Rome: Guided Tour Of The Colosseum

We booked a Colosseum tour for 13:30, but the organizers reached out and states they can’t abide by that time. They changed it an earlier time—before we would even arrive in Rome. We chose the original time specifically because it worked with our travel plans, so the replacement was impossible for us to attend. We asked for a refund and the operator stopped reaponding. Terrible communication and a very disappointing experience.

Do not book through these people they take your money then email and say the booking wasn’t available and take there time getting your money back has happened twice now to myself Never will I book with these people ever again

My son and I waited at the meeting point over one hour and no one is here. I tried to call and no one answered. Do not book. I wasted over $150 for no your….,

Terrible experience, booked a tour of the Colosseum to arrive at the meeting point to be advised that the tour was not to take place on that day. A day ruined, I sent a message the day prior to the tour wanting to confirm meeting point times with no answer. I’ve messaged again looking for my refund and still no answer.

They cancelled the trip within 2 hours of us booking it without explanation. You can’t get your money back straightaway so it’s ruined the last day of our holiday

I booked a guided tour of the colosseum. I got a what’s app to say time was changed. But they actually had sold me on to another tour company. When we arrived they said the tour was only for guided exterior tour of Roman hill. I said no, my tour was for guided tour of colosseum. We had to wait while everyone bought their tickets. I had mine already pre purchased. Then we got a 1 hour tour of exterior which is NOT what I bought. The lady guide Polina was rude and very unhelpful.

The worst tour we ever had in our lifetime so far: booked the tour (Colosseum+Forum) for Dec. 29 in October, 2025 and on December 27 I got a message informing us that the entry tickets were cancelled by the Colosseum management team and was given two options: 1) continue with a Colosseum exterior tour and the guide accompany us to buy tickets for us to enter by ourselves, 20 euro will be refunded for each of us to buy the ticket though we paid more than 65 euro each; 2) amend our booking. The first option was unacceptable as we couldn't imagine what exterior tour would be so decided to amend our booking by paying 20 euro extra for each, according to the tour organizer this will get us a small group (6 ppl) and it'll be 1.5 hours long. On the day we were requested to arrive 20 minutes before, we did and ended up waiting there for 30+ minutes, however, this is not the worst part yet. After we were in, the tour guide gave us a short introduction of Colosseum, around 20 minutes, then told us to tour around by ourselves, including Forum, she didn't even give us any guide on Forum. It's ridiculous, we could have used Rick Steve's audio guide and it would be much better than this terrible tour.

We mixed up our starting point and missed our tour. The staff was very helpful in booking us for the very next tour so that we didn’t miss out. There are ALOT of people at the grounds, so it was great to have someone walk us through!

Thankfully the spectacular destinations compensated for the poor tour guide. The guide was of little value other than leading the way through the Forum and Colosseum and even then she did not carry anything that made it easier to keep on track. The guide delivered information on the sites in a formulaic and uninteresting way and her communication style wasn’t great. However the attractions were amazing so the tour was still worthwhile. I’m sure Viator gave better guides.

Sadly we could not understand our guide and the headphones were awful. I’ve done the collesium before and while your guid was very nice his knowledge was not very good. I’m sorry to deliver an average at best review but it was a disappointment

Sarah was an incredible guide. Made it so fun. We learned alot and had some laughs along the way. She was excellent at keeping the group together. Very informative on the area and explained things easily and with enthusiasm. Very pleased with the experience.

Our guide Marco was very informative and interesting. He spoke very good English and was able to describe life in Rome, back in the time the Colosseum was built, in an enthusiastic way.

Our tour guide Sarah Gildea was absolutely awesome!! She was extremely knowledgeable and very personable and made us laugh and enjoy. Thank you!

Man, what an adventure it was getting to the tour. The buses and metros were striking the day of our tour. We waited for the bus for a good 30 minutes. We called the tour company and they said they could wait another 15 minutes if we took a taxi. The taxis are Union so they only pick people up at designated areas. The line was comically long, like at least 100 people. We decided to walk. We got there an hour late. The tour company and Wi-Fi, a/c and cold water for us. They escorted us down to the coliseum to meet our tour group after they finished in the forum. Turns out we needed our passports, luckily the rest of our family was at the hotel and we’re able to get into the safe and send us pictures. The skip the line line was still a 30 minute wait, I can’t imagine waiting in the ticket line. The tour guide stayed with us longer because we missed the beginning of the tour and everyone was very nice and accommodating. In conclusion, Rome is hot, be prepared with water. Leave early, wear good walking shoes. Enjoy your time in this beautiful city.

