Visiting the Colosseum on your Rome trip can involve a lot of waiting around if you don’t plan in advance, which will waste your precious vacation time, and can be uncomfortable in the blazing sun.
While tickets are available for €18 at the official Colosseum box office, many people opt to book a Colosseum package in advance, saving them time.
Thankfully, as long as you’re prepared, it can be very easy to get into the Colosseum without lining up at the ticket office.
No one wants to waste hours of what may be a short visit in Rome, even for something as grand as the Colosseum. That’s why getting advance packages for the Colosseum is essential to make the most of your time.
We have a number of suggestions to make your Colosseum experience as smooth as possible, from buying official tickets to booking group guided tours.
The cheapest and easiest method to get Colosseum tickets in advance should be to go directly to the official Colosseum website and buy a basic entrance ticket (€18) for the Colosseum and Forum/Palatine there, or a ticket with Arena or Attic access (€24).
However, due to tickets being released in timed batches with a fixed date and time for your visit, it can sometimes be a challenge to get a ticket on the date you want on the official ticketing website. On top of this, there is occasionally an over-enthusiastic firewall that can block your IP address, which can make the experience frustrating.
Read on to learn about alternatives.
To avoid having to line up at the box office, you can buy a Colosseum experience offer online in advance. Not only does this mean you get to save hours, but also can make it more likely that you are able to book your entrance at a date/time that you want.
You should know that a Colosseum package also gets you into the Forum and the Palatine Hill, and vice versa. It is important to remember that your visit to the Colosseum is timed, so you must choose the date and time when you book your experience.
However, the Forum/Palatine can be visited on the same Colosseum ticket any time within 24 hours before or after your Colosseum visit.
You can easily buy a Colosseum experience offer from a reseller such at Tiqets for around €37. This package will also get you into the Forum and Palatine Hill.
While reseller packages are charged at a slight premium, they are much more accessible, and don’t typically have the same issues with trying to get tickets for specific dates.
An alternative way to walk straight in at the Colosseum is to book a small-group guided tour.
This way, the tickets are already bought for you – and having a guide is without a doubt the best way to bring the monument alive. A guided tour is perfect for helping to recreate the sights, sounds, and stories of gladiatorial combat and wild animals as you gaze at the vast structure.
Having a guide for the Forum is is also highly recommended as the ruins are unmarked, so a guide can bring the ancient city alive, highlighting points of interest to you that you wouldn’t otherwise even know were there, such as the secret servants’ tunnel under the Palatine Hill. It’s easy to get a combo Colosseum/Forum guided tour.
Another option to get your hands on a Colosseum entrance time is by opting to buy a discount card such as the downloadable Rome Tourist Card.
Note that both the Roma Pass and Omnia Card still require you to book a Colosseum time-slot for €2. Even if you have your card in your hand, this must be done on the “standard ticket” page of the official website.
If you can find an available time-slot, you have to go through the motions of buying a full-price ticket, and in the “options” section you will find the page that allows you to pay €2 for an entrance time.
With the Rome Tourist Card, however you can decide the time and date of your visit at the time of purchase.
If you’d prefer, you can book a guided tour of the Colosseum with Arena access. Though somewhat more expensive than a small-group guided tour, you benefit from one-on-one interaction with your guide to ask as many questions as you please.
This tour offers a unique experience compared to the other Colosseum packages, as you get the chance to ascend to the top level where the ‘hoi polloi’ would spend all day with a near-vertical view down onto the action.
Whichever way you buy your Colosseum ticket, you’ll be emailed a PDF voucher, which you’ll then need to print out. This is an important step, as this voucher needs to be converted into a ticket at the first site you visit. The exception to this is if you’re on a guided tour, where your ticket entry will be taken care of for you as part of the tour.
For the Colosseum, this can be done at any of the ticket-holders-only booths just inside the Colosseum door. However, during peak months of the year there are temporary booths on the other side of the street from the Metro station that will do this too. If you are entering the Forum/Palatine complex first, we recommend you do this at the main Forum ticket booth, indicated on the map, where the lines here are usually much shorter.
Note that the Colosseum operates a strict capacity control of 3,000 people at any one time, which during peak times can affect your waiting time even if you have a ticket.
Insider tip: if you haven’t been able to buy a Colosseum ticket in advance, we recommend making your way to the ticket office at the Forum entrance (marked on the map on page: down the lane opposite the end of Via Cavour) where the lines are much less brutal, and you can buy a combined ticket there without so much waiting in line.
Colosseum opening hours 2026-27:
Mar 29 – Sep 30: 8.30am – 6.15pm
Oct 1 – Oct 24: 8.30am – 5.30pm
Oct 25 – Feb 28: 8.30am – 3.30pm
4.30pm
(Afternoon times show the final entrance time; the park stays open for 1 hour after the final entrance)
Only closed Christmas day and New Year’s Day
Nearest metro station:
Colosseo (Line B)
Click to enlarge or download