Get a gladiator’s view of the Colosseum, then explore the Roman Forum on a walking tour through the heart of ancient Rome. With a special access ticket, you'll enter the arena via the Gladiator’s Gate. Stand where gladiators once fought, hear tales of ruthless crowds and emperors, then explore the Colosseum’s first and second levels with your guide. Finish with a tour of Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum with even more stories that bring the ruins to life.
Posted By : Heidi_S
Fabio was great. Best tour guide we've experienced in Itally. So entertaining we forgot we were standing in line. He was a wealth of knowledge and really added to our visit to the colosseum and Palatine Hill.
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Posted On : 2024-05-18 14:04:13 
Posted By : Maddison_R
Paula was amazing and was so knowledgeable about the Roman forum and the colosseum. She gave lots of little facts that we wouldn’t have otherwise known. She is also an archeologist which allowed her to give some additional context about the structures, etc. She also stopped anywhere we wanted for photos and always offered/insisted that she took a photo of the full family. Absolutely incredible and couldn’t recommend more. 10/10, no complaints.
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Posted On : 2024-05-18 03:50:05
Posted By : Susan_D
Our guide was very knowledgeable about the Colosseum and its history. This was an awesome experience and we would highly recommend this tour.
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Posted On : 2024-05-17 14:47:53
Posted By : Lorraine_B
Maria was a wonderful guide. Amazed with her knowledge we had a fabulous tour. Do not hesitate to book this tour x
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Posted On : 2024-05-16 12:44:19
Posted By : Laurie_H
Tour was fun! Eddy was an excellent guide. Very knowledgeable and fun! I learned slit more by using g a guide than going solo.
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Posted On : 2024-05-16 03:23:40
Posted By : Graham_H
The tour guide was very knowledgeable and helped to give an understanding of not just the amazing construction of these buildings but also how the Romans lived during these times.
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Posted On : 2024-05-16 01:33:41
Posted By : Jill_H
Letizia was an excellent guide. She was very knowledgeable, informative, & personable. She took her time explaining all sites. I would highly recommend..
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Posted On : 2024-05-15 03:27:27
Posted By : Erin_M
Our guide was incredibly knowledgable and helped us put into perspective the historical importance of these landmarks. She filled us in on the stories behind the Colosseum and ancient ruins. A must for anyone looking to get more out of their trip to Rome.
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Posted On : 2024-05-14 21:47:43
Posted By : chris45ny
One of my "must do" visits for my husband and I was the Colosseum. I had tried to book tickets before our trip from the official website with no luck. While in Venice, Florence, Amalfi, and even when we first arrived in Rome on 9/16/2023 I tried, tried to book tickets with no success. It was so frustrating!
My husband and I had booked and done the Key Masters Tour/Vatican Museum with Walks on 9/20/2023 and it was amazing so I thought I would contact this agency to see if we could get tickets for the Colosseum. I worked on line with Samantha-guest support Walks-who was able to not only get us tickets for a tour of the Colosseum but tickets with entry through Gladiator's Gate with access to arena floor! So on 9/22/2023 just days before we would be leaving to head home we got our tickets! I was really lucky to get the arena floor access.
Our visit was for 9/24/2023 time 10:30 am. Meet time 10:15 am. Cost was 220.80€ with a 10% discount (how nice was that!) so total cost for the 2 of us was 198.72€/$212.16. More expensive that just a regular ticket from the official website of the Colosseum but I just couldn't leave Italy/Rome without touring the Colosseum! This guided tour would also cover Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. I received a confirmation e-mail with all the information needed including where and when to meet. Our guided tour is for the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and Roman Forum. It's a beautiful day!
We are at the meet site around 10:00 am. No way am I going to miss this tour! There were about 15 in our group. Our guide was great and I do wish I could remember her name. She had a pole with a red lobster and often during the tour I could hear her say "follow the red lobster"! We were given headsets so we could hear all the information she was imparting. First we're told that we would not be doing the Colosseum first. I was disappointed by that. We followed our guide across the street, got our admission stickers and proceed to walk over to the area of Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. There are lots of tour groups so the red lobster was excellent for us to stay with our group/guide.
We walked on the Via Sacra and saw the Arch of Titus which is part of the Roman Forum. Our guide explained that this is a 1st century AD arch located on the Via Sacra. It was constructed by Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his brother Titus. To commemorate the victory of Titus with their father Vespasian over the Jewish rebellion in Judea. Inside the arch there are reliefs/panels which our guide explained to us. It was very interesting to hear all this history.
Next we're told we will go to the top of Palatine Hill. One of the 7 hills of Rome and the most significant. Per legend this was where the she wolf suckled the twins Romulus and Remus. The city of Rome was founded by Romulus. It is the birth place of the first Roman emperor Augustus. Emperors had their residences here. I'm sure the views from there are splendid!
