Discover the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill on a walking tour led by an expert local guide. Don't miss out on the rich history encompassed by the ancient monuments and learn the stories behind the masterpieces of Roman civilization with a guide. Plus, you'll bypass long lines outside of the Colosseum, one of the New7Wonders of the World, with your skip-the-line pass, making this tour perfect for travelers with limited time.

Take a guided walking tour of Rome's main attraction, the Colosseum
Explore the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill
Learn about the ancient history of one of the New7Wonders of the World
Skip the long queues with a skip-the-line pass

Why Travellers Choose This Tour

This small-group walking tour of ancient Rome includes guide options in five languages.

What's Included

Professional guide
Wireless audio headsets
Group of maximum 20 participants

Food or beverages
Hotel pickup and drop-off

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

Arch of Constantine
Via di S. Gregorio, 00186 Roma RM, Italy
Via di S. Gregorio

End point

Via dei Fori Imperiali
Via dei Fori Imperiali, Roma RM, Italy
Via dei Fori Imperiali

What To Expect

Make your own way to the Arch of Constantine to meet your guide for your walking tour.

Your entrance ticket allows you to skip the long lines and enter the Colosseum quickly. Hear from your guide how the Colosseum was developed centuries before the advent of modern engineering in AD 70-80, and how it once held as many as 80,000 spectators.

Just outside, you'll marvel at the Arch of Constantine and then continue to learn about the features of the Roman Forum archaeological site and Palatine Hill. Legend says that on the Palatine, Romulus and Remus were kept alive by a female wolf, thus giving Rome its name.

Your tour ends at the Colosseum where you can continue to explore the area on your own.

Palatine Hill

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Colosseum

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Roman Forum

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Due to heightened security measures, you may experience delays in clearing security checks when entering the venue.
The archaeological area involves walking on medium-hard floors, please wear comfortable shoes and be ready for rain or shine.
The areas are not wheelchair accessible and not suitable for individuals who have difficulty walking.

If you have a pacemaker you will need to show a certificate, otherwise you will not be admitted without being screened
Near public transportation
Travellers should have a moderate physical fitness level
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 20 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.

Traveller Photos

Reviews

5.0

269 reviews

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

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-10 of 269 reviews

Highly Recommend a guided tour vs doing it yourself!

Adam_G, Aug 2023

This tour was with Grayline and our guide Nicoletta was fantastic. She was conscientious of never losing anyone in our group of 23 and deftly guided us through the forum and palatine hill with lots of information (and ultimately gave lots of information about the colosseum. The forum and palatine took about 1.5 hours and were done first from 10:30am-12:00pm. It was hot but Nicoletta always looked for shade for us. It was also brilliant to save the colosseum for the end as we're not sure if our kids would have paid attention in the sun and heat during the impressive forum and palatine parts of the tour if they already had seen their main reason for doing this tour. Additionally, we waited SO minimally in any line and Nicoletta had all our tickets and got us through all checkpoints with ease. We highly recommend grayline and you may be lucky enough to get Nicoletta as your guide.

Terrible - Guide Lost Us

Patricia_R, Aug 2023

Guide left us behind and never noticed we were missing. She also left another guest in the bathroom she sent her to. Terrible experience and “I Love Rome” unapologetic for that and booking 25 people on a maximum 20 people “small group” experience.

Response from Host, Aug 2023

We sincerely apologize for the experience you had during the tour: we understand your frustration with the guide's behavior and the overcrowding issue. We take this matter very seriously and are currently investigating the situation. To help us further, we would appreciate it if you could provide us with more details about your experience. Please feel free to email us at feedbackteam@graylinerome.it We value your feedback and want to ensure that incidents like these are addressed and prevented in the future: truth is that all major attractions are really crowded during this season even though we strive to maintain a high quality on all our tours. Once again, we apologize for the inconvenience caused and appreciate your understanding. We look forward to hearing from you.

Disappointed

Leah_R, Aug 2023

Unfortunately we were not able to experience this tour that we paid $300 for as our flight was delayed and we were still stuck at the airport. We contacted Viator customer service and they were unable to help us snd we called the tour operator to see if we could transfer to another tour but they didn’t respond to numerous calls/text messages.

