this tour unless these issues are addressed.
Response from Host, Apr 2026
Dear Yu_Z,
Thank you for your feedback. I want to address each of your points honestly.
1. Arena Floor access (our mistake)
You are correct — your booking was for the Colosseum Arena Floor tour, but we provided basic entry tickets without arena access. This was our error, and I sincerely apologize. We have already processed a refund for the price difference between the two ticket types. Please allow 3–5 business days for it to appear on your statement.
2. Audio app instructions
We sent you the tickets and clear instructions on how to download the required audio app the day before your visit. The option you booked was for tickets + audio guide app. Unfortunately, you did not download the app in advance. Without Wi-Fi at the meeting point, the download was no longer possible — but this could have been avoided if the app had been downloaded beforehand as instructed.
3. Meeting point
Our meeting point is clearly described, and we are proud that over 300 people meet us there daily without any issues. We do not believe the meeting point itself was the problem.
Once again, we take full responsibility for the arena ticket error. However, the audio guide issue was clearly communicated in advance.
Please email us at discoverrometours@gmail.com with your booking reference if you have not received your partial refund.
Sincerely,
Discover Rome Tours Team
Louise_S, Oct 2025
The actual experience was great however the Viatour process was terrible. Booked for 10.30am - received an email saying both go to the meeting spot and also not to worry about going to the meeting spot. Also the email said we could attend 24 hrs either side of the booking which isn’t right. Tickets weren’t the tickets so had to locate the meeting spot and the very helpful guy from the actual company has to assist us get the tickets which were changed to 11.30. It was a complete nightmare.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Dear Louise,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and please accept our sincerest apologies for the significant confusion and frustration you experienced before your tour. We understand why this felt like a "complete nightmare," and we are very sorry for the stress this caused.
We are glad our onsite team could assist you and that you ultimately enjoyed the Arena Floor experience.
To clarify for future guests, the Colosseum entry requires a specific, pre-booked time slot. The 24-hour flexible access applies only to the adjacent Roman Forum and Palatine Hill archaeological site, which can be visited the following day. We are sorry if this distinction was not as clear as it could have been in the communications you received.
We truly appreciate you choosing to explore this history with us and hope to provide you with a seamless experience from start to finish in the future.
Sincerely,
Discover Rome Team
Adam_S, Sep 2025
While the colloseum itself was nice, we did not get what we booked, including the entry time. They tried to "upgrade" us which meant removing floor access....when we declined they grew tired of us. Not a great experience with the tour vendor. Viator itself is great, but this one did not meet the proper standards.
Response from Host, Sep 2025
Dear Adam_S,
Thank you for your feedback, and please accept our sincerest apologies for the significant inconvenience you experienced with your booking. We have looked into your case to understand what went wrong.
A technical error in our booking management system incorrectly confirmed your preferred 3:00 PM entry time for the Arena Floor access. This was our error, and we take full responsibility for this mistake.
The product you booked is a self-guided visit with app-based audio guide, which includes pre-reserved timed entry tickets for the Arena Floor, Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. Upon realizing the system error, our on-site staff immediately offered you the next available entry slot at 5:00 PM to ensure you still received all the access you paid for. This later time slot requires starting at the Roman Forum to align with the Colosseum's entry time, but includes the exact same comprehensive self-guided experience.
We deeply regret that the communication from our team during this stressful situation felt dismissive and impatient. Providing clear and patient support is our duty, especially when resolving errors that are our fault. We are addressing this internally with our staff.
We are reviewing our booking procedures to prevent this technical issue from recurring. We understand why this disrupted your plans and thank you for bringing it to our attention.
Sincerely,
The Discover Rome Tours Management
Jennifer_S, Jun 2025
I bought this thinking I had read it was part guided tour through the Colleseum and then you were on your own to walk Palatine Hill & the forum. Instead it was just us walking ourselves through everywhere. We met up with the "guides" very easy to find them, they showed me the email where my tickets came attached as a PDF then told me to use those to get scanned into the Colleseum. I have no idea if they were just tickets in my email why we needed to walk to meet up with these people. Walking the forum, the Arena all the areas we had access to was amazing...just disappointed it wasn't guided..I would have just gotten regular tickets through the official Colleseum site.
Response from Host, Jun 2025
Dear Jennifer,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We’re happy to hear you enjoyed the access to the Arena Floor, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill — they are truly spectacular.
