The Colosseum and Roman Forum are two of Rome’s premier ancient sites, but their long lines and vast sizes can be discouraging. On this skip-the-line tour, see the highlights of both in just hours. Walk right into the Colosseum with your guide to admire this magnificent amphitheater and learn about its history and lore. Then head to the Palatine Hill and Forum to explore the ruins of temples and palaces that once stood here.

Visit the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill
Zip past the lines to enter with fast-track tickets to all three sites
A guide for insights into the ancient history and architecture
Headphones to follow the guide commentary in these busy sites

What's Included

All Fees and Taxes
Colosseum guided tour (group ticket only, no individual tickets)
Headphones (10 people or more)
Palatine Hill and Roman Forum group ticket, no individual tickets.

Alcoholic Beverages
Tips
Individual tickets

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

Via del Cardello, 31
Via del Cardello, 31, 00184 Roma RM, Italy
From the metro station Colosseo, turn right on Via Dei Fori Imperiali and go straight to the first traffic light then, turn right on Via Cavour and turn left on the second street. You will find the agency Italy in Love Tours on Via del Cardello 31.

End point

Roman Forum
Via della Salara Vecchia, 5/6, 00186 Roma RM, Italy
You will finish your tour in the beautiful Roman Forum, where your expert guide will explain to you about this beautiful place and after it, you will have all the time to explore it by yourself.

What To Expect

Colosseum

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Palatine Hill

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Roman Forum

15 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
Travellers should have a moderate physical fitness level

On this tour, some of the venues or parts of the venue may be subject to last-minute, unpredictable closures. When this occurs, we are happy to offer customers an extended tour in keeping with the advertised total length of the tour.
Please be advised that the Colosseum's capacity regulations and security may delay the tour departure
ID required: all public museums in Italy will require all visitors above the age of 12 years old to show a valid ID
Customers have a mandatory meeting time stated 30 minutes prior the scheduled departure time due to managing and organization reasons
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 25 travellers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s cancelled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.

Traveller Photos

Reviews

4.5

142 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-10 of 142 reviews

I recommend

Andrea_M, Sept 2023

Giuseppe was a very good tour guide. We booked a 10:30am group tour, which said no more than 30 people. It was changed the night before to 12:30pm which worked for us but if you had plans after it could have been a problem. But the group was only 20 and it was very pleasant. We didn’t wait on any lines and we saw everything

Response from Host, Sept 2023

Thank you very much for your feedback, Andrea!

Physically Demanding

John_D, Aug 2023

Good tour but pace to walk to colosseum from the tour operator was too fast which lost one of our party. Then the pace to get to the forum nearly lost some young members of our party. I had asked if some of my party could wait near the colosseum for the start but they insisted that they walk the long distance to the tour office and then try to keep up to return to the colosseum. They had to abandon the tour before it even began. If you are not physically fit, do not attempt this tour.

Response from Host, Aug 2023

Thank you for your feedback! This is our policy, in order to sign up for the tour, you must meet us in our office with the whole group.

Great

Cris_M, Aug 2023

They accommodated last minute reservation. Tour guide was great. Made our experience so much more meaningful

Response from Host, Aug 2023

Thank you very much for your feedback!

Tour guide optional

Jennifer_S, July 2023

Guide was late. Walked very fast. Couldn’t understand her. Did not gain anything from having tour guide.

Response from Host, July 2023

Thank you for the feedback! We have a specific time for each attraction and we do everything exactly as advertised.

Well organized tour

Danang_P, July 2023

The guide was very knowledgeable although it can make us feel lost sometimes hearing the details. At some part during the tour we were walking too fast but he also did give us some time to rest and take pictures. Palatine hill has a lot of stairs so not really for everyone.

Response from Host, July 2023

Thank you for your feedback!

The tour was very...

Mindi_F, July 2023

The tour was very interesting and thorough. The company that ran the tour was exceptional. It was an extremely hot day, so the people who worked at the company were worried about our 80 and 85 year olds being able to complete the whole tour. They ended up driving them straight to the Colosseum while the rest of us went to see the Roman Forum, there were 10 others of us, and they met us at the Colosseum. Our tour guide, Marco was very knowledgeable and at the end he walked us over to the Taxi Stand and helped us get taxis.

