Rome: Guided Tour of Colosseum Arena with Roman Forum Entrance
Recommended by 93% of travelers
Rome, Italy
- 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes (approx.)
- Group discounts
- Offered in: English
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Overview
The Colosseum is Rome’s top archaeological site but much of the ancient amphitheater is not accessible to visitors. Gain access arena floor with this behind-the-scenes experience of the World Wonder. Join your guide for a tour through the fascinating “backstage” and stand where gladiators once battled in front of 50,000 spectators. Enjoy included access to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill
- Visit with a guide for insights into the site’s history and architecture
- Free time to visit the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill after the tour
- Visit the arena floor—not available for standard ticket holders
- Upgrade to a private tour for a more personalized experience
Why Travelers Choose This Tour
With this tour, you'll stand in the footsteps of gladiators on the arena floor, which is off-limits for most visitors.
What's Included
- Thorough guided tour with access to the Arena floor
- Live expert guide
- Entrance to the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill
- Sterilized earphones to hear clearly your guide
- Full on-site assistance
- 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
- No guide for Roman Forum and Palatine Hill
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Piazza del Colosseo, 21, 00184 Roma RM, Italy
Meet us at the green kiosk at street level outside “Colosseo” metro station - Line B (blue line). Look for a member of staff holding a yellow Touriks sign. There’s also an upper floor exit of the metro station; please meet us downstairs. Please arrive 30 minutes before your starting time.
End point
- Colosseo, 00184 Roma RM, Italy
The tour will end inside the Colosseum.
Itinerary
1
Colosseum
1 hour • Admission Ticket Included
2
Roman Forum
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
3
Palatine Hill
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Infant seats available
- Most travelers can participate
- You will need to pass through strict and mandatory security checks to enter the Colosseum
- 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.
- Trolleys and large backpacks are not allowed inside, neither are glass/metal bottles or sprays (e.g. perfumes etc.)
- Pets are not permitted
- 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.
- You must be at the meeting point 30 minutes before the tour starts to complete the sign-up. We won't be able to accommodate late arrivals
- Drones and knives of any kind are strictly forbidden at the monuments
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 25 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 7 days in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.8
based on 228 reviews
Katherine_L, Apr 2026
This to us was the only way to see and truly experience the colosseum. Our guide was knowledgable and shared facts, narratives and archeological findings and photos along the way. We left excised about all we saw and learned. Two 18 year olds and 2 50-somethings highly recommend!
Response from Host, Apr 2026
Thank you so much. We are glad to hear that you enjoyed our Colosseum guided tour!
Natalie_F, Mar 2026
Very good experience! And very informative. Rossi really enjoyed her history and was very knowledgeable of all the places we stopped
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Thank you for your review, we are glad to hear that you enjoyed our guided tour with Rosy!
Dimitri_Z, Mar 2026
This is a perfect tour for anyone who has en elderly relative or friend who may not be able to walk fast or walk far but would like to experience all the coliseum has to offer. Our guide was informative, charismatic, and told many funny stories. The tour ends inside the main level of the coliseum so you don’t go to the upper levels or down below. Overall, it was a pleasant experience.
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Thank you so much for your review, we are glad to hear that you enjoyed the experience with us!
Dana_G, Mar 2026
Tour was excellent. Great communication from tour operator before the tour.
Easy meet up location.
Excellent tour with lots of visuals to help understand the history and significance of the locations.
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Thank you! We are glad to hear that you enjoyed the Colosseum guided tour with us :)
Maria_B, Feb 2026
It was great to have access to the arena floor. Our tour guide was kind and knowledgeable but a bit difficult to understand at times. The audio headset system was not great. Overall the tour was good, but a bit overpriced for the value.
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Thank you for your feedback - we are glad to hear that you enjoyed the overall experience, despite the audio headset system that apparently was not working properly.
We always recommend letting your guide know, as they usually carry extra radios with them, should the one you are using not work.
We will definitely look into the issue and make sure it won't happen again.
We hope to see you again in the future!