This was a great and informative tour. Our guide, I believe his name was Marco, was knowledgeable easy to follow. I highly suggest having an early morning, before 10am tour otherwise the entry line will become very long despite skip the line in the booking offer. Definitely wear comfortable shoes, have water, sunblock and a fan if going in the summer time. On our tour there were opportunities to refill water and move into the shaded space for some parts. Learned lots of interesting facts!

Guide was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the coloseum. Spent plenty of time with us and had a nixe time enjoying it onnour iwn time afterwards. Enjoyed the tour very much.

Our guide was great! Very knowledgeable about the history. She was mindful of all members of the group. Definitely worth paying for. We could have walked around for days and never learned the history she gave us.

First, the original tour we booked was cancelled just days before the trip. We were able to book a similar tour, but without the guide for the Roman Forum. Second, this tour was 45 minutes late in starting, and that left little time to explore the Roman Forum on our own, as we had other sites to visit.

David Battaglino guided us round the Colosseum and had the whole group entertained for 2 hours plus. His quick wit and colourful description of the history made it entertaining and interesting at the same time. I wish he had been my history teacher! Thanks David

Booking was canceled last minute by local vendor. It was very disappointing as we could not see the main attraction in Rome.

How do I even describe the experience? It was immersive and amazing. David, our guide, was engaging and funny, told us a fantastic story while also giving us the history and the facts, and the experience was an immersive one that helped me understand things I never did before (like how could you possibly motivate slaves to fight each other to the death at the colosseum while also seeing it as a chance at a happy life.) You just don't read the kind of information David provides online. He had an answer to every question, and his stories were compelling and engaging. I wish he'd been our guide at the Vatican, too (or maybe David just set the bar too high for the other guide, so he ruined me for any other guide ever). When I book a trip to Rome again, I will surely specifically book HIS tours and not others, especially if I go with my husband and my son soon. Romania and Spain (five girls on the tour on the 15th of March).

Best place for eating and drinks, cozy place and friendly atmosphere.You can eat best pasta in rome, Perfect place for family and friends dinner,

I hate to write this review but our tour guide seemed to not want to be there at all. 4 times during the hour and a half he told the group if they want to leave the tour just turn in the headsets, and he would say this unprovoked. While he gave information about the colosseum, we completely missed the beginning of the tour and an area of the arena and when we went to try to get to that area we were not allowed in because we were not with a group. I would have loved to actually get more information about the overall history and we just got a few facts repeated over and over. Finding the group was easy to start and the tour guide who took us out to the Roman forum was very enthusiastic. I do believe that the issue was with this guide and not the company. I

We had tour scheduled at 10:30 and we arrived at 10, checked in with a person from the agency and got our sticker. We were asked to wait in front of a cafe until 10:30 to meet our guide and collect headphones etc. we kept waiting and kept checking in with the lady who distributed stickers until 10:40 and no tour guide showed up. Finally I decided to raise my voice about guide being late and it’s already 10:45. Another guy standing next to the lady notified us that the tour had already begun promptly at 10:30 and we were shocked to why we were not told or what exactly happened that we were not notified. This was all so confusing and frustrating that we waited at the exact same spot for 45 minutes and now told that the tour guide left without us. After discussing with few other people around one guy approached us shaking head and blaming us for not being diligently looking for the guide when he was gathering people. Few arguments back and forth and he said I will get you in the next group and tour will start in 15 minutes so do not move from where we were. Our stickers were changed and we were upgraded to next tour which actually included entrance to the Arena which was a plus. After that we met the tour guide and collected out headphones and started the tour. Tour guide was really good and took her time explaining everything so tour ended pretty well. We had our own time in Roman forum and Palatine gardens without a guide but it was all fine.

The tour was excellent, mainly due to the tour guide been really good at his job, by making it more exciting/interesting.

The tour started late due to the guides not having enough listening devices. Overall we were not impressed with the tour. The Colosseum itself is impressive but I would not say the tour was worth the money

We bought this tour in advance, but when we came to the location, it turned out that the tour is not available on Wednesday, 9/30/23. That was a big disappointment. We had to rebook with another agency.

This tour was canceled by the operator at the last minute with an explanation that it was a local holiday????? There were many people waiting that day in the hot sun for the guide to show up. Very disappointing!!!!

Avoid. Tour guide cancelled morning of the tour with no reason or alternative tour group to join. We had been looking for to this trip to see Rome and the Colosseum for years and now have to wait another few years ..will be booking with a different tour operator next time.

Thank you to Romina for this great experience. We learned a lot and for sure will come back again. I will recommend Viator’s to anyone who are planning to come to Rome. They are excellent when it comes to booked a tour. Thank you.

Too much talking on this tour -not enough sightseeing. For a 60 minute tour 45 minutes of it was talking.

