Colosseum Full Experience Tickets

By Elyssa Bernard

September 4, 2022

What is the Colosseum Full Experience? 

With the Colosseum Full Experience ticket, you have the option to visit the Colosseum underground, which is really special.

This new ticket allows you to to see much more than "just" the Colosseum.

Find out all that's included, how to get tickets, and how to plan your visit.

Colosseum Full Experience - everything you need to know

It's easier than ever to visit the Colosseum arena and underground.

These visits are now part of a new ticket called the "Full Experience." But this ticket is much more than that.

On this page, we'll go over:

• What is the Colosseum full experience ticket?
• How much does the Full Experience ticket cost?
• What's included?
• How does the Colosseum Full Experience work?
• How long does it take to visit the Colosseum with the Full Experience ticket?
• Do you have to take a tour with the Colosseum Full Experience?
• Can you use the Roma Pass with the Full Experience ticket?

What is the Colosseum full experience ticket?

In recent years, the Colosseum Archeological Park (which includes the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill) have been making a lot of new things available to visit, both inside the Colosseum, and inside the Roman Forum / Palatine Hill.

They have been experimenting with different tickets and ticket combinations.

At the time of this writing in fall 2021, there are now two types of tickets regularly available for visiting the Colosseum, a standard ticket and a Full Experience ticket.

Just as it sounds, the Colosseum Full Experience ticket gives you more to see and more time to see it in.

Let's dig in and see what's included and how to plan your visit.

How much does the Full Experience ticket cost?

The new Full Experience ticket costs 24€.

The same conditions apply (discounts and free entry) as for the standard Colosseum ticket.

The cost is still 2 € for European citizens aged 18-25, and free for everyone under 18.

For regular and discounted tickets there is a 2 € reservation fee.

For free tickets there is no reservation fee.

Whether you are getting a free ticket or are paying for one, you must book in advance.

They no longer sell tickets on site at the Colosseum (or at the Roman Forum or Palatine Hill).

You will find the "ticket office" open but this is for people who need assistance downloading their electronic tickets, or who may have questions about how to book online.

The ticket office at the Colosseum is still there and usually has at least one person working during the day, but they no longer issue tickets. They are only there for questions or assistance.

What's included?

When you book the Colosseum Full Experience ticket, you get:

With the Colosseum Full Experience ticket, you can visit the arena floor and imagine what it felt like to be on stage in Ancient Rome.

• 2 days to use the ticket
• One entrance to the Colosseum, including:
  
• One entrance to either the Colosseum arena floor OR to the Colosseum Underground (although a visit to the underground ALSO includes a visit to the arena).
• Whether you visit the Colosseum arena or the Colosseum underground (and arena), you will be accompanied by a staff member of the Colosseum. You are not allowed to visit these areas on your own. This is NOT a guided tour although you can also book a tour.
• Entrance to the Palatine Hill/Roman Forum AND all the S.U.P.E.R. sites (some of which may or may not be open at any given time), and some of which may require a separate reservation.
• Entrance to the Imperial Forums (Julius Caesar and Trajan.)

All about the Rome Colosseum

Visiting the Colosseum

Colosseum by night

Colosseum Facts

Colosseum tickets

Colosseum underground

Colosseum arena

Colosseum free entry

Roman forum

Palatine hill

How does the Colosseum Full Experience work?

I have visited the Colosseum arena and underground with the Full Experience ticket on several occasions, and can tell you exactly what it's like.

Check out my videos of these sites:

Booking your Colosseum Full Experience Tickets

As I mentioned, you must first purchase the Full Experience ticket, in advance. The easiest way to do this is online, although you can also call and book over the phone.

You may be able to book for the same day you want to visit but when it's high season, you may not find availability if you leave it too late.

I really recommend booking as far in advance as you can to avoid any disappointment.

If you don't find availability on CoopCulture, you can also try booking on a ticket agency website. They may have more availability. (There is a small surcharge to book.)

How to plan your full experience visit

Included with every standard or full experience Colosseum ticket is entrance to the Roman Forum / Palatine Hill.

Here's how the Full Experience Rome Italy Colosseum ticket works: 

• You have 2 days to visit the sites above.
• You can only visit each site once (no re-entry). This means you can and must visit the Colosseum together with the arena OR underground on the same day.
• The Roman Forum and Palatine Hill are actually ONE park, so you have to visit them together in one visit, along with any SUPER sites you want to see. There is no re-entry.
• You CAN visit everything in one day if you want. You can also take a lunch/coffee break between visits to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill.
• If you break this up over two days, you can visit the Colosseum and its related special access (area or underground) on one day, and the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill/SUPER sites another day. You can visit these sites in either order (i.e. you can visit the Palatine/Forum the day before the Colosseum), but they must be on two consecutive days.

