Express Colosseum Guided Tour: 1 Hour Fast Track Experience

I booked the "Colosseum, Roman Forum & Palatine Hill + Guided Tour" via Tiqets, which sells tickets via Gladiator Tours. According to the booking, the start time is 9.45 and we were supposed to be there 20 minutes before the start. We were there at 9.25 but our guide was not there and we had to wait for him until 10.20. We were given money to buy our own tickets even though we had already paid for these tickets for our entry(and also to not stand in line). We hung out with the guide and queued in different queues for over an hour. Finally he led us to a queue and there it turned out that the tickets were sold out. We together with our tour group went back to the office where we started. We demanded our money back or a confirmation from them that they had not been able to deliver what we paid for! The owner then became aggressive and shouted, swore and abused by pushing two of us in the group hard. I got a hard push in the face and pushes in the chest. It has been filmed also. We are very disappointed as we travelled from Sweden to fulfill our dream of visiting the Colosseum and their aggressive behavior really caused a terrifying experience. It is not okay to be assaulted. We want our money back because they did not deliver what we paid dearly for. I have never experienced anything like this before in my life and it really destroyed our day. I filmed some of the situation in the office but everything. This occured in 4th april and still 26th april i have not received money back. I WARN FOR THIS COMPANY and experience and DO NOT RECOMMEND!

It’s a great tour with tons of great information. Especially if you don’t know about the history. Special

My tour was cancelled by the operator. I was told it was refunded but until now, it was not yet reflected in my account.

Our guide was great but there was a total mess up on our schedule. We booked a 9:45 tour time but got a message to show up at 10:15. We showed up at 9:15 and were told that 9:45 was just an estimated time and to come back at 10:15. Then we learned there was a”problem” either over booked or the tour guide cancelled. They did find us another tour but we had to wait until one.

This tour was cancelled . The colosseum was closed due to a foreign dignitary visiting. Really disappointing although no fault of Viator.

When I arrived for my tour, they didn’t have my booking because there were none available for the day I booked. So luckily, they could find a tour for me 2 days later that did the same thing.

Brilliant trip Very informative Loads to learn Really enjoyed our time in Rome Beautiful architecture, a lot of history

I booked a Forum and Colosseum tour through Shore Excursion Group (via AAA), which ultimately partnered with Gladiator Tours. I’m a healthy traveler in my mid-forties, and, unfortunately, this tour was a major letdown. Our group met near the Colosseum, and our guide, Christina, carried a small flag. Just before we crossed a busy street, she mentioned to me that she had already lost some part of the group. Despite this, she moved ahead very quickly. As the crowds thickened, it became harder to stay with her, and soon I lost her entirely, along with the rest of the group. I wasn’t distracted or using my phone—I was simply trying to follow along in an extremely congested area filled with similar-looking tour flags. Christina did not appear to make any effort to keep the group together. A few simple actions—like setting a regrouping point, walking at a more moderate pace, or giving clearer guidance on how to stay together—could have helped prevent this. When I returned to the tour office, I learned that I couldn’t even explore the Forum on my own because Christina had already scanned my ticket. On top of that, the audio headset they originally provided had poor reception, making it difficult to follow what was being said. (I got another one that worked while I was at the tour office). Fortunately, I was able to tour the coliseum after waiting in the hot sun for about two hours for the group to conclude its forum tour. I traveled a long way to see these historic sites, and I left feeling extremely disappointed. I hope the company takes this feedback seriously and improves its coordination and communication going forward.

amazing guide, her knowledge was outstanding, we were a group aged between 5 and 75, everyone LOVED this experience, guide made sure that we didnt miss out on any details, so interesting and enjoyable, would 1000% recommend this, don't miss out!

We were running a little late due to a train schedule and I understand that they were not able to hold up the start of the tour. However, when I called, they would not allow us to reschedule or even agree to a partial credit to reschedule; we would have to pay full price once again to join another tour.

Amazing tour guide with extensive knowledge! Very kind and helpful loved every minute of it! Would highly recommend

This is not a walking tour. We stood in one spot the entire time at the colosseum as the guide just talk. It was boring.

