Colosseum Underground & Ancient Rome Guided Tour

Rome, Italy

Very popular!

10+ bookings in the past 6 hours.

3 hours (approx.)
Offered in: English

Why travelers loved this

4.4

· Jason_K ·

Feb 2026

Just an incredible all around experience. Well worth the money. The guide knows the answers to everything that I asked. She took her time and explained everything really well. There was no rushing. Plus, we were able to get all the tidbits of information that no one else really knows. Really a top-notch tour.

· Elizabeth_S ·

Mar 2026

Great tour! So cool & interesting to walk in the underground of the colosseum! You spend about 2 hours there which gives you plenty of time and they take you to great picture spots. Afterward, you spend the remaining time exploring The Roman Forum and your ticket gives you full access to all the little extra sites inside. I would absolutely recommend this tour!

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Overview

The Colosseum and Roman Forum shouldn’t be missed when visiting Rome—but exploring each site alone, it can be hard to make sense of the ruins. On this guided tour, enrich your visit with in-depth context and stories from a guide. Plus, you’ll get access to the arena floor within the Colosseum, an area usually off-limits to visitors. Upgrade to include a stroll through the underground dungeons.

Choose between options for underground access or arena-only entry to tailor your tour
Listen to stories of emperors, senators, and gladiators as you explore the Roman Forum and Colosseum
Audio headsets are provided, so you can move freely without straining to hear
Includes admission tickets, including a self-guided visit to Palatine Hill for epic views

Why Travelers Choose This Tour

A shared tour is more budget-friendly than private options, with headsets so you hear the guide clearly.

What's Included

Professional guide for Roman Forum (only if underground option is purchased)
Access to the Colosseum Underground (only if underground option is purchased)
Headsets to hear your guide clearly
Colosseum entrance ticket valued at €18 per person
Colosseum reservation fee (valued at €2 per person)

Gratuities
Transportation
Access to the Colosseum Underground (If Colosseum Arena-No Underground option is purchased)
Roman Forum guide tour (If Colosseum Arena-No Underground option is purchased)

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Via dei Fori Imperiali, 25, 00184 Roma RM, Italy
Meeting Point: Via dei Fori Imperiali, 25, 00186 Rome (RM) Please meet in front of the Tourist Information Point at Fori Imperiali. Our coordinators will be identifiable by their “The Ultimate Italy” t-shirts.

End point

Colosseum
P.za del Colosseo, 1, 00184 Roma RM, Italy

Itinerary

This tour makes a comprehensive visit to Rome’s Colosseum as easy as possible and grants exclusive access to the Colosseum arena floor and underground dungeons, areas that are usually off-limits to regular visitors.

Meet your guide near the Colosseum to start the tour in the morning or afternoon, depending on the tour time selected. Enter the Colosseum directly with pre-booked tickets. Follow your guide around the ancient wonder, including the underground dungeon, ground floor arena, and second level, while listening to detailed accounts about the historical games and gladiator battles that took place here. Your guide will also take you to the best spots to snap photos during your tour.

Continue to the Roman Forum nearby. Once the center of political life in ancient Rome, your guide will bring the ruins to life with insightful commentary. Afterwards, head up to the Palatine Hill, the birthplace of Rome, to admire the sweeping views before finishing the tour at the Forum.

Via dei Fori Imperiali, 25

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Roman Forum

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Colosseum

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate
Meeting Point: Via dei Fori Imperiali, 25, 00186 Rome (RM) Please meet in front of the Tourist Information Point at Fori Imperiali. Our coordinators will be identifiable by their “The Ultimate Italy” t-shirts.
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.
The tour reservations have strict timing. To join the tour you are required to be at the meeting point for check-in at least 30 minutes prior to your tour departure time.
If you arrive late for the meeting time, it will not be possible to join the group or reschedule, unless you pay for the activity again. As per "No Show" rules you will not be entitled to a refund.

