We made a crucial mistake at the Colosseum in Rome, not once but twice. And although we have reasonable explanations both times, it still annoys us to this day. What was our mistake? We got basic entry tickets with a self guided audio tour.
So what should we have done differently? Well, we should have paid extra to get upgraded tickets with access to more areas of the Colosseum at a minimum. Better yet, we should have paid for a guided tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.
Here we are taking an obligatory selfie inside the amphitheater
If we’re being totally honest, we made a few more mistakes the first time we visited back in July 2018. The month might be a bit of a giveaway for one of them – it was so hot, ridiculously busy and the line to get in was enormous.
Look, the Colosseum is awesome but there are lots of different ways you can do it, and some are going to give you a better experience than others. In this guide we explain what we did wrong and what you can do to get more out of your visit. Read more about us.
Note: This article may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through a link, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!
Our Excuses
We love this photo we took from a viewpoint atop Palatine Hill
Ever since watching the timeless classic movie Gladiator (the first and hundredth time!), we’d always wanted to stand inside the Flavian Amphitheater – maybe jump on a horse, hold a sword up and yell “single column, single column”, before taking down warriors riding chariots. But it’s been 1,850 years since the days of Maximus Decimus Meridius, and the Colosseum is a very different place now.
We’ve been traveling the world for a living since 2018 and we do a damn good job of it. But naturally, just like any job, there’s a handful of things we wished we’d done differently. And our two visits to the immense Colosseum are among that handful.
Here’s what happened:
July 2018 – We were traveling on a super tight budget because Italy was just one stop on our 18 month honeymoon around the world, so we could only afford to book the cheapest and most basic ticket possible. That’s understandable, right?
May 2022 – Even though we knew we should take a tour, we also really wanted to take great photos of the ruins (which you’ll see in this guide) and we wouldn’t be able to get the photos we wanted if we were on a tour. Photography won. Plus, we had a Go City Rome pass and we used it for the Colosseum, which only included basic entry.
Ticket Options Explained
We took this photo of the inside part of the amphitheater exactly half way around the loop
The most important thing you need to know about your visit to the Colosseum is what each of the different entry tickets includes. Honestly, we think the official tickets site could do a better job of listing the options in a more logical order.
First and foremost, every single ticket from cheapest to most expensive includes access to basic areas of the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. What do we mean by basic areas? Well, in the Colosseum there’s 4 different things you can see:
1. Loop walk – Around two thirds of the way up the ruin is a loop path that circles around the Colosseum. This is the basic area included with every ticket, and trust us when we say it gets very busy.
2. Arena – A small section of the arena floor can be accessed, which is cool because you stand where the gladiators once did looking up at the ancient amphitheater that once housed 50,000 spectators.
3. Underground – Want to see the intimidating tunnels and passages where the gladiators would emerge from? You can if you buy a ticket with underground access.
4. Attic – The highest part of the Colosseum can now be accessed by a glass elevator. It’s basically an observation deck with very few people, and we’re not sure we’d pay for this one.
Another thing you need to be aware of is something called SUPER sites which are scattered across the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. This is effectively a kind of special access pass that gets you into some of the lesser known areas. It’s not something we’d prioritize but we would take advantage if it was included in our ticket price.
The only other ticket option is called Domus Aurea, which is what remains of Emperor Nero’s villa complex and is now an archaeological museum. You have to buy tickets separately for it at €18, and to be honest we’ll probably do it next time we’re in Rome.
Our major mistake was only doing the €18 basic entry ticket called “24H – Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill” both times. We should have paid €24 for the “Full Experience – Underground Levels and Arena” ticket.
For just €6 extra, we’d have seen the two additional areas and it also includes SUPER sites in the Roman Forum. So the only thing it misses is the Attic, which would be fun but we certainly don’t think it’s essential. Don’t make the same mistake we did!
Travel tip: The full experience ticket with underground and arena sells out almost instantly, so keep checking online in the months and weeks before your trip. The best backup option is this other full experience ticket with just the arena, which doesn’t sell out quite as quickly.
Do It Yourself Or Book A Tour?
Here’s Kristen walking around the Roman Forum with her camera
Okay, let’s talk about the age old dilemma of doing it yourself vs paying for a tour. Nobody wants to waste money, and it’s hard to know the right time to splash the cash or play it more conservatively when you’ve never been before.
Take it from us, there are two places in Rome that are worth splurging on a guided tour – the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum. How do we know it’s worth doing at the Colosseum if we haven’t done one? Because we have done the basic entry with audioguide, and we know now that we should have done a tour instead.
Don’t get us wrong, the audioguide is great. It explains things pretty well and you’ll still enjoy it. But it’s also very generic, and more importantly we couldn’t ask the audioguide any questions. This is the Colosseum and Roman Forum, not just some random average attraction.
Here’s what we recommend:
DIY – If you’re visiting Rome on a budget and want to keep costs down, book this Full Experience ticket on the official site. But if tickets are sold out, you might just have to buy the most basic ticket like we did.
Tour – If you want to make the most of your visit to the Colosseum, pay a bit more for a guided tour. There’s tons of options so shop around, or take a look at the two highly rated tours we will consider next time we go – this one with Viator and this one with Take Walks.