There's no doubt about it, the Colosseum is phenomenal, as is the demand to see it, so...take my advice and book tickets from the official website well in advance and avoid companies like MCT. Why avoid MCT? We didn't book tickets in advance and so walked all the way down to the Colosseum from our hotel in the hope of being able to join a tour such as the one MCT offers. When we got close to the Colloseum we were approached by a representative of MCT standing outside the Cafe Roma (29 Via del Colloso), who asked us if we wanted to joint their tour - we agreed and were then told the tour was departing at 11.30am, i.e. one hour later. We waited in the sweltering sunshine and heat for an hour on the understanding and in the belief that we were "on the tour". As 11.30am approached, a different company employee who introduced himself as the "manager" told us they didn't have any tickets left and we could not join their tour. I explained to the "manager" that his colleague - who originally approached us - confirmed they had tickets and also confirmed they had put our names o the list. The original employee even confirmed it to the "manager", but he simply shrugged his shoulders and walked away. MCT's modus operandi is clear - they over commit to customers like us to ensure their full allocation of tickets is sold, whilst giving scant regard to the inconvenience this puts visitors to, or the lasting impression this gives. Based on our experience last Friday (23/6/23), I recommend you give this company a miss.

I’m currently on the tour and it’s very poor. The guide’s history knowledge is weak, his accent is heavy making it hard to understand. I don’t recommend.

We originally did the Colosseum Tour with David, and we enjoyed it so much that we decided to do the Pantheon later that day. Our group of six unanimously decided his tours were easily our favorite part of our vacation. David is funny, charismatic, and has a great way of contextualizing history to make it engaging for every person. He was easily able to navigate the crowds and scored us the best spots for pictures. His tips and tricks made our visit 100% more enjoyable, all of his suggestions were fantastic. I honestly regret that we didn’t do all the tours he offered - he is by FAR the best tour guide I have ever seen.

So glad that we did a guided tour. Was easy to locate the group to begin. We learned so much from our tour guide…I can’t imagine doing a self guided tour of the Colosseum and Roman Forum. Highly recommend!

Tour guide was very informative and pointed out interesting facts and showed us what each place is all about.

We were at the place on time, our guide never showed up.got our own tickets, sorry to say but I think you run a scam. I would never use your services. You did the the same with my previous booking in Sorrento.

Sarah Gildea was our tour guide. And she did an fantastic job! She had a lot of humor and knowledge.

Sarah is an excellent guide with a great taste of humour; she knows everything regarding Rome and it’s history. Thanks again!

Sarah Gildea is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! worth every penny. Best for English speakers as she is American so no thick accent, however she does speak multiple languages and is very knowledgeable. She explained everything to a T and answered every question we had while showing us spots but no other public person was at. I highly recommend her and then company for this tour!!!

Very helpful lady and we learned a lot we didn’t know. Very friendly environment and said many jokes that the experience better.

Tour made my day nd awesome professional ppl well managed skip the lines Carry on guyss best of luck

Value for money, we didn’t waste time in lines , had a good time . Hoping to go back. Knowledgeable guides

We found this company nearby colosseum and decided to go with them and all went fine. Very interesting tours of both colosseum palatine and forum. Enjoyed every minute of both tours. Recommended

We were very happy talking about the history but then the real fun started. Although we were all “disasters” we were well trained and fought to the death!!! Highlight of the trip for the 10 year old, 47 year old and the 55 year old (the 73 year old just watched and almost fell over laughing at us)! Marcus was a master!!!!

We had the one hour skip the line at the Colosseum, which also included a guided tour of the Roman forum and Palatine Hills. Both of our guides spoke English very well. They told interesting facts and gave a good idea of what it was like back in the day. They were also very knowledgeable and could answer any question you had. Highly recommended!

Did the Colosseum tour with Fabrizio, who is a fantastic guide. Extremely witty and entertaining and vast knowledge of the Colosseum. We loved this tour with him and can highly recommend it - would have loved to do more tours with him. Palatine Hills & Roman Forum was done with Radu as our guide. Funny guy and another fun tour. Can do loads of walking afterwards still and definitely take up a full day

We walked up day of and a guy offered us tickets. We were in the Colosseum within 10 minutes. It was soooo much cheaper and we were glad we did day of. We had a tour guide for the Colosseum, Sara maybe, and the Forum, longbeard with a Southpark tattoo. They were both great. Thank you for making our experience great, from the Memphis Mob.

We visited with our three children aging from 8-11. Absolutely loved our time with the guides! Our tour guide Radu was entertaining and had our three kids engaged the whole time. He was informative and fun! Our two boys who are usually distracted were laughing and answering questions and getting them right! Thanks my city tours for a wonderful day.