Most people buy the wrong Colosseum ticket. The standard one covers the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill for €18, and it does not get you onto the arena floor or down into the underground. Those are separate products, and you cannot upgrade at the gate.
What each ticket actually covers
| Ticket | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Colosseo, Foro Romano, Palatino | €18 | First and second levels, Colosseum Museum, Forum and Palatine. 75 minutes inside the Colosseum. |
| Only Arena | €18 | The arena floor itself, roughly 20 minutes, plus Forum and Palatine. Last arena entry 6pm. |
| Full Experience Arena | €24 | Arena plus 90 minutes in the Colosseum, valid two consecutive days. |
| Full Experience Underground and Arena | €24 | Adds the hypogeum. Last Colosseum entry 5.20pm. |
Booking is compulsory, and the window is exactly 30 days
You must reserve a time slot for the Colosseum. Turning up at a different hour is not permitted. Tickets are released exactly 30 days before the visit date, so if you are planning further out than that, there is nothing to buy yet and any site claiming otherwise is reselling.
The Forum and Palatine half of the ticket is valid within 24 hours of your Colosseum slot, but it is one entry. Walk out for lunch and you have spent it.
Opening hours
- 29 March to 30 September: 8.30am to 7.15pm, last entry 6.15pm. Forum and Palatine open from 9am.
- 1 to 24 October: closes 6.30pm.
- 25 October to 28 February: closes 4.30pm.
- Closed 25 December and 1 January. There is no weekly closing day.
Free entry on the first Sunday of the month, 25 April, 2 June and 4 November. Free does not mean easy: those days are busy and the timed slots still apply.
Buy from the right place
Official sales are at ticketing.colosseo.it. Be careful with older pages quoting €16 and €22 through CoopCulture, which is no longer the concessionaire. Prices here were checked against colosseo.it on 26 August 2026 and can change.
Tours and tickets shown here are sold by GetYourGuide.
Tickets and attractions in Rome
Skip-the-line entry and timed tickets on Tiqets.
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