It was more in the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill that we wished we’d booked a tour. We’re sure the tour guide would be able to give us a ton more information in the Colosseum, but it’s easy enough to look around and imagine what it would have been. Whereas the Forum is just a bunch of ruins and we had no idea what was what 2000 years ago.
Need help planning your trip to Rome?
Our popular Rome travel guidebook gives you the top experiences, lesser known attractions, exactly where to eat and stay, how to get around, 1-5 day itinerary ideas and much more. Plus, you’ll get an exclusive map to use in Rome!
View Guidebook 
Other Mistakes To Avoid
We thought this was the most photogenic temple in the Roman Forum
Okay, so other than ticket type and not booking a tour, what else have we done that you should avoid?
Book in advance – If you turn up on the day and expect to get straight in during peak tourist months, you’ve got another thing coming. We were so new to travel back in 2018 that we thought by going at 8:30am when it opened, the line wouldn’t be so bad. Oh, how wrong we were. It took at least an hour to get in and things like this bring out the worst in people. Book your tickets in advance!
Weather – Our first visit was on a blazing hot, sunny and sweaty day in July. We did the Colosseum from around 10:00am-11:00am, before walking around the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill until around 1:00pm. It was tough going with the heat. Our second time was in May and it was a much better experience from a comfort perspective.
Order – Most people beeline for the Colosseum or think that’s where they have to start, including us first time round. But you can visit the three areas in any order you like. In May 2022, we started with the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill at 9:00am because it’s way more exposed than the Colosseum and we wanted to avoid the worst of the heat. Plus, all the crowds were in the Colosseum. Consider switching your route.
Passes – The Roma Pass, Go City Rome Pass (read our review) and Turbopass only give you entry to the basic areas of the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. We used a Go City Pass the second time we visited, which is part of the reason we didn’t get to see the underground or arena.
Travel tip: The Colosseum (along with many other museums and ruins in Rome) can be visited free of charge the first Sunday of every month. But while it sounds like a great deal, it doesn’t include any of the special areas and the lines are always very long so personally we’d avoid it.
Don’t Skip The Forum
We really enjoy walking around the ruins in the Roman Forum
One thing we definitely did right both times was allocate enough time to fully explore the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. For us, these two areas are just as interesting as the Colosseum. Less dramatic and iconic maybe, but no less important historically.
We really enjoyed walking around the remains of temples, arches and statues in the Forum, and trying to imagine what it would have once looked like from the elevated Palatine Hill. They’re both included in your ticket price, so don’t skip them.
Like we mentioned earlier, we found these areas more difficult to follow along with the audioguide because there’s nowhere near as much left standing. So this where we’d have much rather had a tour guide explain things to us.
Colosseum At Night
Here’s Kristen when it was much quieter around the amphitheater at night
We’re travel photographers so we naturally love iconic structures like the Colosseum, and it really comes to life at night when orange light gently illuminates its many arches and contrasts against the dark night sky.
The first time we only went during the day, but the second time we made sure to go back at twilight and take photos of the giant amphitheater through to total darkness. We walked all around the north and west sides of the structure and ended up at a semi-hidden spot called the balcony of the Colosseum (here’s the map location).
So the final mistake you should avoid when visiting the Colosseum is not going back to see it lit up at night. The best way to do it is go out for a delicious pizza with a bottle of wine, then grab a milky gelato and take a gentle stroll down to see the ancient amphitheater on a warm evening. Bliss!
Is It Worth Visiting?
The Roman Forum is surprisingly photogenic so don’t forget your camera!
Let’s finish with the most important question of all, is it even worth visiting the Colosseum when you go to Rome? Listen, we won’t say it depends because that’s the most annoying answer of all time. But the truth is, some people will love it and others will think it’s just okay.
If you have any interest in history, architecture, art, the Romans – even the movie Gladiator – then yes you should absolutely pay to see the Colosseum and Roman Forum. But if you’re not overly interested in those things, you might just get frustrated by how busy it is.
Personally, we think it’s a superb tourist attraction that shouldn’t be missed. But that’s because we’re huge fans of ancient sites with historical significance, and this is one of the best remaining examples still standing in the world.
Next Steps
We hope our guide on how not to visit the Colosseum helps with planning your trip to Rome, but please let us know if you have any questions in the comments box a little further below.
Still figuring out your plans?
Finally, if you’re planning to visit more places on the same trip, we recommend reading our Italy travel guide for helpful tips and advice.
Happy Travels,
Mark and Kristen
Find our guide helpful? Pin it for later!
All Rights Reserved © Where Are Those Morgans, LLC. Republishing this article and/or any of its contents (text, photography, maps, graphics, etc.) in whole or in part is strictly prohibited.
Mark and Kristen spent 6 years traveling the world, visiting over 40 countries across 4 continents and more than 30 US states. They created Where Are Those Morgans in 2018 to help others plan the best possible vacations by writing authentic travel and hiking guides based on their real experiences.
Since the arrival of baby Maya in late 2024, Mark and Kristen’s extensive travels have slowed down but they still take plenty of trips. Where Are Those Morgans now helps millions of travelers each year to visit new places and hike new trails through information-packed blog posts and expert travel guidebooks. Read more about Mark and Kristen.
Източник за тази статия
Наши спонсори са:
Български трактори на добри цени при изключително качество
