Rome: Colosseum with Roman Forum & Palatine Hill + Arena Optional

Recommended by 90% of travelers

Rome, Italy

High interest

Booked 10+ times today.

3 hours (approx.)
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

Why travelers loved this

4.6

· Jessica_S ·

May 2026

This was a great tour and packed a lot of information in. We started with a tour of the colosseum and arena and then walked over to palatine hill and the forum. It was very easy to find our tour group. Our guide, Michele, was super easy to understand and did a great job leading. I really enjoyed his sense of humor. I would recommend this tour.

· Barbara_J ·

May 2026

We arrived early and found the meeting location. Our guide, Eleanor, spoke good English and was very pleasant. I loved the smaller group size. We gained entry to the arena floor after a short wait in line. We had plenty of time to take pictures and feel the ambiance of the area. She provided detailed explanations and pointed out interesting areas.

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Overview

Enjoy an introduction to Rome’s most significant ancient landmarks on this tour. Enter the Colosseum through a back entrance and explore areas that are typically off-limits to visitors, including the arena floor. Then, follow your guide to the Roman Forum, where you see ruins ranging from the Temple of Julius Caesar to the Senate House, and continue to Palatine Hill.

Visit three of Rome’s most important ancient landmarks, in one tour
Continue to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill with your guide
Learn the stories behind the sights from your guide’s commentary

Why Travelers Choose This Tour

Step inside Colosseum like a gladiator on this guided tour, including exclusive access to the arena floor unavailable to general visitors. Explore the first and second tiers, then continue through the iconic Roman Forum and Palatine Hill with expert commentary that brings ancient Rome to life on this immersive, hassle-free way to see the city’s most legendary landmarks.

What's Included

Access and tour of the restricted Colosseum Arena Floor (if option selected)
Guided tour of the Colosseum's 1st & 2nd tiers
Guided tour of the Roman Forum & Palatine Hill
Colosseum entrance ticket with arena access (valued at €24 per person)
Colosseum reservation fee (valued at €2 per person)
Please note: Colosseum fees as above. The remaining cost of the experience covers other services.
Expert English-speaking guide

Guide tips

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Fontana del Colosseo, 00184 Roma RM, Italy
Please Arrive 10 Minutes Early. We meet between the 2 green souvenir kiosks in front of the “Colosseo” metro stop - located just outside the lower-level entrance/exit. A representative will be there holding a sign with ''The Tour Guy'' on it.

End point

Via della Salara Vecchia, 1385, 00186 Roma RM, Italy
This tour ends in the Colosseum Area. Depending on the entrance time of the Colosseum tickets we might visit the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill before heading to the Colosseum.

Itinerary

Colosseum

1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Roman Forum

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Palatine Hill

20 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
Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level

Please provide the full names of all travelers when booking. Failure to present a voucher with all travelers' full names at the ticket office prior to entry may result in denied entry to the Colosseum and Roman Forum.
Each traveler must present a valid passport or ID document that matches the name provided at the time of booking for successful entry to the Colosseum and Roman Forum.
We regret that we are unable to accommodate guests with wheelchairs or any walking impairments that require special assistance on our group tours. We are also unable to accommodate strollers or baby carriages.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 18 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

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Reviews

4.6

based on 1,361 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Tour great; guide not so much

Sondra_T, Jun 2026

The actual tour was amazing. Rami, our tour guide, was knowledgeable but not a good guide. Hard to understand, monotone voice & not very good at making sure everyone was with her.

Response from Host, Jun 2026

Hi Sondra, Thank you for sharing your feedback with us. I am glad to hear that you found the tour itself amazing and that Rami was knowledgeable, but I am truly sorry that her guiding style and pacing fell short of your expectations. We want our tours to be engaging and seamless for everyone, so we will definitely look into this with Rami to ensure our guides are keeping the group connected and easy to follow. We really appreciate your honesty, as it helps us keep improving the experience for our guests.

Very well organized even...

Deborah_R, Jun 2026

Very well organized even though it was the worst day to try to visit the coliseum with the cycle races closing streets. My tour guide was very knowledgeable, and the audio was easy to hear her. I learned more than I thought I would and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, even though it was a hot day and there were thousands of people there. If I had known about the cycling event disrupting streets and taxi access, I would have booked for another day. Luckily I got there an hour early to find the start area, but it took almost 2 hours to find my way back to my hotel.

Rossella was a fine...