Korey_K, Nov 2025
Bogden was amazing! He was very knowledgeable and had an extensive explanation of the arena! We would recommend!
Response from Host, Nov 2025
Thank you so much, we are glad to hear that you enjoyed your guided tour with Bogdan at the Colosseum :)
Jody_B, Nov 2025
It is absolutely breathtaking.. A must do when in Rome. I highly recommend a private tour with guide to explain everything about it.
Response from Host, Nov 2025
We are so thankful to hear that you have enjoyed our Colosseum guided tour. We look forward to welcoming you back in Rome anytime soon!
Claire_A, Nov 2025
Great tour, amazing guide. Would highly recommend. We just did the colosseum- not the forum but so worthwhile. Learnt so much. Meeting spot was easy to find.
Response from Host, Nov 2025
Thank you, we are glad to hear that you enjoyed the experience with us at the Colosseum :)
Christi_K, Oct 2025
Our guide was very knowledgable and made it awesome!! I would recommend this tour for anyone who hasn’t seen the Colosseum.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Thank you! We are delighted to hear that you have enjoyed our Colosseum guided tour :)
jack_p, Oct 2025
The tour guide Marco was brilliant, good english, funny and very informative and the tour was a good pace. We would definately recommend
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Thank you! We are glad to hear that you have enjoyed our Colosseum and Forum guided tour with Marco!
Marvin_B, Sep 2025
The Colosseum guided tour was great, but Viator rescheduled our time, to an hour later. This did not give us the time needed, and we had to rush back to our hotel, due to prior commitments b
Response from Host, Sep 2025
Thank you for your review.
We are sorry to hear that the starting time of the tour being changed had caused issues for your schedule.
We asked if you would be fine with the change to which you agreed, we did not know that this would cause trouble for your group.
Please note that we always try our best to accommodate all our customers' requests, however due to overcrowding, sometimes the Colosseum Administration will have to rearrange our tours.
We hope you understand and that you enjoyed the tour nevertheless.
Noemi_P, Sep 2025
Very professional we all enjoy it . they are always on time. They will test you call you refund if you need it as best tour to ever.
Brad_H, Aug 2025
Wow, one of the best tours we had in Rome. Our tour guide, Gabriel, is an archeologist. He was so knowledgeable and accommodating. I 100% recommend him and this group.
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Thank you so much! We are glad to hear that you enjoyed our Colosseum tour with the guide Gabriele :)
Alison_B, Jul 2025
Excellent walk through on the arena floor of the Colosseum with history of the monument well conveyed. Addition of the Palatine Hill and Roman Forum.
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Thank you! We are happy to hear that you enjoyed our Colosseum tour, and the added part of the Forum and Palatine Hill :) looking forward to seeing you again soon!
Ashley_S, Jul 2025
Samuel was great! Great communication, awesome tour guide. Learned a lot and had a great time! Would recommend to anyone wanting to go to the Colosseum!
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Thank you so much! We are really glad to hear that you enjoyed our Colosseum tour with the guide Samuel :)
Mike_V, Jul 2025
A great tour of the Colosseum! Gabriele hosted an informative and entertaining walk through the arena floor and the forum
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Thank you! We are so thankful to hear that you enjoyed this activity with us and the guide Gabriele :)
Anonymous, Jul 2025
We really enjoyed this tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable and friendly , she taught us a lot about the history behind the colosseum and had everything very well organized. If you’re interested in the history behind the colosseum and Ancient Rome this is an excellent way to visit the colosseum.
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Thank you so much, we are delighted to hear that you have enjoyed our guided tour of the Colosseum Arena and Roman Forum. We look forward to seeing you again soon!
Cathy_B, Jun 2025
Great guide with knowledge and interesting facts we would have never knew, so glad we got the guide!
Response from Host, Jun 2025
Thank you, we are happy to hear that you enjoyed your Colosseum tour!