Response from Host, Aug 2023

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you faced due to your flight delay. We understand your frustration regarding the situation and regret that we were unable to accommodate you on another departure. Please be informed that late cancellations are treated as no-shows, and unfortunately, the Colosseum tours are in high demand, making it challenging to secure available spots on alternative departures. Despite our efforts, we were unable to find a suitable replacement for your tour. We also apologize for any inconvenience caused by the lack of response from our side. We strive to provide excellent customer service, and we are disappointed to hear that our response was not prompt or satisfactory in this instance: on our side, we are facing an incredibly busy season and sometimes it's tricky to be able to assist! We value your feedback and will use it to improve our services for the future: should you return to Rome, you may contact us writing at feedbackteam@graylinerome.it

Excellent Experience

Allyala_N, Aug 2023

The guide Evi was excellent. Very knowledgeable and had a sense of humor. It was not rushed and we got to see all the highlights

above

Karen_M, July 2023

was very interesting and could tell us a lot about the site It was vey hot and kept us moving and would go to shade when can

Rome

Milena_z, July 2023

Alesandra was super nice and knowledgeable about Roman history . We enjoyed the tour. The only thing I am not sure if we slept the line since I saw another line that was going way faster.”

The guide was difficult...

Chantal_R, July 2023

The guide was difficult to understand. The route of the tour seemed good, but the accompanying descriptions and narrative wasn’t great.

So sadly disappointed

ANETT_R, July 2023

Probably a great tour - but our driver there got stuck in traffic for a long time - so we got out and ran. SO many people at the meeting spot we couldn’t find our guide - contacted him but it was too late - they left without us. Sweaty from running, stressful trying to find our guide & missed the whole thing.

Great time!!

Nicole_B, June 2023

Loved this tour from beginning to end. The English tour guide was so insightful and so sweet. She took her time explaining the history and showing us pictures of what sites looked like back when they were built. Highly recommend!

Knowledgeable tour guide

Samantha_L, June 2023

Knowledgeable tour guide, learned a lot! Was a little confusing when we got to the meeting spot because we were looking for a "Viator" sign. It wasn't obvious that we had to ask a specific person which group we should join. But overall good experience and would recommend.

Great tour once we finally found the guide

ChristieGoodman, June 2023

We enjoyed our tour and guide. I highly recommend including Palatine Hill and the Forum with your Colosseum tour. The structures come from different time periods. With the tour, you get a much better picture of time periods they cover and the personalities and cultural influences. Otherwise, everything looks the same. This tour states clearly that it is not handicap accessible, and they are not kidding. There are many uneven stairs, slopes and rocky paths that cannot be avoided. The only trouble we had was finding our tour group. In fact, we never did. The instructions said to meet at the Arch of Constantine, which turns out to be almost an acre area of land with tons of tour groups gathering in multiple languages. Despite allowing an hour for a 30-min bus trip, we did not arrive early as planned. But we walked all around the arch searching for our guide. Finally, someone was able to point us to the right tour flag. Our group had already left, but thankfully this guide let us join his group. He did not have ear sets for us though. We had to try our best to stay close to him to be able to hear.

Excellent tour, we'll worth cost

Melinda_S, June 2023

Good experience, guide was very informative. Viator doesn't tell you to look for pink heart flag so it took a while to find tour group.

Great guide. Well worth it

Laura_J, June 2023

Booking this tour was the only way I could get us into Colosseum. Our guide was very knowledgeable and friendly.

Good overview tour of three of Rome's important sites

MEDHAVI_B, June 2023

Rita, our guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining. Even though we encountered a downpour, she kept the tour on schedule in a safe way. The views from palatine Hill were stunning. We would recommend this tour to others.

Great tour

Darrell_Z, June 2023

Amazing tour even though it was very hot. Tour guide(sorry I don’t remember her name) was excellent!

Only way to go

Bryan_H, June 2023

Skip the line is the only way to go! Others were waiting in long lines for hours to get tickets. Our guide grabbed tickets and a short security check we were in the Colosseum. Tour guide Daniel was great moved at a manageable pace for everyone. A lot of this tour is in the sun, be prepared with sun hat and water.

Great experience!

Kelly_M, June 2023

It was a great experience! Learned so much and loved our guide! Would definitely do it all over again!

Fun and informative

Nina_T, May 2023

Our guide Barbara was very funny and informative. We very much enjoyed learning from her during the tour! Definitely would not have learned as much and been as engaged if it weren’t for the guide’s services. Highly recommend Barbara.

Enjoyable, learning experience.

Todd_H, May 2023

Fun, informative guide. Had lots of history and fun tidbits. It was a long, uphill climb to Patentine, but the view and information were wirth it.

Excellent experience

Martin_H, May 2023

Transport all good and knowledgeable guides. Everything went well and we all enjoyed the visit. Thank you.