Kathie_G, Jun 2026

Rossella was a fine guide. Our only complaint: 3 weeks before our entry time was changed from 10:30 to 11:15. But the morning of our tour we got an email from Viator reminding us of a 10:30 booking. We rushed to make it only to be told that the platform is not the same as “Your Guy” & our tour WAS as 11:15. This got us off to a bad beginning.

Incredible History

Jennifer_V, Jun 2026

The history on this tour was unbelievable. Traveled with my 4 young adult sons and we all enjoyed this tour.

Hot cardio not ideal

Aimee_B, Jun 2026

We had trouble finding the meeting point. We walked all over the area looking for a sign that said the tour guy as instructed. Finally found them five minutes too late. Then it was 90 degrees and walking stairs in direct sunlight was miserable.

Great tour of just a...

Madeline_J, Jun 2026

Great tour of just a couple major sites in Tome. Frederico was so fun and knowledgeable. Highly recommend!

I’d Look Elsewhere.

Lola_A, Jun 2026

We had less than positive experiences with the tours hosts, and the tour itself was lackluster. It was about an hour and some change before we finally made it inside the main Colosseum area, and once we were there we spent all of thirty minutes. Our guide interwove facts about the Colosseum and Roman history with personal anecdotes and “jokes”. It made it very difficult to follow along. Most people on our tour checked out, with some taking off their earplugs entirely. It was not bad, but having had other tour experiences to compare it to, this was objectively the worst. If you have other comparable options, I’d keep looking!

Amazing tour

Becky_A, Jun 2026

Where to start , this city is just stunning so much to see and do and this tour was a great way to see some of the key areas

Excellent tour and Elena...

Richard_W, Jun 2026

Excellent tour and Elena was very knowledgeable guide. Smaller group was the perfect size to stay together and see the sites. We would recommend this tour!

Great walking tour!

Christine_W, Jun 2026

Fantastic tour with Fabricio! While the crowds were expected , he found some nooks to pause and speak to the group - his knowledge of the history is incredible!

Christians persecuted at coloseum!

Kristina_S, Jun 2026

Slanted perspective. Felt offended / attacked by anti-Christian, uninformed perspective. Tour guide consistently blamed Christians for issues when they too were Romans! Otherwise, information about the coloseum structure and engineering provided a basis for personal research. Our guide was considerate of our comfort with water and bathroom breaks, while attempting to find shade whenever possible. Carpe Diem should support her with a more informed script.

Very informative. I...

Susan_N, Jun 2026

Very informative. I really appreciated how the guide led us to shady spots when he had a lot to say. The only negative was the audio was very scratchy, so most of the time I took the earbud out and just stood close to hear him.

Great tour!

Mary_M, Jun 2026

Laura was an incredible tour guide! She was knowledgeable, engaging and made sure everyone had a great time. Perfect tour for families (our kids were 13 and 12). Colosseum floor tour is a must do!

Amazing!

Jacob_L, Jun 2026

Very cool to see the inside of the coliseum and the ruins in the forum / palatine hill. Our guide Eddy was super fun and knowledgeable. He did a great job finding shade and giving us the back story.

We had an amazing guide,...

Maria_R, Jun 2026

We had an amazing guide, Monika, who was so knowledgeable about every aspect of this tour. She made sure we were all comfortable during the whole tour. We loved every minute of it!!!

Very informative tour of...

Argie_P, Jun 2026

Very informative tour of the Colosseum, our tour guide provided a lot of information not only in relation to the site but also the city in general. We had our 7 years old daughter with us, and the tour was enjoyable and engaging for her as well.

Sorry can’t give a good review

Janice_R, Jun 2026

It’s a great tour we are English speaking and had a guide that we could hardly understand. We left the group . We use Viator many times and always had an exceptional experience

Response from Host, Jun 2026

Hi Janice, we are genuinely sorry to hear that this tour fell short of the exceptional standard you expect. We dropped the ball here, as clear and engaging communication from our guides is absolutely vital to the experience. We have immediately shared this with our Rome Operations Manager to review our guide assignments and ensure this doesn't happen again.

Rich History

Kirk_S, Jun 2026

We had a great time and really felt like we got to hear the story of these historic places. Our guide Eddy was amazing! He had a PhD in archeology and so much knowledge and obvious love and respect for every place he showed us. We’re so glad we booked this tour!

Interesting tour but

David_S, May 2026

Three hours in the hot sun is a lot, the tour was very detailed and not for all. Guide is our case was very knowledge but did not encourage time for questions.

