Buying Colosseum tickets in advance online is the best way to visit, saving you hours of lining up. When you buy a ticket before your visit, you will be able to breeze past the very long line for the Colosseum ticket office, and will only have a short wait at the door while you go through security.
Unfortunately people are having significant problems getting hold of these skip-the-line tickets. Here’s a bunch of suggestions on how to get them.
The Colosseum ticket shortage
Warning: during high season every year there is a “ticket drought” for Colosseum tickets.
The official Colosseum ticket site releases tickets every day, thirty days in advance. Unfortunately these tickets get snapped up within seconds, every time they’re released. This is leading to a lot of frustration among visitors.
To help you avoid disappointment, we have an exclusive source for tickets, as well as other methods to try if you’re having problems with availability, to ensure you enjoy Rome’s spectacular amphitheater. Here’s what to do to find tickets if other options are failing you:
Remember, your Colosseum ticket also gives you access to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. You will need to choose a time and date for your entrance into the Colosseum, but you can enter the Forum and Palatine Hill complex at any time within 24 hours of your Colosseum visit, or any time up to 24 hours before your scheduled Colosseum tour.
Colosseum tickets option 1
Try to buy a standard skip-the-line ticket here:
Colosseum tickets option 2
If that is sold out, then try this exclusive last-minute ticket type:
Option 3
If you’re still having problems, then try a guided tour. This has the advantage of also bringing you to the immensely interesting forum too.
Option 4
If that is sold out, then try an exclusive guided tour with Arena visit and Forum:
Option 5
Or try a guided tour of the Colosseum including Underground, Arena, and Forum:
Option 6
Try your luck with a city card, which includes Vatican too:
Option 7
Have a look at everything that’s available.
Option 8
Just turn up at the Colosseum ticket office and see if they have any tickets! This will likely require waiting in line for a long time and you may end up disappointed, but if all other options are exhausted, this may be your only option
Option 9 – the last resort
Actually engage with those annoying people who hang around outside the Metro station trying to sell you tours, and ask them what they’ve got. Some may have skip-the-lines tickets or tours that they can sell you to get you in to the monument – for a premium.