Please provide an active phone number during the booking process in order to be contacted about last minute changing.
Pets are not allowed inside the venue
Every participant MUST bring an id or a photo of it. It is mandatory requested by the monument in order to enter the Colosseum Underground.
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.
The tour might begin either the Roman Forum or the Colosseum, depending on the order.
If you’re traveling with a school group, this tour isn’t available, as school groups have their own dedicated ticket types. Please contact us for more information.
Purchasing the guided tour, you are acknowledging and consenting that the Colosseum Underground admission fee is 24 € for adults, along with a 2 € booking fee, and free entry for children under 18. The remaining amount covers professional licensed tour guide along with other services, headsets, booking fees, and tour amenities. The tour operator provides transparency and is looking to ensure your understanding of the cost breakdown, enabling you to fully appreciate the value of the guided tour.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 24 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

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

4.4

based on 2,766 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Your good, operator not so good

David_B, Mar 2026

Experience was good, tour guide was good but our tour was delayed an hour and no one contacted us. We basically had to sit there for an hour and wait. Our tour was 1pm and was moved to a 2pm tour. Would have been 5 stars if someone would have contacted us earlier in the day.

Cool to see the underground

Julie_H, Mar 2026

Very cool to see the underground Get tickets well in advance or it will be sold out. We used Viator skip the line

Family w adult children

laura_k, Mar 2026

This was an interesting three hour tour. Our guide was a PHD archeologist, Frederica(sp?). She was very enthusiastic and engaged. She kept us moving and interested.

Worth Every Penny!

Bailey_S, Mar 2026

This was one of the coolest tours I’ve ever done. The underground part was with every penny! Also, our tour guide, Maya, was incredible!

Knowledge enriches the experience

amy_s, Mar 2026

Surrounded by all the rich history in Rome it was welcoming to get special insight by the guides. To go underground and learn about the operations behind the colosseum spectacles was very interesting.

Walking the roads and rocks of Julius Cesar

James_V, Mar 2026

This was one of my best tours in Rome. Our guide JC was most knowledgeable in architecture and made sure we all got the best photo opportunities during the tour. Having such a tour cut through all the wait lines and got us access to areas most don’t experience.

Great Tour!!!

MAURICIO_G, Mar 2026

Was a great tour, got a full Colliseum experience. Both tour guides were great!!! Started on time, nice walk all around and excellent spots for pictures.

Great Experience!

Lisett_D, Mar 2026

Great experience overall! Checking in was easy and the tour guides were very friendly and knowledgeable. Very glad I booked this tour and highly recommend!

Disappointing experience

Ann_W, Mar 2026

Really difficult to find the meeting point for the start of the Tour. Time changed to an earlier time which we hadn’t anticipated and couldn’t accommodate. After some persistent emailing we were eventually given a later time. We found the explanation and information during the first part of the tour to be poor but had to leave early so didn’t get the full experience.

The guide is too fast in...

Jenny_B, Mar 2026

The guide is too fast in english not able to understand and provided wrong information over their not recommended

Overall good but we found...

Rachael_j, Mar 2026

Overall good but we found it very difficult to understand our guides English for second part of the tour/collasseum which was a pity. Really didn't learn anything or know what we were looking at.

2 great guides in a 2 part tour

Christine_H, Mar 2026

Today’s 2part tour was exceptionally enjoyable. The guide for part 1, the Roman Forum and paletine hill was knowledgeable and informative while being easy to understand and easy to listen too. The same can be said for our guide for the second half, the underground coliseum tour. His knowledge and descriptions made it a very enjoyable experience.

Unreliable and rude

Adina_F, Mar 2026

We were confirmed for 1:00. The group left without us and the tour operator was rude and the tour operating company has been unresponsive as far as returning our money. I would not recommend this tour with this company.

I am in the process now...

David_F, Mar 2026

I am in the process now of trying to get my money back as the tour operator left without us early and we missed the tour. I am waiting to hear back from Viator for return of my money.

Alessandro is a historian...

Eric_W, Mar 2026

Alessandro is a historian first and tour guide second. We very much enjoyed our time spent with him. The depth of knowledge he attempted to part to us was impressive, humorous, and thoughtful. He brought the Roman forum tour to life. Mile grazie.

