Colosseum Underground VIP All Access Tour with Ancient Rome

This may be a scam. I booked this tour in May and arrived at the meeting point 15 minutes before the scheduled start time, but no one showed up. I called and texted the Empires Tour agency several times, but they never responded. Finally, they answered, around one hour late, they claimed to not have our reservation on file. It was very disappointing. I contacted Viator and hope to receive a full refund.

Terribly disappointing experience. We booked this tour over three months in advance as it was meant to be the highlight of our trip to Rome. Instead, it turned into one of our biggest disappointments. When we arrived at the meeting point, we couldn’t initially find the tour operator. Once we eventually found someone, we were told there was no record of our booking, despite having received a confirmation email that very morning. They took a photo of our booking details and said they would process a refund, but also told us there was no way to book a similar tour during the remainder of our stay in Rome. Instead, we were offered a last-minute alternative: a standard general admission ticket (€18 each) plus €70 each for a guide. We felt pressured to accept this on the spot, as we had already planned our day around this experience and were told there were no other options. Another family arrived with exactly the same problem, having also been told their booking didn’t exist. Together, we were placed on a tour an hour later. Unfortunately, it bore no resemblance to the VIP, all-access experience we had paid for. The replacement tour did not include the underground areas or any of the additional access that had been the main reason we booked this tour in the first place. Instead, we were given a guide who simply carried a folder of pictures, made jokes that were difficult to understand, and delivered an experience that felt very basic. In reality, we could have simply purchased the €18 general admission tickets ourselves and explored at our own pace. Paying an additional €70 each for a guide added very little value and was certainly not what we had booked or expected. This was supposed to be the highlight of our time in Rome, and instead it left us feeling frustrated, disappointed, and let down. Thankfully, Viator has been working with us to arrange a refund, which we appreciate. However, that doesn’t make up for the lost opportunity. You only get one chance to experience a trip like this, and it’s incredibly disappointing when something you’ve planned and looked forward to for months falls so far short of expectations.

We orginally booked this tour at 930 AM over six months in advance to avoid the crowds and the heat of the day. Four days prior we were sent a message saying it had been switched to a 1230 pm start time, right during the hottest and busiest part of the day. I attempted to contact the tour operator three times in the four days prior to the tour to discuss or reschedule and we received no response. In addition, the time in the app showed our old start time so we never even received final confirmation for whether the change was permanent. When we arrived at noon to check in for our tour, we waited for 45 minutes before our guide showed up and rushed us into the Colosseum 15 minutes late. When we got inside, the guide walked so far in front of us, people in the group struggled to stay together. The tickets were disorganized and there was further delay when trying to enter. The guide was personable but his English was extremely poor and nearly impossible to understand. We could only make out about every 10th word which meant the education and experience we had hoped to get for our family and two young teenage children was completely lost. In addition, the tour, especially in the underground felt very rushed because of our late entry. At one point, people in our group were even separated due to the speed the guide was going. Also, the crowds and heat with the 3.5 hour start time delay were very frustrating, particularly when you factor in that we had planned an earlier start time six months ago specifically to avoid these. I attempted to contact the tour operator after to share my feedback and request a partial refund but they refused to do anything to compensate. For something that my family was very much looking forward to, planned accordingly for a specific time well in advance, and paid a premium for, it was definitely a major disappointment. I would avoid this tour and operator at all costs.

Our tour director never showed up after waiting 1 1/2 hours we decided to go on are own. This tour was paid in full in Jan 2026, trying to get a refund which has been very difficult through Viator.

Small group ( 4 individuals) with excellent private access to sites in the Forum and Colesrum. Excellent tour guide.

We booked an underground tour and at last minute was cancelled. We were promised a refund for a reduced tour and are still waiting. Have sent several emails with no response

This was are second time visiting the Coliseum. What was nice about going back is we learn new stuff that we didn't hear about last time around but then heard amazing stories of what took place with times. Missed not doing the underground but the arena was pretty cool too.

We had booked the underground VIP Tour of 14:00 and the day before we were informed by message that The underground was cancelled and replaced by an experience tour at 9:00 AM .. Huge disappointment because we had booked for months and this visit was really expected! Finally we adapted our schedule and arrived at 9:00 as requested .. the guide was late and the tour started at 9:50 ... the visit of the Coliseum lasted almost 2:15 out of the 3 hours planned .. far too much unnecessary information about the construction and very little information about the stories, the use of the Coliseum , examples etc .... There were so many people that you can't call it a VIP tour .. nothing VIP in this tour .... Moreover our guide spoke English with a very strong Spanish accent which makes us have bcp Problems understanding his monologue. The visit to the Roman forum was more Concise and interesting. We are not very happy with the turn of the lap.

BOOK IT!! Definitely worth the small difference in price to do small group & VIP access. Francesca was so knowledgeable and had a great sense of humour. She knew how to bypass all the queues and had lots of information we wouldn't have known without her. Highly recommend 👌

The tour guide changed the time. Never notified Viator or me. I contacted Viator several days before tour and Viator assure me my tour was at 2pm On morning of tour, the tour guide contacted me at 9:28 am and said the tour was about to begin at 9:30. So we missed most of the tour and rush through part of tour we were able to attend I requested full refund