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Roman Colosseum – tickets, prices, discounts, hours, night tours

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The Colosseum is an oval-shaped amphitheater depicting Roman history’s beauty and tragedy.

It is one of the most iconic and well-preserved examples of Roman architecture and is a symbol of the grandeur and engineering prowess of the Roman Empire.

Every year, more than seven million tourists visit this 2000-year-old attraction, used for gladiatorial contests and various public spectacles, including animal hunts, mock sea battles, and executions.

Tourists usually visit the Colosseum along with the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.

This article covers everything you must know before booking Colosseum tickets.

Snapshot

Hours: 9 am to 12 am

Last Entry: 10.30 pm

Time needed: 2 to 3 hours

Ticket cost: $42 to $49

Best time: An hour before sunset

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Colosseum Rome tickets

There are many kinds of Colosseum tickets.

Depending on your time, level of interest in Roman history, and budget, you can choose the most appropriate Colosseum tour or ticket.

How online Colosseum tickets work

All the online Colosseum tickets are also known as Skip The Line tickets because they help you skip the long queues at the ticket counter.

When you buy Colosseum entry tickets online, they get emailed to you within minutes.

On the day of your visit, show the email you received at the entrance and walk in – no need to take printouts.

Colosseum tickets are timed

As a rule, only 3000 tourists can be inside the Colosseum anytime.

All visitors must select a time and date while booking their Colosseum tickets.

These timed tickets help the Colosseum authorities keep the count at 3000 without making the tourists wait long.

However, you must be at the tourist attraction within 15 minutes of the time mentioned on your Colosseum Rome ticket. 

Otherwise, you will be sent back.

Validity of Colosseum ticket

Some Colosseum tickets have two-day validity, meaning you can explore the Colosseum on Day 1 and return the next day to explore the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.

You don’t need to visit all the sites on the same day. 

However, you can only visit the Colosseum once because the ticket allows only one entry into each site.

Priority Access Colosseum ticket

This Roman Colosseum ticket gives you priority access to the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill.

The ticket gets you priority access through a separate entrance.

You can explore the magnificent Colosseum, which had 80 entrances and could accommodate around 65,000 spectators.

You have an option to book special access to the Arena Floor.

Take some pictures, refresh yourself, and wander around.

You can see the permanent and temporary exhibitions before moving to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.

With your guide, begin the second part of your tour – to the Palatine Hill and Roman Forum.

Explore the social, political, and religious center of the Roman Empire.

Learn about the incredible ruins at Palatine Hill on a guided tour of the grounds, and enjoy breathtaking panoramic views of the Colosseum.

Ticket Prices

Adult Ticket (18+ years): €69
Child Ticket (6 to 17 years): €55
Infant Ticket (up to 5 years): €4

Arena Floor Access

Adult Ticket (18+ years): €75
Child Ticket (6 to 17 years): €55
Infant Ticket (up to 5 years): €4

Colosseum Tour with Gladiator Arena

This ticket is the most popular because it offers a complete Colosseum experience.

You get in through the back door entrance leading straight to the arena floor, thus saving much waiting time.

Once inside, you explore the Colosseum’s ground floor level and the second tier.

Hear your guide tell entertaining and engaging stories and legends about who fought in gladiatorial combat.

After you finish the guided tour, you can stay for another 30 minutes into the Colosseum, and later, you will be escorted to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, which will be self-guided.

Entrance is strictly limited, so you must arrive 30 minutes before departure, as anyone who comes after their time slot cannot be accommodated or refunded.

Ticket Prices

Adult Ticket (17+ years): €104
Child Ticket (4 to 16 years): €85
Infant Ticket (up to 3 years): Free

If you didn’t book your Colosseum skip the line tickets, and your visit is coming up soon, opt for Colosseum’s Last Minute Priority Entrance ticket.

Colosseum and Roman Forum with Multimedia Video

Watch a short multimedia video about ancient Rome, and then explore the Forum, Palatine Hill first, and the Colosseum.

This ticket gives you a skip-the-line entry to the Archaeological Park, which includes the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and the Colosseum.

Visit the Roman Forum, where everyday Roman citizens used to live, see the tomb of emperor Julius Caesar, and explore the ancient ruins at your own pace.

Continue visiting the Palatine Hill, next to the Roman Forum and Circus Maximum.

Finally, you explore Colosseum, the largest amphitheater ever built by the Roman Empire.

