Private Colosseum Underground & Arena Tour
Description
Discover the Colosseum’s restricted Underground passages on a private tour led by a licensed guide. Follow the route once used by gladiators, animals and stage crews beneath the arena, then step onto the Arena Floor and continue through the Colosseum’s main public levels. Choose the standard Colosseum-only experience or extend your tour with a privately guided visit through the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Admission to the Forum and Palatine is included with both options; the guided visit is included only with the extended option. Because this is a private experience, your guide can adapt the pace and commentary to your group’s interests while working around the fixed Underground entry time and the site’s required route.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Explore the Colosseum privately with your licensed guide, including its restricted Underground passages, Arena Floor and main public levels. Discover how gladiators, animals and stage machinery were prepared beneath the arena before appearing before the crowds. The precise order of the Colosseum route may vary according to the timed Underground admission.
With the extended option, continue with your private guide through the Roman Forum, exploring the temples, basilicas and monuments at the centre of ancient Roman political and public life. Admission is included with both options, but the guided visit is included only with the extended option.
With the extended option, explore the Palatine Hill and discover the legendary birthplace of Rome, the imperial palaces and panoramic views across the Roman Forum. Admission is included with both options, but the guided visit is included only with the extended option.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Check-in closes 15 minutes prior to the departure time of the tour. Departures are on-time and there are no refunds or exchanges if you arrive after the departure time.
- Colosseum tickets are non-transferable and tied to the name on your booking. The name on your ID must match the name you provided during booking.
- Accepted IDs: Passport, Driver’s License, Official National ID Card
- Photocopies or digital versions are NOT accepted. If you forget your ID or if your names do not match, the Colosseum staff will unfortunately not allow you to enter.
- Prohibited items: Of course, no dangerous items are allowed. Think of airport security – anything prohibited there is also prohibited at the Colosseum.
- Bag restrictions: Bags must be no larger than 30x40x15cm. There are no storage facilities at the Colosseum. Please leave unnecessary items at your accommodation.
- Water & hydration: You can bring a water bottle, and there are free water fountains and kiosks nearby to refill it.
- There is no dress code for this tour, but we recommend comfortable shoes as there will be a fair amount of walking, as well as clothing appropriate for the weather.
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
Reviews(23)
Real Rome Tours set us up with an amazing guide, art historian Vincenzo. We had a private tour, and it was so worth it. Vincenzo was so lovely, relaxed, highly informed and an amazing storyteller, giving us a really brilliant and intelligent tour, we'll remember it for years to come. Such a wonderful way to start our first ever visit to Rome. He also breezed us past the queues, showed us so many secrets and special places in the Colosseum and The Forum. It was a fully private tour is such a great way to get a personalised experience. Communication from Real Rome tours was amazing in the lead up to, and afterwards.
Thank you so much, Georgina! 🤗 I’m delighted to hear that you and Tom enjoyed your tour with Vincenzo — he really is a wonderful storyteller, and I know he’ll be so pleased to hear your kind words. It was such a pleasure to host you in Rome, and I’m thrilled we could help make your very first visit a memorable one. We’d love to welcome you back anytime — there’s always more to discover in the Eternal City! Warm regards, Gerard – Real Rome Tours
Our experiences were everything that we had wanted them to be. Our guide was very knowledgeable and his information and descriptions painted vivid pictures of the society during those times. Would highly recommend this company and yes it was worth every dime.
Thank you! So wonderful to hear you enjoyed the experiences with our guides.
Very knowledgeable guide and gave us ample time to take in the sights. It's near impossible (unless you're a local) to book the underground directly through the government website, so book this tour if you want the underground. Definitely worth the extra experience to see the under-workings of the Colosseum. Plus there's a cool AR-video presentation of the gladiators that you won't get above ground. There's little-to-no description boards, so you really need a guide to learn anything (plus it appears you can't go underground without a guide anyway). Worth it.
Getting to go underground and see the workings and tunnels of the Coliseum was really great, much better than just seeing the floor and upper areas. The guide was very good in explaining the workings, tunnels and history
what made it special was our guide (Heidi) enthusiasm and deep knowledge of the history... She had an answer of all of our questions.
Thank you Marius, so glad that you enjoyed Heidi's enthusiasm and passion for the history of Rome!
Very informative and enthusiastic about the history of the colosseum and Roman Forum. Would have wondered aimlessly without a guide.
Thank you Maria, so glad you enoyed the experience!
Terrific guide ! Knowledgeable and professional. Highly recommend this company Very enjoyable experience
Thank you, much appreciated!!
Had a good tour. Took some time to get into the underground (we had about a one half hour wait) Our tour began at 1:25 and we didn't go underground until 2pm so quite a bit of our time was wasted just standing outside the Colosseum waiting to go in. Tour was great, a really good amount of information given, was 24 in our group so felt the group was too big for the price we paid - approx $300 cdn. Overall though we enjoyed the tour and had a good time.
Thank you for your review! I just wanted to let you know that we have taken your feedback into serious consideration, and have now reduced our group tours to a maximum of only 6 people. Thanks for the helpful feedback!
While this tour was very interesting and went to three different places, the Colosseum felt like an afterthought. Our tour guide(Antoinella) was very friendly, knowledgeable and passionate about what she was sharing with us. However, we spent an hour and a half at Palatine Hill (which was way too long!). My husband and I both wanted more time at the Roman Forum(really didn't walk around the Forum much at all) and the Colosseum. Wish I had booked a morning tour so we could have stayed longer in the Colosseum as it was the last stop.
This tour includes the Arena and the Underground at the Colosseum, which I think are the best parts of the tour! First of all you have true skip the line access with no waiting time at all. As access to the arena and the underground area is restricted, only about 2 tour groups are in this area at the same time which makes it such a nice experience. To see the caves where the lions were kept and the rooms for the gladiators was so interesting. Also the insight our guide (Heidi) gave us was very good. The tour was done with radio / headphone and they were of excellent quality. After the arena and the underground we saw the other parts of the colosseum. After this you visit the roman forum and the palatine hill - again with no waiting time at all. The tour takes 3.5 hours and is very good!
Hi beatef159, Thanks for sharing such a detailed account — I’m glad you enjoyed the Arena and Underground, they really are special areas of the Colosseum. Heidi will be delighted to hear your feedback on her guiding. We also appreciate your note on the radios — we make sure they’re always clear and reliable so nothing gets missed. Great to know the whole 3.5 hours flowed well. Hope to welcome you back to Rome! — Gerard, Real Rome Tours