We would like to clarify that the option you selected includes a digital booklet with audio guide for a self-guided experience, as clearly indicated in the product description. The staff you met assisted with ticketing and entry but did not provide a live guided tour.
We strive to make all product details transparent so guests can choose the experience that best suits their preferences. We appreciate your feedback as it helps us ensure clarity for future visitors.
Thank you again, and we hope to welcome you on one of our live guided tours in the future.
Best regards,
Discover Rome Tours Team
Kasey_H, May 2025
Do not book with this group. They do not honor the time selected when you purchase the ticket and the written “guide” information provided is a joke. I specifically booked a 10:30 ticket for the colosseum with other plans later in the day. They booked me for a later timeslot with no communication and then refused to refund me when I couldn’t make the time work due to other activities I was committed to. The address they give for you to go to with questions in person is fake and they refused to respond to me via the WhatsApp number they sent the tickets through when I asked them to book me at the correct time. I had to go through the Viator support to get any sort of communication with them and even then they did not respond until well after my time slot.
Response from Host, May 2025
Dear Kasey,
Thank you for your feedback. We’re truly sorry to hear that your experience did not meet expectations.
We would like to clarify that your booking included access to both the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. The entry time for the Roman Forum was scheduled for 10:30 AM, as requested, and the Colosseum entry followed at 11:30 AM. These staggered times are in line with how the site operates and are communicated in the ticket details.
Our team is present at the meeting point daily from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM, and we successfully welcome over 200 guests from the same location every day. We're unsure why there was difficulty locating us, but we can confirm the address provided is accurate and used consistently without issue.
Regarding your concerns, we did process a 50% refund after you informed us you would not be visiting the Roman Forum. While we aim to accommodate all guests to the best of our ability, last-minute schedule changes can be challenging due to strict time slots regulated by the site.
We appreciate you sharing your experience, and we will continue improving our service and communication. If you have any further concerns, please feel free to contact us directly at [discoverrometours@gmail.com].
Warm regards,
Descover Rome Tours Team
Barbara_S, Jun 2023
Group was so large it was difficult to stay together. Difficult to hear guide. Audio equipment was full of static. Tour guide told racists jokes. Only positive was that we didn’t have to stand in line for tickets.
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Dear Barbara,
Thank you for sharing your feedback. We are sincerely sorry to hear that your experience did not meet your expectations. We understand how difficult it can be to follow a large group, and we apologize for the issues with the audio equipment and communication. We take the quality of our guides and equipment very seriously, and we will review both to ensure future tours are more seamless and enjoyable.
We are also deeply concerned to hear about the inappropriate comments made during the tour. This behavior does not align with our values, and we will address this immediately with our team to ensure all guests feel respected and comfortable during their experience.
We appreciate your feedback and will work hard to improve the quality of our tours. We hope to have the opportunity to provide you with a much better experience next time.
Best regards,
The Discover Rome Tours Team
Conrad_S, Jun 2023
We had scheduled an arena access tour with full experience tickets for the forum & palatine hill. However, when we checked in, they ended up sending ys on the regular colosseum tour (I didn't realize this until the tour was ending & we hadn't been to the arena level). At that point I talked to our guide & he callwd the company. He ensed up taking our group if 4 to the arena level & then re-joined the rest of the group. They also emailed my wife full experience forum tickets for 10 people. We were able to share them with several other people at some of the sites since we only had 4 in our group. In the end, they made their original error right, & I would recommend this tour
Veronica_G, May 2023
This was a huge disappointment for me. The tour company gave us the wrong pkg and it wasn't possible to get it corrected the day of. For some reason if you enter the Colosseum you can't re-enter with the correct pkg purchased. We originally booked tickets for the arena floor. Instead they had us join a tour of the 1st and 2nd floor, which I figured I must have missed that blurb on the description. And when I asked when we can go to the arena the guide told us it wasn't included even though I showed him my receipt where it said it was. I eventually had to call the tour company and they did offer to have us come back later that evening but we had other reservations, then they offered the next day but we had reservations in Naples so that wasn't possible either. They gave us a 50% refund. But I still was so upset because the 2nd floor is BORING!! All I wanted was the arena floor for my kids to see and to experience the history. We did not want a tour because we have 3 kids 14/12/6 and they were absolutely bored to death with the tour.