Dave_A, May 2025
Elena was amazing. Great experience with excellent detail and answers to all our questions. Would highly recommend.
nancy_e, May 2025
Samuele was an amazing and very informative guide. He knew many crazy details about our attractions and answered all my questions with very detailed answers. I highly recommend this tour with Samuele!
Charlene_H, May 2025
Our tour was disappointing. We spent more time standing outside of the colosseum listening to our guide rather than in. When we finally got to the arena floor our guide, although knowledgeable, just sat down and talked rather than walking us over to see the underground and explain the history. We also thought we would tour a little more of the colosseum, first level but that was not included. All in all, not worth the price.
Response from Host, Jun 2025
We are very sorry to hear that you found this experience disappointing and that you did not enjoy our tour guide's pace - this is definitely not the kind of service we wish to provide for our customers!
We always try to make sure that each guest spends enough time in each area included in the tour, and as this was a guided tour of the very restricted area of the Arena floor, we made sure that this would be the highlight of the experience -- from entering from the backstage door, to seeing the Underground from above.
We hope that you enjoyed the views and the history, and to see you again next time in Rome.
Please, don’t hesitate to contact us again at info@touriks.com if you wish to discuss your experience further!
Itai_T, Apr 2025
We visited the Colosseum and Forum on April 13 as a family of 4. Our tour-guide, Bogdan, was very interesting and knowledgeable. We had other tour-guides in Italy (in the Vatican Museums and in the Pompeii excavation site) but his English was the clearest. The history he shared about the Colosseum and the Roman Forum was intriguing; without his guidance, we would just be looking at the walls and wondering.
Robin_O, Mar 2025
The tour guide was friendly and knowledgeable! The guide was also very clear that we had 48 hours from when we entered the Colosseum to go into the Forum. Unfortunately that wasn’t accurate. When we tried to enter, we were denied because they said the ticket was expired. I’m very frustrated because we relied on that information when planning our next couple of days! We won’t have time to make it now. I’m waiting on Viator to provide a partial refund for this tour operators error.
Julia_D, Feb 2025
Loved go into Coliseum late as last one’s to leave at closing. Learned a ton. Great tour with fabulous guide.
Response from Host, Feb 2025
Thank you for your feedback!
We are glad to hear you enjoyed your tour of the Colosseum with us! :)
Nancy_R, Jan 2025
My original Colosseum/Forum tour for Friday was canceled and rescheduled for 3pm Saturday after my 11:15am Vatican tour. I was called Saturday during Vatican tour to leave early to get to colosseum at 2:30. Started colosseum tour at 3pm and when it ended 4:30 or so, and I went to do the already paid for Forum, I was told last entry was 3:30. I paid for the Forum package and was not told they started that portion at 1pm, I was at the Vatican with Viator tour also. I rushed through the Vatican and missed the forum. I requested a refund for the Forum portion 1 week ago, no one has replied. Both tours were great tour guides and very informative. I was very disappointed, they had double booked me.
Response from Host, Jan 2025
Good morning,
Firstly, we would like to apologise for any inconvenience you have experienced, we understand how disappointing that can be!
However, we would like to clarify that we had not cancelled your Friday tour, that must have been with a different tour operator.
Secondly, please note, that we had called you as a reminder to arrive at the meeting point 30 minutes in advance just like it is written in the voucher, where we had also informed you that the visit of the Forum on the same day won’t be possible due to the early closure, however we also informed you that the ticket is valid for 48 hours and the visit therefore would be possible the following day.
Please, don’t hesitate to contact us again at info@touriks.com if you would like to discuss your experience more!
Ruth_B, Jan 2025
I visited the Colosseum before without a guide and didn't have access to the underground. This is the only way to truly experience the magnificence of the Colosseum
Response from Host, Jan 2025
Thank you for your feedback!