Ticket Prices

Entry ticket with Audio Guide

Adult Ticket (6+ years): €44
Infant Ticket (up to 5 years): €5

Entry ticket with Multimedia Video

Adult Ticket (18+ years): €39
Child Ticket (up to 17 years): €6

Colosseum with Underground entrance

This two-and-a-half-hour guided tour gets you skip-the-line access to the Colosseum, the arena floor, and its underground.

Visitors love descending into the underground tunnels where gladiators and wild animals await their fates.

That’s why these tickets to the Roman Colosseum are also known as the Gladiator Entrance tickets.

Everybody gets dedicated audio headsets so that they can hear the guide. 

After the guide has taken you around the Colosseum and Roman Forum, you are free to explore Palatine Hill on your own.

Colosseum’s Underground Tour comes in two flavors – with a maximum participant size of 24.

The smaller the group size, the more intimate the experience you carry home.

Ticket Cost with a MAXIMUM OF 24 participants

Adult Ticket (17+ years): €109
Child Ticket (2 to 16 years): €99
Infant Ticket: (up to 1 year): €29

Private Tour of Underground, Arena & Forum

Adult Ticket (18+ years): €459
Child Ticket (up to 17 years): €199

Want to increase the scare quotient of your visit? Book a night tour of the Colosseum Underground. But before that, find out everything about Colosseum night tours.

Best of Rome Pass

Rome Super Pass is one easy pass for Rome’s best – Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St Peter’s Basilica.

Once activated, this ticket is valid for three consecutive calendar days.

The timeslot you select while booking the ticket applies to your entrance to the Vatican. 

Around 15 minutes before you enter the Vatican Museums, you must meet the Touristation representative and collect all your tickets. 

The meeting point is right in front of the Vatican Museum’s entrance. 

Ticket Prices

Adult Ticket (18+ years): €115
Child Ticket (7 to 17 years): €95
Infant Ticket (up to 6 years): Free

Opt for the Vatican and Colosseum combo tour if you are in Rome for a short holiday.

Mamertine Prison & Colosseum tickets

This ticket is a popular combination among tourists because Mamertine Prison is just 1 km (two-thirds of a mile) from the Roman Colosseum.

Mamertine Prison is in the basement of the church of San Pietro in Carcere. It has housed vanquished emperors, kings, and Saints Peter and Paul.

In prison, you will see the bars St. Peter was chained to and the pool of water he used to baptize visitors.

Once activated, this combo ticket is valid for 24 hours.

Ticket Prices

Adult Ticket (18+ years): €30
Child Ticket (6 to 17 years): €7
EU Citizen with valid ID (18 to 25 years): €9
Infant Ticket (up to 5 years): Free

We recommend this family-friendly guided tour of the Colosseum if you visit Rome with kids.

If you want to experience the Colosseum as it would have been in its heydays—with roaring lions and fighting gladiators—we recommend this self-guided Virtual Reality tour.

Tip: Since they are close by, some tourists love to visit Colosseum and Trevi Fountain together

Visual Story: 15 must-know tips before visiting Colosseum


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How to reach the Colosseum

The Colosseum is located in Piazza Del Colosseo 1, in the center of Rome. It is next to Piazza Venezia, the central hub of Rome, Italy. Get Directions.

Traveling to the ancient Rome Colosseum from anywhere in the city is easy.

If you have already bought your tickets, look for the line for ‘visitors with reservations’ at the Colosseum entrance.

Public transport

You can buy bus and metro tickets at newsstands and tabaccaio (cigarette shops) or from ticket dispensing machines at bus and metro stations.

Once you board the bus or metro, validate the tickets on the validation machine.

Passengers with unvalidated tickets can be fined (anywhere from €50 to €110).

In Rome, the cost of public transport tickets is around €1 to €2.

Children younger than ten years of age can use public transportation for free.

Depending on where you are starting from, you can board Bus Nos. 75, 81, 673, 175, or 204. All of them stop in front of the Colosseum in Rome.

Metro to Colosseum

Rome’s Metro service (locals call it Metropolitana) goes around rather than through the ancient city.

It has three lines—the A Line (Red), the B Line (Blue), and the newly inaugurated C Line (Green)—which cross at Termini Central Station.

On most routes, the trains run approximately every five to ten minutes.

Colosseo station to Colosseum

To reach the Colosseum by train, take Line B of the Rome Metro and get down at the Colosseo Metro station.

A quick five-minute walk will get you to the Colosseum. Get Directions

Tram to Colosseum

Trams in Rome also start – at 5.30 am and continue till midnight.

On weekdays, the frequency of Trams is high (one every five to ten minutes), but on Sundays, the rate decreases.

There are six active Tram routes in Rome, the most important being Line 3, Line 8, and Line 19.