This was a professional quide with uge knowledge of the issues and more inside stories you normally never gt to know.

Fantastic! Highly recommend. Sandra was brilliant. Great tour. The route we took and the order that we did the tour was perfect. Great amount of time, plenty of little stops for photos. Water taps dotted along the way and toilets too.

Our guide Antonia was brilliant. Thoroughly enjoyed her tour which was perfectly paced. Lots of interesting knowledge laced with humour to keep it fun. Highly recommended.

Thank you gladiator tour for the most memorable experience at the Colosseum. Our tour guide Ester was very informative in explaining the history of the Colosseum. So much to see!

Pretty much worst tour I’ve ever had. The guide didn’t even tell us his name, basically told us he didn’t want to be doing the tour (tried to get people to go to some church instead). The pace was too fast with no time for anyone to keep up as he kept losing most of the group so we all grouped together to keep everyone from getting lost in the huge crowd. Also learned almost nothing about the colosseum palatine or forum. The guide focused on the Catholic Church and wanting to remove relics/replace things - nothing on the history and significance of the structures from ancient times. Also we didn’t even go to some of the main/important spots on the hill which I have no idea why not. The only good thing about this tour was the group entrance. I’d avoid this tour at all cost.

This was a brilliant tour with a very knowledgeable tour guide! Amadeo took us to the Palatine Hill, then the Forum Romanum and finally the Colosseum. His knowledge was exceptional and a very different but brilliant tour to the one I was expecting! He got across very well that Rome is more than a stadium! He was excellent as well at taking tactical breaks in the shade with the group in 35 degree heat, which was much appreciated. Definitely recommended.

Absolutely fantastic tour. Very informative and a good pace. The lady tour guide was amazing and very clear. Perfect for a guided tour. 10/10

July is very hot and humid in Rome, so make sure you’re prepared to walk and bring lots of cold water. It was very crowded as well. Having a tour guide was helpful in understanding the history of the Colosseum. Our guide was helpful and professional, and answered our questions. He did recommend doing the tour during cooler months :) or at least, first thing in the morning!

We had issues at the train station and were late for our Colloseum tour. They refused to give us any credit toward a rebooking.

Corina was superb - really attentive to the group and share her amazing knowledge with us all! Thank you for creating great memories for us 😊

Excellent Guide & tour, would really recommend this tour & especially the very knowledgeable guide we had., the tour was amazing.

We met on time , Sandra was an awesome guide who explained us in details the history behind constructions, she even showed us pictures of different gladiators and how the original buildings looked in ancient times , she gave us time to use the restrooms and we never got lost during the busy and crowded sites, the audio was fine when closed to her and she was very knowledgeable and kind answering all our questions , well recommended tour

We started at the Forum, then proceeded to the Palantine and ended at the Colosseum. Our guide Sandra did an excellent job, very knowledgeable and insightful.

Sandra was informative and very helpful. We would definitely do another tour. The Collesum, Forum and Palantine Hill were beautiful .H

Disappointed! Our tour guide, Carolina, was unenthusiastic, uninformed, quite honestly she was oblivious to the fact that we couldn't hear her, that our radios/headsets were not working properly, and that we fell behind during the tour. A family of 13 paid more than $1000 to get horrible service. Four of us arrived after our appointment to the Coliseum and we missed our tour. We went to advise the office as we were told by security check and she was already sitting there, without a worry in the world. She knew we were missing so what happened to our tickets? When asked about our tickets, she said she needed to have been informed and since she had stated on the radio that we had a 10 minute grace period to enter that she thought we knew. Mind you, damn radios were not working. Out of our 13 family members, not one single person's radio was working. The lady in the office said she would be calling each of us to see if our radios were working, let's see if she does. Needless to say, no money was returned....we paid almost 10 times more than the regular entrance to get crappy service...disappointing!!!

Great tour very knowledgeable guide with a sense of humor. Worth the price and would highly recommend!

Sonia was the best tour guide ever. She took us to many fantastic spots and knew how to avoid crowds. She was very knowledgeable and made the colosseum and ancient city come to life. Take this tour- you will always remember it.