We are very glad to hear you enjoyed your tour of the Colosseum with us! :)
Rick_B, Oct 2024
We had used Viator for multiple tours during our trip to Italy. We booked a tour of the Colosseum for the specific added part of getting to visit the underground section of the Colosseum. There were many options for Colosseum tours, but this was the only one we found that offered the underground portion (now I know why, they eliminated all underground tours due to overcrowding, apparently all other tour companies had already stopped offering the underground option). The extra cost was considerable, we paid $227 per person, versus our friends who did a tour that same day w/o the underground for $73 per person (to be fair there's was a larger tour group of around 20). We showed up for our tour and didn't find out until the end of the normal Colosseum tour that the underground had been eliminated, the lone reason we had booked this tour.
TOURIKS, the tour operator, will claim they tried to contact me, which is true, they did, but it's how they tried to contact me I have the issue with. I didn't know they had tried to contact me until after I tour and I wanted to ask about the removal of underground portion of the tour. There I found three messages starting 3 months ago. There had been no email (or if they did, it went to spam), just attempts to contact me through the Viator message app. I didn't have the Viator app, so I was completely unaware of their attempts to contact me. Had they texted me, as they did the day before the tour (see attached pic, shows they still had the "underground" portion of the tour still in the description, something they've since deleted), I would have canceled this tour and rebooked a tour without the underground portion.
They offered a 15% credit for taking out the underground portion. That's a $34 credit on a $227 per person tour. I requested 50%, given the underground was the sole reason we chose this particular tour. They point to the 15% refund and said that's what they value the underground portion to be worth. Viator backs the tour operator, so buyer beware.
Btw, I have seen others mention this, but if you book the later tour, i.e. 4:30 pm, you won't have time to go into the Forum by the time your Colosseum tour is finished (admission stops at 5:30 pm, at least when we went). They shouldn't be offering that late of Colosseum tour start time and promise the admission into the Forum and Palatine Hill. You'll get a voucher that you can use the next day, but if your trip is like ours, you'll already have plans and the voucher will go to waste.
Response from Host, Oct 2024
Good morning,
we are very sorry to hear that the tour did not meet your expectations, but appreciate your feedback!
Nevertheless, we would like to clarify some points.
We understand how upsetting it was that the visit to the Undergrounds was not possible, however as previously explained this situation was completely out of our control, as the administration of the Colosseum had changed and with it also the rules for local tour operators. We had reached out to you as soon as we knew that your travel date would also be affected, which was about three months before.
Unfortunately, we never received any response from your side despite our many attempts to reach out to you (email, messages, phone calls) and we therefore we had to go ahead and purchase your tickets to guarantee your access to the Arena floor.
As for the partial refund, please note that it has been thoroughly calculated and covers the difference.
Furthermore, please note that you had booked a private tour which of course is also higher in price than a group tour.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused!
Please feel free to contact us at info@touriks.com if you would like to investigate your experience further.
Thank you for understanding!
kris_h, Sep 2024
The coliseum was awesome, so much history. Disappointed though as we didn’t get to see the Roman forum as our tour was at 4:30 and you had to be inside the forum gates by 6:15, we got there at 6:16 and couldn’t get in. We already had a day trip for the next day so that’s a whole part we paid for that we didn’t get to see. If the tour is late in the day, they should let you go to the forum first then to the coliseum. We did not know it wasn’t included with the tour guide.
Elizabeth_P, Jul 2024
We had a great time on our tour with our private tour guide. THE ONLY disappointment was that we originally brooked this tour to see the lower level, but it was cancelled and we received a partial credit back. NOT the fault of our tour agent. our guide had Great info, sense of humor and knowledge of history. We really enjoyed it and are glad we spent the money.
Response from Host, Dec 2024
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback!
We are very glad to hear you enjoyed your tour of the Colosseum and would once again like to apologise for the inconvenience of the Undergrounds not being possible to visit. Unfortunately, as previously explained, this was completely out of our control.
Joyell_A, Jun 2024
We loved this tour. Francesca was very knowledgeable and entertaining. Seeing the colosseum from the inside is an incredible sight
Response from Host, Jun 2024
Thank you so much for your review! We are delighted to hear that you loved the tour and that Francesca made it both informative and entertaining for you. We hope to have the pleasure of welcoming you back on another tour in Rome soon!
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