To get to the Colosseum by Tram, you must get onto Tram Line 3.

It starts from Station Trastevere and goes up to Valle Giulia, and on the way, it has 41 stops.

When starting from Station Trastevere, you need to get down at the 13th stop to reach the Colosseum.

By Car

If you travel by car, turn on Google Maps and get started.

There are multiple parking spaces around the Colosseum.


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Opening hours of the Roman Colosseum

The Roman Colosseum opens at 8.30 am throughout the year, but its closing time changes according to the season. During the peak months of March to September, the Colosseum closes at 7.15 pm.

The last Sunday of Oct to 15 February: 8.30 am to 4.30 pm

16 February to 15 March: 8.30 am to 5 pm

16 March to the last Saturday of March: 8.30 am to 5.30 pm

Last Sunday of March to 31 August: 8.30 am to 7:15 pm

1 to 30 September: 8.30 am to 7 pm

1 October to last Saturday of October: 8.30 am to 6.30 pm

Ancient Rome’s Colosseum is closed on Good Friday from 8.30 am to 2.00 pm and on 2 June from 1.30 pm to 7.15 pm.

The last entrance is always one hour before closing.

The Colosseum remains closed on 1 January (New Year), 1 May (Labor Day), and 25 December (Christmas).


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How long does the Colosseum tour take

Visitors usually take 60 to 90 minutes to explore the Colosseum’s first and second floors, the arena, and the underground.

All Colosseum tickets come with access to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, and if you decide to visit them on the same day, you need one more hour.

Guided tours of the Roman Colosseum and the two ancient sites usually take three hours.

Recommendations

# There are no food outlets at the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, so if you plan to explore all three on the same day, eat well before

# Roman Forum and Palatine Hill cover a massive area. We recommend a sun hat, comfortable walking shoes, and water.

# There is little or no signage at the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Standing in front of ruin and not knowing what it is, is a not-so-good experience. The best solution is to book a guided tour of the three ancient Roman sites. The second best option is to install ‘Google Lens‘ and learn to use it.


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Best time to visit Colosseum

If you want to avoid the crowd, the best time to visit the Colosseum is when it opens at 8.30 am.

If you can’t make it in the morning, be at the Colosseum by 3 pm – after tour groups have left.

The queues are shorter during this period, and the sun is not as harsh.

Roman Colosseum peak times

The peak months are March to October, and the lines at the ticket counter and the security check are the longest in the first half of the day.

During the peak summer months, avoid reaching the Colosseum after 11 am.

Exploring the Colosseum when the sun is high can be difficult, with no shade and no place to sit down.

The Rome Tourist Pass is a super saver. For just €89 per person, the pass includes entry tickets to Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and Pantheon and a guided tour of St. Peter’s Basilica. You also get a 10% discount code, which you can use (five times!) to get discounts on future purchases.


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Waiting time at Colosseum

At the Colosseum, you wait in two lines – at the ticket counter to buy your tickets and then at the line for security screening.

If you buy Colosseum tickets in advance, you can avoid waiting at the ticket counter.

However, you can’t skip the security check line.

The waiting time at the Colosseum depends on the season, the day of the week, and the time.

We share the approximate waiting times at the Colosseum during peak and non-peak months.

Monday to Thursday

TimePeak Season*Non-peak Season**
8.30 am to 9 am30 mins15 mins
9 am to 1 pm2 hours30 mins
1 pm to 3 pm1 hour30 mins
3 pm to last entry30 mins15 mins

Friday to Sunday

TimePeak Season*Non-peak Season**
8.30 am to 9 am45 mins15 mins
9 am to 1 pm3 hours1 hour
1 pm to 3 pm2 hour30 mins
3 pm to last entry45 mins15 mins

*Peak months: April to August
**Non-peak months: September to March

These waiting times can increase during school holidays, summer vacations, festivals, etc.

This estimate includes the time spent waiting to buy your ticket and then waiting for the security line.

Buy your tickets in advance to reduce the waiting time at the Colosseum’s entrance by more than half.


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Colosseum free entry

There are many ways to enter the Colosseum for free.

Free Sunday

On the first Sunday of every month, visitors can enter the Colosseum for free.

However, we don’t recommend this because the queues are pretty long.

You can’t book group tours, guided tours, or online tickets on free Sundays.

Free entry by qualification

Some visitors qualify for free admission to the Colosseum by default.

  • Visitors aged 18 and below
  • Disabled EU citizens
  • Companions of disabled visitors

Disabled visitors must carry valid medical documentation.

Omnia Vatican & Rome Card

This discount card is yet another way to enter the Colosseum for free.