Response from Host, July 2023

Thank you very much for your kind review! It was a pleasure hosting you!

Great experience!

Mehdi_D, July 2023

The knowledge of the tour guide and the venue was great. We really enjoyed the smooth experience from booking to the tour itself.

Response from Host, July 2023

Thank you for your feedback! We appreciate it!

Not the best experience. Lost part of the tour.

Dedesdaughter, July 2023

First, We had a great deal of difficulty finding the office to check in. It is a bit of a distance from the Colosseum so map it carefully. Our tour guide was knowledgeable but our group was much larger than I anticipated. We had trouble staying with our guide in the Colosseum. Since he took the whispers after the colosseum tour, we lost him at the entrance to the forum and we we were not able to go in. It was ok but I would not use this group again.

Response from Host, July 2023

Hello, the details of the tour are clearly mentioned! Also, you have the address and all the information on your voucher!

Waste of money!

Tonya_B, July 2023

Our male guide on July 3 at 11:30 was a total waste of our time and money. He gave very little information while in line, then shared some information while walking the covered halls of the coliseum but then mostly responding to questions. He did not accompany us while we were walking in view of the stadium itself - No explanation of the subterranean areas, the seating, etc etc. some much could have been said yet nothing shared. Also, I don’t think he smiled the entire visit Similarly, the woman who walked us to meet the manager at the coliseum - neither smiled or showed any excitement.

Response from Host, July 2023

Hello, Tonya! First of all, please check the details of the tour you bought and see the underground area was NOT included in the tour! This tour was provided exactly as advertised! If you were interested in the underground or other parts of the Colosseum, then you should've bought that tour! Again, our tour was provided exactly as advertised. Also, our professional employees know their job roles, but smiling isn't part of them! We are a team of professional, passionate, knowledgeable and kind people. Thank you very much for your understanding!

Colosseum guided tour

Samantha_S, July 2023

Our guide was most knowledgeable and kept the large group together, a real feat. Too much time was spent in explaining the pictures posted on stands outside of the Colosseum entrance. People became disinterested and one couple left the group to go on their own. I wish the use of an elevator at the Colosseum had been shared up front before we climbed numerous steep stairs, me and my knee knee.

Response from Host, July 2023

Thank you for your feedback!

Very informative

Lisa_S, June 2023

Guide very friendly and knowledgable. Tour interesting and informative, only criticism is that it was a bit rushed due to queue to get in, also a designated toilet break would have been good.

Response from Host, June 2023

Thank you for the feedback, Lisa!

Rewarding trip

VIVEK_C, June 2023

The guide was knowledgeable and explained minute details with anecdotes . He gave a very detailed overview of the roman forum, the palatine hill and the colosseum

Response from Host, June 2023

Thank you for your review! It means a lot to us!

Really lovely guide who...

Adil_A, May 2023

Really lovely guide who is really knowledgeable and passionate about his job. The Colosseum itself is fantastic

Response from Host, May 2023

Thank you so much for your review! We appreciate it!

Magical

stephanie_d, Apr 2023

Magical and worth it The guide was passionate and kind And took the time to explain every bit of the history of the Colosseum

Response from Host, Apr 2023

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave us your review!

Meh!

clecornu, Apr 2023

Tour was Rushed, & ridiculously over crowded. Tour guide was boring makes having root canal seem fun

Response from Host, Apr 2023

Dear Christian Le Cornu, let's start at the begging. You visited the Colosseum, did you expect it to be empty? Our tours have a capacity of 25-30 people. Also, you are naming "boring" a professional licensed guide with many many years of experience. And with that, we said everything! Thank you for taking the time to leave us your review!

Loved the colosseum tour with Marco II!

Johannes_R, Apr 2023

Marco II (Marco the second as we learned) is a great tour guide! He was constantly sharing informing facts, telling interesting stories, being open for questions and navigating us confidently through the crowd at the colosseum. We also loved the images he brought showing both the original structures and damages over the centuries. Highly recommend a tour with Marco II!

Response from Host, Apr 2023

Thank you so much for your feedback and for recommending Marco! We appreciate it!

Very passionate and...

