Trying to arrange a guided tour of the Colosseum, but unsure if it is worthwhile? Or maybe you are questioning which Colosseum Tour in Rome is best with so many options to choose from? If so, you have come to the right place. We will discuss our experience on a Colosseum Tour with Walks of Italy that we loved and highly suggest.
When visiting Rome, seeing the Colosseum and Roman Forum will be priorities on practically any itinerary for Rome, and for good reason.
There’s something remarkably spectacular about marveling at the ancient architecture and ambling the same cobblestone pathways (well, more or less the same, in any case) traversed by figures like Julius Caesar did two thousand years ago.
You’re presumably questioning what the finest way to encounter the Colosseum is, and I have some good news for you. Responding to that inquiry is exactly why I composed this assessment.
I’ve visited Rome on three separate occasions up until now – such as in excess of one week spent on our most recent journey – and experienced the Colosseum in three diverse manners.
I`ve visited the Colosseum and Roman Forum in three different contexts. Once independently without a guide, once in a large tour group led by a reciter of set facts, and once with an expert navigator who brought historical anecdotes and perspective to animate the ruins and help envision the ancient Roman world as we explored together.
Can you determine which one I would advocate for based on the explanations I provided?
As one might expect, there are hundreds – literally hundreds – of different tours available focusing on the Colosseum and Roman Forum, and a large percentage of them have outstanding reviews. So how does one choose suitably?
The experience we opted for is the Premium Colosseum Tour with Roman Forum & Palatine Hill arranged through Walks of Italy, one of the leading tour organizations in Italy (and other locations worldwide), and I’m here to share details about it. We believe this is the top Colosseum Tour possibility in Rome (though we offer two other choices at the bottom for a marginally different experience).
Below, you’ll find the details needed to choose the right tour, including what to anticipate along the way and some alternative tours to consider.
Preparing a trip to Rome? We spent ten days exploring Rome on our last visit to Italy, and have numerous detailed travel guides to help you plan an unforgettable trip there.
Information: We personally paid for our own tours using our personal funds. No sponsored excursions here! However, some links within this post connect to affiliate programs, simply meaning we may gain a small percentage from bookings without extra cost for you. Thank you for reading, and we hope you have an enjoyable tour experience!
Table of Contents
The Short Version
If you don`t have the time to read through the entire assessment below, here is what you need to know.
Taking a guided tour of the Colosseum with a knowledgeable instructor is certainly worth the extra money you’ll pay versus self-guided tickets and exploring independently (61 Euros vs. 22 Euros).
You’ll gain additional context surrounding the history behind the spectacular sights you’re observing, along with anecdotes and facts that dismiss misconceptions which will transform how you think about Ancient Rome. You’ll depart the experience with a significantly richer comprehension of the two locations, and will learn more than a few things along the way.
- Duration: 3 hours
- Includes: Skip-the-Line Entrance to the Colosseum and Roman Forum with an Expert Guide
- Maximum Group Size: 15 individuals (Our tour happened to only have seven people, which was great!)
- Highlights: The iconic Colosseum, including optimal perspectives of its interior and exterior architecture, and the renowned Roman Forum
- Cost: 61 Euros per person
I do want to make note of one thing: a guide has immense impact on your experience. For example, our first guide – Dario – was excellent. He had a strong understanding of Rome’s history, and skillfully wove together a cohesive three hour narrative over the course of our tour.
We also participated in a nightly viewing of the Colosseum arranged by Walks of Italy. However, our guide did not elucidate the site`s history or engage the group in discussion as effectively as others potentially could. The experience may vary based on the qualities of the guide allocated to each tour.
Should You Book a Guided Tour or Do It Yourself?
Having experienced it both ways, I can definitively affirm that an accompanied tour is the preferable approach.
In general, over several recent years, I’ve realized that it is nearly always worthwhile to pay extra for a local person to showcase a place or city. Here’s an example to illustrate my viewpoint.
Have you ever visited a “neighborhood market” in a city while traveling? During our initial trip to Mexico City, we went to a couple independently. Which was fine – we essentially walked around the marketplace, admiring all the amazing fresh produce and watching tortilla production for a brief period before deciding to continue on. It took about 15 minutes in total.
During our second trip to Mexico City, we participated in a cooking class that involved a one hour guided tour through that market with a local resident. We learned about various kinds of peppers we’d never heard of before, tried some chocolate, fruits, and chapulines recommended by our guide, and discovered the deliciousness of tamales dulces (‘sweet tamales’).
It was an entirely unique experience, and the context that our guide was able to provide to the table – context that we could have never obtained alone – was invaluable, and led to a much more memorable experience that we still discuss (clearly, because here I am discussing it).
That’s why we believe you should participate in a guided tour of the Colosseum and Roman Forum – to have a more rich experience with a guide who will share anecdotes, details, and facts to help you use your imagination to bring Ancient Rome to life.
