Check off three of Rome's most important ancient sites in just a few hours with this guided tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. Zip past the crowds with skip-the-line entrance and head straight inside the world’s largest Roman amphitheater. Learn about its history and architecture from your guide before continuing on to admire the remains of temples and public buildings and stand on the spot where Rome was founded.

Optimize your time in Rome with a guided tour of the top ancient sites
Stand on the Colosseum's arena floor where gladiators once fought
Visit the Roman Forum with a guide to better understand the vast ruins
Explore Palatine Hill and learn about its significance in Roman history

What's Included

Earphones
Entry reserved for the Colosseum
Entrance to the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill
Guided tour of the Colosseum
Guided tour of the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill

Food and beverages
Pick Up

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

Colosseo
00184 Rome, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Italy
Meeting Point Metro stop Colosseum, Green Kiosk

End point

Piazza del Colosseo
Piazza del Colosseo, 00184 Roma RM, Italy

What To Expect

Colosseum

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Roman Forum

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Palatine Hill

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Near public transportation

Transportation is wheelchair accessible
Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
Most travellers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 24 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

3.5

79 reviews

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

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-10 of 79 reviews

Be inside the Colosseum...

Maite_C, Sept 2023

Be inside the Colosseum is an amazing experience It was really crowded, it’s difficult to follow the guide with to many people The guide was nice

Expensive tickets to get inside/poor tour

Gillian_S, Sept 2023

This was tickets to skip the line. The tour was very poor. The woman was late, she did not know what “tour” she should be leading. We did a quick tour of the colosseum. She moved us over to the forum, told us two things and left us. There was no Palatine hill tour at all. The forum was extremely limited and basically non existent. If you’d like expensive tickets so that you can get in the colosseum, this “tour” is for you. I suggest planning ahead. I will next time:)

The worst tour ever!!

George_M, Sept 2023

The worst tour of all time, it doesn’t even deserve 1 star. It all started with the meeting point where the tour operator wasn’t overly visible, then our tour was delayed by an hour and we were then merged with the next group. When the tour guide finally showed up she rushed through the coliseum and then abandoned the entire group and left us al on our own to make our own way. We had paid for a guided tour of the colosseum, Palantin Hill and the Forum and only got one out of the three (if being rushed through the first part with very little being explained is considered as a “guided tour” The only part of the experience that was accurate was the ticket to get in and the skip the line, all of which I could have done in my own without Viator. At the end of the tour I contacted Viator seeking a refund as the product and service they had advertised was clearly provided and they advised that the tour operator being C.I.S Tours would refund 20%. I found this absolutely unacceptable given that they had not provided 20% of what they had advertised yet wanted to keep 80% of my money. We eventually got the refund up to 50% of what we paid but still far short of the value provided and feeling very much ripped off. I believe Viator as the platform who happily took our money should have been more than able to refund us, given we booked through them thinking they were a reputable company and would not have operators who are there to simply rip off paying tourists. I strongly recommend to anyone looking to book through Viator that before committing to a booking and paying your money do some research on the actual operator who will be conducting your tour because you could end up paying several hundreds of dollars for something you don’t get and Viator not being overly helpful in assisting you with getting all or if not a majority of your money back.

Great tour froma reliable company

Hans_M, Sept 2023

Great tour, original and funny tourguide, reliable company. We recommend this company because they live up to what they promiss.

very bad

Grace_W, Sept 2023

Worst experience. They took the 1030 tour with the 1040 and 1050 tour. It was not what I had been told when I called Viator. The people that took us were a subcontracted group.

Absolutely disgraceful.

Andrew_A, Aug 2023

The memorable part was when I left the tour. I was charged $272usd for 2 people and the tour operator was selling tickets on the same tour for $25 euro per person cash. I asked for a total refund and I was given 50% of $272 usd. What an absolute disgrace. The tour operator was CIS tours. Avoid this company at all cost.

False advertisement

Oren_W, Aug 2023

Title says that there would be a tour of the colosseum, palatine hill and the Roman forum. In fact it was only a 45 minute tour of the colosseum then entrance to palatine hill/Roman forum. Tour guide was great but we felt cheated since we were expecting to also hear about the history of the other locations

Shame on Viator and CIS tours

Rebecca_M, July 2023

This was terrible and basically theft. We paid over $700 (family of 4) for this tour, after our original tour was canceled. It was clear that the "tour guide" we received was a last minute inept hire to be able to sell a last-minute tour. She knew nothing about the Colosseum, most of the time of the tour was spent in line, or the walkways or the line for the restroom, which she required. Very little time viewing the actual arena area. Thankfully, we left the "tour" a bit to actually go into the arena for family photos or else that opportunity would have been missed. No discussion of history or architecture in a location filled with interesting history and architecture. 20+ years ago this was my favorite location in Rome due to the interesting history filled tour. Going by ourselves would have been more productive - and about $600+ cheaper. It was a true disgrace and a theft of tourist dollars. The entire group asked her for more time in the colosseum viewing area and she refused - then had us wait 20 minutes back outside before she could lead us (she was our tickets) to the forum. We were literally held hostage on this tour, the smart ones got their photos against her protests for leaving the group.