Sophie_C, Apr 2023

Very passionate and experienced guides - thank you for sharing your knowledge and humour! We thoroughly enjoyed our tour during during such a busy period. Could not recommend enough!

Response from Host, Apr 2023

Thank you so much for your feedback! We appreciate it!

Entry tickets were...

Danne_C, Nov 2022

Entry tickets were mismanaged. Long wait for ticket resolution, 2 hours . Guide was not very effective or informative.

Response from Host, Nov 2022

Hello, Danne, First of all, we don't provide tickets, only guided tours, no individual tickets! Second, it is clearly advertised that some lines may form on very busy days. Anyway, we didn't have to wait 2 hours on the day of your tour! Please don't spread false information! Thank you!

Colosseum tour - failed forum tour

JAndrew_P, Sept 2022

The description of the tour I bought from Love Italy Tours through Viator is a two hour guided tour including an hour guided tour of the Colosseum followed by an half hour guided tour of the Forum with Palatine Hill, something we particularly were interested in. The extra half hour, making it up to two hours, is for the inevitable waiting in security queues and for the very short walk to the Forum. I was cheated because we did not receive the Forum guided tour. We arrived at the meeting place, "Via del Cardello, 31”, at the stated time of half an hour before our tour was to begin but the shop was shut. After a ten minute wait, somebody turned up. She, eventually, handed us over to a man who walked us to outside the Colosseum where we were handed to another man who was gruff and deliberately unapproachable, and, if one tried to communicate, was very dismissive. In fact, all the tour personnel we met, so far, behaved this way. We were mixed in with other tourists - a large group - and given the audio devices and headphones. The tour guide arrived after another amount of time so that now our tour was beginning an hour and a quarter late. (The guide is in the photograph.) He walked us into the Colosseum - another 15 minutes to get in. There were no interesting facts or stories as we waited in the queue (unlike a guide we had enjoyed who took us into Saint Peter’s Basilica, enlivening our paid-for waiting time in the queue with full-on informative presentation). Once inside the Colosseum, the guide began his energetic descriptions about how the Colosseum was experienced in ancient times. This was vivid and interesting. He took us around two of the terraces. As he progressed us through the Colosseum tour he kept referring to us all as “the 12.45 cohort” but we were, in fact, not only late starting for a 12.45 tour but we were paying for a tour that was carefully stated, on our purchase bill, as starting at 11.30am. Next, he walked everyone to the Forum and Palatine Hill security gates and took us through them. But instead of a guided tour around the stones and ruins of the Forum, he immediately wrapped up his tour with a quick, cursory explanation of the immediate ancient archway, as though he was giving us a little something extra to what we had paid for, and then began his farewell speech, lasting five minutes, about tips and reviews. We realised we had been played. Most people in the group seemed happy and were not expecting a guided tour of the Forum, but, of course, they belonged to “the 12.45 cohort” and we realised we had been tagged onto this group by Love Italy Tours because perhaps a tour guide was unwell, or any other number of possible reasons. Why didn’t they tell us the truth? The sad loss of money aside, the other sadness was that we were not part of the numerous learning groups we observed enjoying a tour of the ruins which was what we had so looked forward to. We had no time left to rebook another tour. Also, because we were inside the Forum long past our expectation of lunchtime, with no picnic, we were feeling depleted - you could call us “the 11.30am cohort defeated”. Not the Love Italy experience we were hoping for.

Response from Host, Sept 2022

Hello! First of all, our name is ITALY IN LOVE TOURS! Secondly, please read carefully the details of the tour you bought! There is NO guided tour for the Palatine and Forum! Also, it is EXTREMELY clearly mentioned that the time on your vouchers is not the time your tour starts. Again, PLEASE READ THE DETAILS OF THE PRODUCT YOU WILLINGLY CHOSE. Thank you!

Do not recommend; guide disappeared

Danely_F, Sept 2022

The guide gave a 20min intro on the colosseum then let us loose to explore for 30min or so on our own. This didn’t feel like a tour, but we were okay with it. Afterwards, the guide let us into the forum/palatine hill, and then we never saw him again. Our group waited 15min for his return and he was nowhere to be found. Not the tour we paid for.

Response from Host, Sept 2022

Hello! Unfortunately, your tour was not provided by our company.