It combines two cards – the Roma Card and the OMNIA Vatican Card.

While the Roma Card grants free entry to two of Rome’s five top attractions, the OMNIA Vatican Card allows free entrance to all the top sights in Vatican City.

Find out more about the Omnia Vatican & Rome Card


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Colosseum audio & video guide

We highly recommend guided tours of the Colosseum because there is so much to see and learn.

However, renting the audio or video guide is the next best option if you prefer your pace.

The audio guide is 1 hour and 10 minutes long and costs Euros 5.50.

The video guide lasts 45 minutes and is available for Euros 6.

Both guides are available in Italian, English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, and Portuguese.

Besides the above languages, the audio guide is available in Arabic and Latin.

Must see: World’s first LEGO Colosseum

Recommended Reading: Interesting Colosseum facts


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What to see at the Colosseum

Colosseum facts

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The Colosseum is enormous, and there are many things to see once you are inside.

Here are the must-see features of this Roman attraction:

Colosseum’s outer wall

The Colosseum is oval and 186 meters (610 feet) long by 156 meters (512 feet) wide.

The outer wall is 57 meters (187 feet) high and made of travertine marble held together by iron clamps.

In a massive earthquake of 1349, the Colosseum’s south side outer wall collapsed, exposing the inner wall.

Do spend some time marveling at the massive outer walls.

Colosseum’s Arena floor

Colosseum Arena
The Colosseum’s Arena Floor is where the ancient Roman gladiators fought to the death. You must enter from the Gate of Death to step on this floor. Image: Henry Paul

The arena floor was built of wood and covered with sand.

The Romans built trap doors on this wooden floor for dramatic entries during the gladiator fights.

Since this wooden flooring didn’t survive the test of time, a new platform has been raised to give tourists the experience of standing on the Arena Floor.

When you look up at the top seating arrangements while standing in the Colosseum’s arena, you will realize the massive structure the Romans had built.

The Underground (Hypogeum)

Since the wooden floor couldn’t stand the test of time, the Colosseum’s underground is exposed to all.

Under the floor of the Colosseum is a two-story structure full of tunnels, cages, and rooms meant for gladiators and wild animals participating in the shows.

As the show progressed, the performers and the wild animals were moved through the tunnels and brought in front of the crowd through trap doors on the wooden floor.

Book the Underground Tour

Colosseum seating

The King and the Vestal Virgins sat in the best seats at the North and South ends of the arena.

You can still see the names of some of the senators carved in the area reserved for them in tier 1.

The Noble families occupied tier 2, and the general public took their places in the third and fourth levels.

The regular Colosseum ticket allows you to enter tiers 1 and 2 and experience life as a Roman spectator.

Colosseum’s Belvedere

Colosseum Belvedre
Tourists sitting at Colosseum’s Belvedere get stunning views of the Roman attraction. Image: Tripadvisor.com

However, to experience the amphitheater’s incredible height and get fantastic views, you must go to Tiers 4 and 5.

These tiers are also known as the Colosseum Belvedere.

Tier 5 is 40 meters (131 feet) high and offers a breathtaking view of Rome and the Colosseum Arena.

Unfortunately, like the underground tunnels, these tiers are also accessible only through a special tour.

Tip: If you want to see all the areas mentioned above, check out this tour of the Colosseum.

Sources
# Freetoursbyfoot.com
# Tickets-colosseum.com
# Coopculture.it
# Romecolosseumtickets.tours

The travel specialists at TheBetterVacation.com use only high-quality sources while researching & writing their articles. We make every attempt to keep our content current, reliable and trustworthy.

Tourist attractions in Rome

PompeiiColosseumVatican Museums
Sistine ChapelSt Peters BasilicaRoman Forum
Capitoline MuseumCastel Sant AngeloBorghese Gallery
Catacombs of RomePantheon RomeMamertine Prison
Da Vinci ExperienceGladiator SchoolAquafelix Waterpark
Catacombs of San SebastianoCatacombs of PriscillaCallixtus Catacombs
Museum of IllusionsPalace of Castel GandolfoZoomarine Rome
Trevi FountainCapuchin CryptVilla d’Este in Tivoli
Domus AureaOlympic StadiumPalazzo Colonna
Villa AdrianaBioparco di RomaDoria Pamphilj Gallery
Basilica of San GiovanniNational Etruscan MuseumStadium of Domitian
Da Vinci ExhibitionLa Traviata OperaPalazzo Cipolla

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This article was researched & written by

Edited by Rekha Rajan & fact checked by Jamshed V Rajan

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