It's very steep and I knew it would be an issue with our mobility/leg problems. I mentioned this to our guide and she told us we could just wait for the group to return. As we're sitting waiting we could hear our guide talking through our headsets. It sounded like she was pointing out things from the Roman Forum to the group. So I assume you can see the ruins of the Roman Forum from the top of Palatine Hill. Our group returned after 30 minutes and we walked over towards where the Roman Forum is. I was thinking we'd have a tour here but I was wrong and this was a huge disappointment. If I had known/been told that by our guide my husband and I would have explored some of the Roman Forum on our own while the group was on Palatine. Walking here would be easy as it's flat with no steep stairs to climb.
Our guide did show us one other part of the Roman Forum after the group descended from Palatine. The Roman Forum is important because it used to be the center of day to day life in Rome. Site of triumphal processions and elections, venue for public speeches/criminal trials, nucleus of commercial affairs. There were statues and monument s of the city's great men here. It's a rectangular area and surrounded by ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. It fell into complete disrepair after the fall of the Roman Empire. Slowly decayed, destroyed by earthquakes, pillaged for the marble.
We walked to the Basilica of Maxentius. This is an ancient building which was the largest in the Roman Forum and the last basilica built in the city. Basilicas served many functions-courthouse, council chamber, meeting hall. Later the term basilica became known to be a large church or cathedral. Its design had become the basis for the design of larger places of worship. All that remains today is the north aisle with its 3 concrete barrel vaults. Our guide showed us some pictures of what this building used to look like. So much information. But I do wish we had known we wouldn't be doing a larger tour of the Roman Forum from ground level as there is signage.
Finally! Our last stop. The Colosseum. Symbol of the power of the ancient Roman Empire. Conceived by Emperor Vespasian who followed after Nero. Built on the site of the lake of Nero's golden house which I knew from our earlier tour of Domus Aurea-Nero's Golden Palace. Was the largest amphitheater/double theater in the Roman Empire. Inaugurated in 80 AD. It hosted exciting and lavish games including animal hunts, public executions, gladiator combat. There were tickets given out, numbered entrances, seats graded according to social status. The senators and prominent politicians had their own permanent seats with their names on them. Those are the white seats we saw. Only part of the original outer ring still survives. Our guide explained that the holes we see in the walls-travertine blocks-on the outside of the Colosseum were not held together with mortar but with iron pins. Centuries after the Colosseum was built the Roman dug out the iron and recycled it leaving the holes we saw. Our guide was so informative! Showed us lots of pictures while explaining.
We follow the lobster and our guide into the Colosseum by way of the Gladiator's Gate-an entrance once used exclusively by gladiators. We were now on the arena floor. Amazing! There were several places to sit so our group did that while our guide explained so much about the Colosseum. Reinforced by the pictures she showed us. Brought the history to life. We also explored the second level with our guide. She pointed out the elevator we could use which we and a few others in our group did. Much easier than navigating the stairs. Lots of uneven surfaces but my husband and I had our trekking poles with us!!
Our tour was supposed to be for 3 hours 15 minutes but we're done by 1:00 pm after a start time of 10:30 am. You have the ability to remain after the official tour is over. But I'm not sure if we could have returned to the Roman Forum which was the only let down from this tour.
My only negative about this tour was not realizing that what we thought would be a tour of the Roman Forum was not what actually happened. Because we didn't climb Palatine Hill we didn't get to see the guide pointing out to the group several ruins/places of the Roman Forum which were so visible from Palatine Hill. So to the tour company in the future if there are any who opt to not go to the top of Palatine Hill please inform them that there is no in depth tour of the Roman Forum other than a few places. This would allow them to decide if they want to spend the 30 minutes walking on their own through the ground level area of the Roman Forum. Set a time for them to return to the meet place by the sign. Also if the tour had happened with the Colosseum first my husband and I would have stayed to explore the Roman Forum on our own. The guide was excellent with what we learned about the Colosseum. Make sure you have good walking shoes, a hat and sunscreen depending on the weather. If you have any problems walking on uneven surfaces trekking/hiking poles can be very helpful.
I really appreciated the effort made by Walks to get us into this tour and can highly recommend. So much better to have a guide that can make the history come alive! And she was so, so nice. And I loved the pole with the red lobster which helped my husband and I stay with our group as there were so many tour groups at the Colosseum!
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Posted On : 2024-05-14 17:06:22 
Posted By : bethany_c
Our guide was terrific and the tour was wonderful. I would highly recommend! Having a small group was terrific as well.
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Posted On : 2024-05-14 16:15:20