The tour guide was good though. He was informative and funny.
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Dear Veronica,
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We are truly sorry for the mix-up with your tour package and the disappointment it caused. We understand how important it was for you and your family to visit the Arena Floor, and we sincerely apologize for not providing the correct tour experience. It’s also frustrating to hear that the re-entry process caused further inconvenience.
We’re glad to hear that you found the guide informative and funny, but we understand that the tour itself was not what you were expecting. We will review the booking process internally to ensure there are no further misunderstandings, and we’re committed to providing a better experience in the future.
We truly regret that we couldn’t fully meet your expectations this time, but we appreciate your feedback, and we hope to offer you a more enjoyable experience in the future.
Best regards,
The Discover Rome Tours Team
Gergely_O, Apr 2023
The program was nice, the guide was well prepared and easy to understand.
But there were some issues:
1. even though I bought arena tickets we were not led to arena. The guide said it was told her not to go to the arena, I have to complain at the office (that's why I'm writing)
2. even though I was told the ticket we will get for Roman Forum and Palatine Hill can be used for 24h and we planned to come back on the next day we were led to the arena without receiving any tickets so it was not possible to leave and return later.
Because of this 2 points I'm expecting some price reduction and refund from the price of the program because we didn't get what we paid for and what was promised to us.
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Dear Gergely,
Thank you for your feedback, and we’re truly sorry to hear about the issues you experienced during your tour. We strive to provide our guests with the best experience, and we understand your frustration about not being able to access the arena and the ticket confusion for the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.
We’ll be looking into this matter to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Regarding your request for a refund or price reduction, please reach out to us directly at [email/contact info] with your booking details so we can assist you further.
We hope to have the chance to make it right and provide you with a better experience in the future.
Best regards,
The Discover Rome Tours Team
helena_T, Dec 2022
Paolo has a tremendous amount of knowledge about the colosseum. He made the tour very interesting and brought the place to life. Highly recommend. Note: We took the 3:00 tour and didn’t have time to visit the forum that day as they close @4:30 during the winter. Book an earlier tour if you are traveling in the winter.
Dan_V, Nov 2022
This is the worst tour in all of Rome. The colleseum is the biggest mess in the city. Sketchy people everywhere feels unsafe and our youth guide was so incredibly rude. She was late, they weren’t at the spot they were suppose to meet at. None of the guidance was accurate or correct. We didn’t get floor access even though we paid for it and only got 1/2 way refunded. This was robbery. The tour guide and Viator robbed a precious experience from my family.
Response from Host, Nov 2022
Hello,
Thank you for your time to write the review here.
You joined our tour with 2 small babies. They were crying the whole time of the tour.
Our guide told you to separate from the tour and care your kids first as due to this the whole group was having a hard time for children crying.
and we refunded your payment and charge only for the tickets you used to enter the site.
So we don't understand what the word roberry means here?
As you are a young parent, we suggest that you take care of your children first before everything else as our tour guide told you in your tour.
Thank you
Jackie_S, Sep 2022
The headphones were staticky making it impossible to hear the tour guide which obviously rendered the tour guide useless.
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Dear Jackie_S,
Thank you for your feedback, and we’re truly sorry to hear about the issue with the headphones during your Arena Floor Access Experience.
We understand how frustrating it must have been not to hear the guide clearly—audio is such an important part of the experience, and we apologize that this impacted your tour. We are actively reviewing our equipment and processes to prevent this from happening in the future.
We appreciate you bringing this to our attention and would love the opportunity to make it right. Please feel free to reach out to us directly so we can follow up.
Thank you again for your honesty, and we hope you’ll give us another chance to provide a much better experience next time.
Warm regards,
Discover Rome Tours Team
Bernie_D, Sep 2022
Informative and fun tour of the Colosseum! Learned a great deal about the games, their participants and their spectators.
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Dear Bernie_D,
Thank you for your wonderful review! We're thrilled you enjoyed both the educational and entertaining aspects of your Arena Floor Experience. The stories of gladiators, games, and ancient spectators truly come alive when standing on that historic ground, and we're delighted our guide could make that history so engaging for you.
It was our pleasure to share Rome's fascinating past with you, and we'd love to welcome you back to explore more of the Eternal City's incredible sites!
Best regards,
Marsha_H, May 2022
Benji was a greet guide. Very knowledgeable and excellent English. Experiencing the arena was wonderful.