No comprendo

tjtx5ypj7s, May 2026

Couldn’t understand our tour guide! She was very kind but her accent was so thick we could only understand about 10% of what she said. Massive bummer since we were with her for three long hours.

Response from Host, Jun 2026

Hi there, Thank you for your feedback. We are glad to hear you found your guide to be very kind during your three hours together, but we are genuinely sorry for the frustration caused by the language barrier. While we take great pride in working with passionate local experts to provide an authentic immersion into the culture, clear communication is essential for a great experience. We want to assure you that our guides undergo a thorough vetting process. We always want to ensure our travelers leave with great memories, so we would love to look into your booking and get this resolved for you. Please connect with our team directly at support@thetourguy.com so we can make things right. We hope to have the opportunity to provide you with a seamless and deeply engaging adventure in the future.

Amazing guide

Angus_C, May 2026

My guide was amazing I wish I could spend a week touring with him. American Italian with amazing understanding.

Great family arena tour

Michelle_H, May 2026

The guide was very friendly and helpful. He has so much history knowledge and made sure we saw all of the sights. Recommend for a family for sure!

Outstanding introduction to Ancient Rome

Daniel_M, May 2026

This tour was a fantastic introduction to ancient Rome! The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable about the history and archaeology of the Colosseum, Forum, and Palatine.

Response from Host, May 2026

Hi Daniel, Thank you so much for the outstanding review! We are absolutely thrilled to hear that our tour provided such a fantastic introduction to ancient Rome for you. The historical and archaeological layers of the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill are truly incredible, and it is wonderful to know that your guide's deep knowledge helped bring those ancient ruins to life. Thank you for sharing your experience with us, and we hope you had an unforgettable time exploring the rest of Rome!

Great tour with very informative guide

Jessica_S, May 2026

Response from Host, May 2026

Ciao Jessica, Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience with us. I am absolutely thrilled to hear that you had such a wonderful time exploring the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum. Michele is indeed a fantastic guide, and I will be sure to pass along your kind words to him. He will be delighted to know that his humor and clear leadership made your tour so memorable and easy to navigate. Making history come alive while keeping things smooth and enjoyable is exactly what we aim for. We truly appreciate your recommendation and hope to welcome you on another adventure the next time you find yourself in Rome. Enjoy the rest of your travels!

5 stars

Kyle_M, May 2026

The trip was amazing. Our tour guide Danny with “the tour guy” was very informative and funny. It made the whole experience seem like a relaxing stroll through history. The ruins where also in amazing condition, with the reconstructed pictures for reference it’s really full of sights to behold.

Response from Host, May 2026

Ciao Kyle, Thank you so much for the five stars and the wonderful review! I am absolutely thrilled to hear that you had an amazing trip exploring the Colosseum and ruins with us. Danny is a fantastic guide, and I love how you described the experience as a relaxing stroll through history. Making such a massive amount of historical information both funny and easy to digest is exactly what he does best. I will be sure to pass along your compliments to him! It is also great to hear that the reconstructed reference pictures helped bring those incredible ruins even more to life for you. Thank you for choosing to explore Rome with us, and we hope to welcome you on another historic stroll in the future!

The tour guide Eddy was...

Christine_R, May 2026

The tour guide Eddy was very knowledgeable and went at a pace that was easy to follow. I would definitely recommend him.

Response from Host, May 2026

Ciao Christine, Thank you for the great review! Eddy is fantastic, and we are so glad you enjoyed his deep knowledge and easy-to-follow pace. I’ll be sure to pass along your high recommendation to him. Thanks for exploring the Colosseum with us!

Fun tour!

Destiny_C, May 2026

Eddy (with a Y) was fantastic!! I feel like the experience would have been good but he made it even better with being amazing at keeping everyone engaged with laughs and facts. We had such a grey time with him being our tour guide.

Fantastic!

Marguerite_C, May 2026

Fredrico was so knowledgeable and passionate about the history . He made us feel welcome and had a great sense of humor. He included the group in discussions. An amazing tour!

Informative Colosseum Tour with Roman Forum

Barbara_J, May 2026

Great Tour - Good Valu

Jody_H, May 2026

Tour guide was very knowledgeable and shared excellent historical infotmation throughout the tour. The meet spot was described well and easy to find. The only downside was that the headsets that were provided to help amplify the tour guide’s voice weren’t that clear so sometimes it was hard to hear her.

Likely to Sell Out