Amazing

Marie_P, Mar 2026

Was eye opening and very informative tour with a great guide- easy to understand and kept us moving.

Ah-mazing tour!!

Angela_A, Mar 2026

Gina was ah-mazing!! Very informative and knowledgeable!! Loved the small group size! Others didn’t show up so it was just us! What an amazing experience!

Save your money. Book direct

Ryan_S, Mar 2026

Save your money, the guided portion is only for Roman forum and palatine hill. we were rushed through the Roman forum and palatine hill, and we could barely understand our tour guide. We were then sent off to the colosseum alone to join the official tour. Save your money and book directly with the colosseum in advance instead.

Carmelo was terrific. He...

Jared_C, Mar 2026

Carmelo was terrific. He was very friendly and very knowledgeable. I really feel fortunate that we were able to have Carmelo for the tour. The sites are great and we were able to see every thing we could have wanted for the tour. Great experience

See everything but plan carefully

Katie_F, Mar 2026

I would still want to do the full tour but we did not like our guide at all - his commentary was rushed and rote and he seemed like he did not care. He also only walked us into the roman forum but left us to explore on our own instead of actually providing a full tour of it. It had already been a really long tour so we didn’t stay to explore more. If I could do it again, I would plan on seeing the Roman Forum another day so we could go through all of the buildings - there is SOOO much to see. Also, the tickets to the underground are timed and they moved our group time so I received a frantic call asking where we were - we had already arrived early and were already there but it was a terrible start to the day. Apparently, they messaged the whole group on WhatsApp but I don’t have that and they decided not to email or call us instead - it was very frustrating.

Coliseum and Vault tour

Lesley_S, Mar 2026

Be prepared to walk/stand for two and a half to three hours, take water especially if you’re exploring in the hotter months. All together a really worthwhile tour, we would not have understood the half of it without a tour guide, valuable experience and allows fast track entry and access to areas that are hidden beneath the Coliseum which tell a bigger story.

The website will say...

Sarah_C, Mar 2026

The website will say “duration: 3 hours” it's more like 5. Between when they want you to show up and 30 minutes of waiting between tours, it's longer than 3 hours. Just be prepared… and honestly for how much they charged it wasn't worth it in my opinion.

Amazing day

Rich_H, Mar 2026

Was almost 4 hours long and learned a lot. Very informative and well organized. Amazing sights and would highly recommend. Once in a life time experience.

Confusion meeting place information

Alison_H, Mar 2026

Need more clarity on meeting place ticket redemption to say meet her we have your tickets ! Meeting time changed x2 as people late ! We made our way to the colosseum as advised very busy at the entrance queues would have been better for a staff member to walk us to point and then we linked with tour guide a bit haphazard the process if you don’t know Rome ! Tour guide excellent and great experience

Tour guide was very...

Paula_J, Mar 2026

Tour guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. Issue was the audio system very poor and couldn’t hear, definitely under the colosseum. This was bearable while in a small group of 6, but half way through tour - we were joined by 12+ others - so couldn’t hear anything at all, at the back.

Great tour, terrible operators - rude and unhelpful

Thomas_C, Mar 2026

It is a very great tour of the underground in the colloseum, well worth the extra money to see things others won’t and have guided tour, not to mention skipping the lines However - the tour operators are very rude and disorganized. I couldn’t find the meeting point (there were 2 listed in the app) and when I tried to call the operator they wouldn’t listen, or respond, and they hung up on me - TWICE. Great experience but find another operator

Perfect day back in time!

Nicole_R, Mar 2026

Wear comfy shoes and bring a refillable bottle for fountain water. Rita was so knowledgeable and pleasant.

Our Colosseum day

Muhammad_Z, Mar 2026

Had a wonderful experience today. Both our guides were very knowledgeable and happy to impart the information

The tour under the...

Jenny_D, Mar 2026

The tour under the Colosseum was fantastic, our guide was funny and knowledgeable. Our tour guide for the Forum was ok. In general, a good experience.