No show in Rome

William_C, July 2023

Advertised as a fully guided tour only to be dumped with no explanation 1/3 of the way through No immediate action by Viator to refund a portion of this over priced trip

Great tour, wonderful experience

Andrew_S, July 2023

Great tour, really the only way to go. Much more enjoyable with the explanation. Be prepared to do some walking.

Helpful staff

Michele_N, July 2023

The kindness of the staff helping me get to the tour meeting point when I was lost. They were amazing. The tour guide was good.

Pathetic expensive and horrible guide

Paul_S, July 2023

Horrible. Not even one star. Guide (Andrea) was rude to all of us and must have argued with five other guides and employees. Her English is terrible and the static on the headsets was inaudible for all of us. Honestly everyone should be refunded. She gave zero content and bullied many of us.

No show!

Lucas_S, July 2023

They never showed up to the tour. They sold us tickets for a Sunday skip the line access, when on Sundays, it’s free entrance and skip the line tickets do not exist. Really unfortunate experience, especially since we only had one day to see the Colosseum and had made other plans around this tour.

Wouldn't recommend

Anne_T, July 2023

The tour guide left us in the Colosseum gift shop without giving us our tickets to the Forum or Palatine Hill!

Overpriced skip the line.

Shelley_R, June 2023

This was not our first choice. My first choice cancelled. We paid an excessive amount for what we got. The tour guide was knowledgeable for the part she was with us. I felt for the price should have spent more than 30 min or so. The rest was on our own. I felt like we just paid to skip the line and nothing more.

Worst Experience

Elizabeth_M, June 2023

Save your money was the worst tour. Was only one hour long did not get to see everything and second part was not a tour just a drop off and we were on our own

Don't do this tour!

Sarah_V, Jan 2023

Absolute shysters, do not buy this tour. Colloseum entrance was 30 mins late. Tour guide was a total shambles and encouraged people to leave his tour once we were in the Colloseum, and do their own thing. We were given under an hour in the Colloseum. There was no tour of the Roman Forum or Palatine Hill, we were just given entrance tickets. Ended up downloading a free audio guide. I complained and was promised money back after our Colloseum tour but they had disappeared by the time we got back. If you are looking for a tour, do not do this one. Tickets are €16 on the door and we paid nearly £50 quid each for a tour of the 3 sites that didn't materialise.

Useless Colliseum & Forum Tour

Rick_N, Dec 2022

Our tour was so unbelievably bad it’s hard to describe, and I can not believe a company can even exist past a week with such an offering. We kept joking that we had been transported to one of those awful reality TV experiences! The group was way too large and the organization chaotic. The guide was lethargic, disinterested and provided the barest of minimum information. He never introduced himself nor spent a moment in the usual intro items like what the tour would offer, where the bathrooms would be, etc. The tour wasn’t even what was described, as every other tour and guide that we observed were guided ALL the way through the Colosseum AND the Forum while ours collected the headsets after approximately 35 minutes and told the group to wonder through the rest of the Colosseum on our own, to meet him at the exit where he would escort us to the Forum entrance and then after a brief explanation just inside he left us to our own devices. He went home which he told us several times was all he wanted to do since he’d been singing too much before over the Christmas holiday. Thankfully we had downloaded a free Rick Steves tour of the Forum that we could use to help explain what we should have been learning from an informed, energetic and professional guide. The next day we had another tour planned, this time of the Vatican Museums, which we each clearly approached with cynicism. Thankfully we had booked another company and the experience was fantastic!

Unprofessional tour operator horrible

Sebastian_F, Dec 2022

Horrible tour. We were promised 3 sites to visit but we only went to the Colosseum.. Cheated our money and didn’t receive refund us back the full amount. The tour guide couldn’t help us and we had to call the tour operator to request a refund but they were unprofessional and did not refund the amount. Very sad that this affected my travels to Rome and please do not support this tour operators. They even charged us more than those who purchased their tickets via walk-ins. The tour even started late and they were not apologetic.

Not a very Happy Customer this time

John_M, July 2022

Tour was changed by company 1 hour before arrival and asked us while we were traveling to meet if we could be there 1/2 hour earlier. We found a via tour tour guide sign but the guide would not acknowledge or assist us when he did not see our name on his list. The tour company had no idea we were booked with them and it took a concerned 3rd tour company to sort out confusion (language problems). We booked a 2.5 hour tour that included Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. We only had 1hour guided tour of colosseum. That was only made worse by poorly functioning head sets. I’ve had good tours with Viator in the past but this was not one of them.