Without context about the historical significance and architecture of the structures, a visitor walking through the Roman Forum will likely see only some antiquated, deteriorated buildings, finding little there to hold their interest for more than a half hour before wanting to proceed elsewhere.
What to Expect on Your Colosseum + Roman Forum Tour with Walks of Italy
First of all, expect some of the facts you thought you knew about the Colosseum to potentially be incorrect.
At one point, Dario, our superb guide, posed the group a query; how many times do you think the Colosseum was utilized per year?
Alysha`s estimate was four instances a year. Since quarterly is correct, right?
Wrong. It turns out, the frequency is less than annually, which amazed me. They have this enormous, spectacular construction, but it’s only employed for a single purpose, and that singular purpose only arises once a year, if that? Surprising.
I’m not going to give away the other myths that were found to be incorrect along the way, but trust that there are going to be a few discoveries.
You will begin your day at the meeting location near the Colosseo Metro station stop, a brief walk from Centro Storico, Monti, or even Termini (we ended up walking after the line to purchase metro tickets at Termini was enormous), where you will meet your guide, receive an introduction to the upcoming activities, and obtain a listening device.
Initially, we thought headsets were lame, but as the tour progressed, we realized that if every single guide was yelling to make sure the entire group could hear, the entire place would be more chaotic and crazy than it already is. Plus, the headsets save the guide’s voices.
From there, you’ll enter the Colosseum, which is simple because you get to use a separate line reserved for guided tours, and your guide will do the talking (in Italian) and all you have to do is put your bag through the scanner and say “grazie” as you walk by the security team.
Upon arriving at the Colosseum, the first glimpse inside will be had before pausing for pictures with a shaded place to sit down and discuss the history around, perhaps debunking certain myths along the way as well.
After the first level and a history lesson, you and the group will head up to the second level, where some of our favorite photo spots of the day were.
Ultimately, you`ll finish your time after investing a few moments at the northwest side observing the Arch of Constantine (where another myth is amended) before exiting the Colosseum and transitioning to the Forum.
Lastly, entry into the Forum will occur – again tremendously uncomplicated owing to bypassing lines and the tour guide conversing – and a visit to selected sights at the Imperial Forum on Palatine Hill just before continuing to the core of the Forum.
You’ll end with a stop at the place where Julius Caesar was cremated (though, SPOILER ALERT, we learned that he actually didn’t die in the Forum as we know it today, but over near Largo di Torre Argentina in the Centro Storico).
Over the program of the entire tour, Dario (our guide) pointed out little particulars that we NEVER would have noticed independently, like the reliefs highlighting gladiators in their full garb inside the Colosseum, or the reliefs on the Arch of Titus depicting the triumphal procession after the sack of Jerusalem during the Jewish War in Judea in the 1st Century C.E.
Those serve as only two illustrations of the depth Dario brought to our conducted tour that made our knowledge that much richer and immersive.
Tips for Your Colosseum and Roman Forum Tour
Here are a few things to know if you decide to book this tour.
- Rome experiences high temperatures during the summer months (and spring and fall, but less so). The entire tour takes place outside. Dario did a decent job ensuring we had shade, multiple water breaks, and more, but the section in the Forum got hot. Bring a reusable water bottle, a hat, sunscreen, and sunglasses and be prepared to be in the sun for extended periods.
- For whatever reason, the stairs in the Colosseum are quite steep. You can take the elevator for some of them, but be prepared to traverse at least one set of steep stairs over the course of the day.
- Bring comfortable walking shoes. And leave any high heels at home. You’ll be covering a significant amount of ground, particularly in the Forum area, so comfortable footwear will benefit you. The ground is also mostly cobblestone, which aren’t exactly known for being smooth or level.
Alternatives to This Particular Tour
There are two Walks of Italy alternative tours that are worth highlighting here for their unique offerings.
The first is the VIP Colosseum Underground Tour (with Roman Forum and Palatine Hill), which takes you beneath the arena floor to a part of the Colosseum that the vast bulk of visitors never get to investigate.
It’s pricier – mostly because entrance tickets to this part of the Colosseum cost more – but the experience diverges distinctly from what most people receive.
The second Colosseum trip we did during our recent time in Rome is the VIP Colosseum at Night Tour, which includes the underground area discussed above along with the arena floor, but takes place after the majority of visitors have gone home for the day.
Bonus: the temperature will not be excessively high (though it will still be warm if it was hot during the day).
Experiencing the Colosseum at night creates a truly unique atmosphere, and this tour allows visitors to descend underground and inspect the arena`s inner workings.
Our guide for this particular tour lacked the skill of weaving a cohesive narrative and sharing a tale like Dario did (it came across more as just a series of disjointed facts), but that`s likely an isolated case rather than the standard.