Operator canceled the tour the night before - left us without a ticket - no tours and the fees were deducted from my account.

Silvia took us on a great tour. Despite some challenges with he group she managed and did a great job. This tour was well worth taking.

The guide was informative, intelligent and enthusiastic. English is not his first language but he communicated well. The Colosseum was very crowded as were other areas covered by the tour. The tour started a bit late and felt rushed at the end. We would preferred doing the Colosseum first, but we did not get into the main building until about 90 minutes into the tour. Overall better than average and seemed as good or better than other tour groups we encountered.

A must for people visiting Rome. Tour got us in and out without much waiting. Tour guide was very good and spent the time explaining what we were looking at. We were able to see the Colsseum, Palatine Hill and Roman Forum. Fun tour.

Our guide, Esther, was wonderful! She was knowledgeable, engaging, humorous, and did a great job managing our group and the tour. Fantastico!

The addition of the Roman Forum was worth it. So much history to hear about that you might not get on your own. The Colosseum tour was a recommended must by a colleague (wouldn't have thought to do it otherwise), and it was nice to have a path through the expanse by someone with knowledge and knowhow. Sometimes there was some personal political, philosophical cynicism by the guide that made for some eye rolling.... but I still value humans and their nuanced opinions. ;)

Again lack of communication from your associates as well as tour guide. We paid for a free attraction. The last 2 weeks we spent more time o. The phone with your company than our family.

Everything about the guided tour was great. And the tour guide exceptionally good !! perfect English and Superb knowledge And very keen to share her knowledge I can't praise her enough TOP CLASS.

Our tour guide, Alex, was outstanding. Tour was exactly as advertised. Started on time and great insights were provided. Our group was completely satisfied!

We had a very good guide, knowing a lot about ancient Rome, and speaking really good English. Unfortunately, the "guaranteed skip the line" did not work that day (during Easter), as we had to wait 45 minutes to get into Forum. This delayed the whole trip, and when we arrived at Colosseum, we were facing the same kind of line, so we had to leave early to catch our plane. We would have loved to hear the exiting story about Colosseum, but that will have to wait for another time.

The tour was given by Francesco and he was excellent, very easy accent to understand and interactive with the group. However we had a very stressful start to the tour due to the wrong instructions being sent to us by Trip Advisor/Gladiator tours. Although we received the tickets with a scan code we were sent details to advise us that these were not the tickets and we would have to collect them at a venue five min walk from the Colosseum called Bounce Luggage-Via Ostilia. There was no such facility and we thought we had been scammed. Thankfully Gladiator tours rang me when we didnt show and told us where their office was. We had to run there to get the tickets. This was all in heavy rain!! Very stressful. I showed the instructions I was sent to the girl in the tour company and she didnt know what I was talking about. We didnt have time to waste to complain but thankfully got on the tour and it all worked out.

I would say an organised tour is a must to get the full benefit of this historic sight. Corinne was absolutely excellent and promoted questions and made the visit fulfilling and informative. The tour made you wanting to learn more. Would thoroughly recommend this tour. I would say it is fairly physically demanding for those not so used to walking/standing/climbing stairs.

The guide was very knowledgeable. I think she was part of some of the excavations, at the colosseum which essentially gave her first hand knowledge.

Great tour. Our guide knew exactly where to go to see best sites and helped with my daughter who had a disability.

Excellent the coliseum is a place where everyone has to go the tourist guide very good she knows we recommend especially for children’s

it was a super day the guide was super and funny unforunatly my wife became ill and we had to leave the tour half way through but what we did was banging

The tour guide was very friendly! She didn’t say much more about the sights than could be read on many of the signs if you did a self guided tour instead.

Very interesting.so much better than just walking around. A lot of history by Sonja who was an archeologist.

Maurice, our guide, was amazing. We had a great experience and learned a lot about Roman history in general too. He was very considerate of our grandmother that had sometimes difficulty walking.

Veronica was a superb guide who obviously had a passion for the subject and had researched a huge amount. The team helped us with problems with our booking professionally and quickly. There is a lot to cram in so I recommend bringing lots of water and snacks - our kids were flagging at the end.