So for example, let's say you book a visit to the Colosseum Underground for Wednesday at 2 pm. You will be accompanied to the underground and also the arena floor (around 45 minutes total), and then you will be brought back to the main Colosseum area to finish your visit on your own.

Depending on your energy and interest level, you might spend another hour or so exploring the Colosseum main 2 levels.

Where to Stay near Colosseum

Where to Eat near Colosseum

You will probably finish this visit sometime around 4:30 pm give or take.

If you are visiting Rome in summer, the park is open until 7 pm, with last entry at 6 pm. (In Rome in winter, the Colosseum and Forum /Palatine all close around 4:30 pm.)

So if the park is open late, you could still enter the Roman Forum /Palatine Hill after your Colosseum visit on this day. But you would not really have time to visit it well, nor to visit the S.U.P.E.R. sites.

Your options include visiting the Roman Forum /Palatine Hill the day before, the same morning as your Colosseum visit, or the day after.

When you visit the Roman Forum /Palatine Hill, you do not need to book a day and time, unlike the Colosseum.

So once you have your Colosseum Full Experience ticket booked, you can decide when to visit the Roman Forum /Palatine Hill, and just go.

How long does the Colosseum Full Experience last?

Visiting the Colosseum with the Full Experience Ticket

A visit to the Colosseum alone takes around an hour give or take (this really depends on you but plan for about an hour for a typical visit.)

A visit to the underground + arena takes around 45 minutes.

A visit to just the arena takes around 15-20 minutes.

So your total Colosseum Full Experience could take anywhere from around 1.5 - 3 hours. 

Pantheon tickets

Vatican tickets

Visiting the Roman Forum / Palatine Hill with the Full Experience ticket

Visiting the Roman Forum / Palatine Hill without any of the S.U.P.E.R. sites can take anywhere from 2 hours and up.

Visiting ALL the S.U.P.E.R. sites could theoretically take all day but you will likely only visit a few. They are usually not all open on the same day in any case.

I would plan for a minimum of 3 hours inside the Roman Forum /Palatine Hill but you can spend as long as your energy and interest allows.

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No time limit

One nice thing about visiting these sites, whether the Colosseum or the Roman Forum / Palatine, is that there is no time limit as to how long you can stay inside.

For the Colosseum Underground and / or arena floor, those visits are accompanied and timed, but the part where you explore the main and upper floor of the Colosseum is not. Same for the Roman Forum / Palatine.

So you will have to decide how much time you have available and how much time you really want to spend in each site.

That's another reason the Colosseum Full Experience ticket is so great - you can break up the visit over 2 days and really take your time with each site if you want to.

Do you have to take a tour with the Colosseum Full Experience?

Booking the Colosseum Full Experience ticket through CoopCulture

When you book your visit to the Colosseum with the Full Experience on the Coopculture website, and you choose either the underground or arena, you will have the option to book just a basic visit or a guided tour.

On the basic visit (22 € + 2 € booking fee) you will have a staff member of the Colosseum accompany you on the underground, at the arena floor you will be accompanied on to the floor but will have free time to view the arena floor on your own. You cannot visit these areas on your own.

The visit to the underground is timed and led, but not really guided. It is not considered a tour. The arena floor is timed for entry but you may stay as long as you wish, usually 20 minutes is enough.

Once you finish with the special visit portion of the Colosseum, the same staff member will guide you back to the main area of the Colosseum so you can continue your visit of the monument on your own.

When you visit the Palatine Hill / Roman Forum with the Full Experience ticket, you will be on your own.

However, certain S.U.P.E.R. sites (the House of Livia, the House of Augustus, the Domus Transitoria) can only be visited by booking them ahead, and at these sites, you will be accompanied by a park staff member.

When you visit the Colosseum underground and/or arena floor, you will be accompanied by a Colosseum staff member, but it's not a tour, per se. But you CAN book a tour if you want.

Audio guides

Once inside the Colosseum, you can rent an audio or video guide.

Once inside the Palatine Hill / Roman Forum, you can rent an audio or video guide as well.

Booking the Colosseum Full Experience as a tour

If you do want a guided tour of any of this, you have several options.

• Book the arena or underground tour through CoopCulture.
• Book a more complete tour with a tour agency like Get Your Guide. This will give you a tour guide that covers not just the underground and/ or arena, but also the Colosseum and the Roman Forum /Palatine Hill.

Can you use the Roma Pass with the Full Experience ticket?

At this time, they do not have any details about using the Colosseum Full Experience with the Roma Pass or other Rome city pass.

When they update this, I will update this page.

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