Response from Host, Apr 2025
Hi Marsha,
Thank you so much for your great review! We’re so glad to hear that you enjoyed your Arena Floor Access Experience with Benji. It’s fantastic that his knowledge and excellent English helped make your tour so memorable.
We appreciate you taking the time to share your experience, and we hope to welcome you back for another unforgettable tour in the future!
Best regards,
The Discover Rome Tours Team
Summer_L, Apr 2022
So our original tour was canceled and they gave us the option to change the time or to upgrade for an additional 15 euros to the underground tour so of course we did the underground tour which is totally worth it. The company was very easy to find and they wasted no time in getting us our tickets and took us to the front of the colosseum (truly was skip the line). Once in we waited and our tour guide valentina was amazing. The tour guides are not guides that are part of the ticket company but she was absolutely amazing! This is a must!
Response from Host, Feb 2025
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We’re thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the underground tour and that the experience was worth the upgrade. It's great to know that our team made it easy for you to get started, and that Valentina provided such an amazing tour. We truly appreciate your recommendation and are glad you had a memorable experience. We hope to welcome you again in the future for another unforgettable tour!
James_S, Mar 2022
Our tour guide; Benji, was great. The beginning of the tour needs a person standing with a large sign and more direction so tourist know where to meet who are not from Italy.
Response from Host, Feb 2025
Thank you for your feedback and for taking the time to share your experience. We're happy to hear that Benji was a great guide! We also appreciate your suggestion regarding clearer directions and a more prominent meeting point for those unfamiliar with the area. We’ll take this into consideration to improve the experience for future visitors. We hope to have the pleasure of welcoming you again soon.
giovanni_z, Apr 2026
Misleading description the Arena floor is not included they say arena floor but in reality it is simply the entrance you can visit the first and second floors but not the board they built above the basements
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Response from Host, Apr 2026
Gentile Giovanni,
La ringraziamo per averci segnalato questo inconveniente.
Ci scusiamo per il fatto che non riesce a trovare la sua prenotazione. Per consentirci di verificare la situazione in modo approfondito e risolvere il problema al più presto, La invitiamo a contattarci direttamente via email all'indirizzo:
discoverrometours@gmail.com
La preghiamo di fornirci più dettagli possibili, come il nome completo utilizzato per la prenotazione, la data del tour e l'eventuale numero di conferma. Non appena riceveremo la sua email, il nostro team darà la massima priorità al suo caso.
La ringraziamo per la pazienza e per l'opportunità di risolvere la situazione.
Cordiali saluti,
Discover Rome Tours Team
Cassandra_H, Sep 2022
La información que nos brindó el guía fue interesante, sin embargo el grupo se perdía un poco por la cantidad de personas. Mi recomendación es llevar algún cartel grande o una bandera para poder identificar al guía
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Estimada Cassandra_H,
Muchas gracias por compartir tu experiencia con nosotros.
Nos alegra saber que encontraste interesante la información brindada por el guía. También agradecemos sinceramente tu comentario sobre la dificultad para seguir al grupo debido a la cantidad de personas. Es una observación muy útil, y tomaremos en cuenta tu recomendación de utilizar una bandera o cartel más visible para facilitar la identificación del guía durante el recorrido.
Gracias por elegir Discover Rome Tours. ¡Esperamos poder darte la bienvenida nuevamente en una futura visita a Roma!
Saludos cordiales,
Discover Rome Tours Team
Nathalie_V, Jul 2022
Très belle expérience. Le guide était très intéressé. Il a respecté tous les délais et bien expliqué. La visite était parfaite.
Response from Host, Apr 2025
Chère Nathalie,
Merci beaucoup pour votre adorable commentaire ! Nous sommes ravis que votre visite de l’Arena Floor du Colisée et du Forum Romain ait été une si belle expérience. C’est un vrai plaisir de savoir que votre guide a su captiver votre attention tout en respectant parfaitement les horaires—c’est exactement le niveau de qualité que nous visons à offrir à chaque visite.
Votre mention d’une visite « parfaite » nous touche énormément. Si vous revenez à Rome, nous serions enchantés de vous faire découvrir d’autres joyaux, comme notre tour nocturne du Colisée ou l’expérience exclusive des souterrains.
Grazie mille pour votre confiance !
L’équipe de Discover Rome Tours
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