COVID-19 Travel to the Colosseum

Our family spent a week in Rome in October 2021.  Read this to plan ahead for the Colosseum during COVID.  The Colosseum is Jon’s favorite historical landmark, so make sure you are ready.  For tips on traveling to Italy as a whole, visit our separate post here. 

Tickets for the Colosseum during COVID:

There are currently no in-person ticket sales!  You must buy tickets online.  Make sure to use the official site, coopculture.it.  The tickets are fully electronic, but there is no way around the added “convenience” fee.  The tickets have several levels of cost and experience.  All tickets include a timed entry for the Colosseum, and an untimed entry to the Roman Forum+Palatine Hill.  You can purchase a basic ticket, a ticket that includes walking on the Colosseum arena floor, or a ticket that also includes a guided tour of the underground pathways beneath the Colosseum.  

There is a single “information stand” that is open and looks like it is for ticket sales.  We had planned to buy tickets on-site and waited in line.  Basically, the staffed information booth just tells you to buy tickets online.

Planning ahead:

Because the tour is outdoors, it is tempting to wait to purchase tickets to ensure proper weather.  This is what we did.  However, be aware that the tickets do sell out!  For our afternoon, the only choice we had was to buy the ticket with the arena floor add-on.  This was cool to do, but we recommend either the cheaper basic ticket or to include the underground passage tour (which sells out weeks/months in advance).  Therefore, choose and purchase your ticket ahead of time and bring a raincoat/umbrella if the weather forecast predicts rain.

Entering the Colosseum during COVID:

Like every other site across Europe, a “green pass” is required for entry.  Europeans all have a digital QR code to scan, but our American CDC vaccination cards continue to work perfectly.

Touring the Colosseum during COVID:

Use the Rick Steves Audio Europe app for a great (and free) audio guide.  It is amazing to see, but increases the experience exponentially the more you learn about it.  Other than wearing a mask, the inside of the Colosseum was fully open.

Touring the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill:

Learn from our mistake on this one.  The ticket we purchased was valid for 2 days surrounding our timed entrance to the Colosseum.  There are separate entrances to the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, but they are connected on the inside.  We did not understand that our 2-day ticket only allowed entering either the Roman Forum OR the Palatine Hill gates, but not both!  Make sure you plan to tour both sites from a single entry through a single gate entrance.  It is directly beside the Colosseum, so it does make sense to do all 3 sites together.  However, if the weather isn’t great around your timed Colosseum entrance, use the flexibility of the ticket to tour the Forum and Hill the day before or after.  We also used the Rick Steves Audio Europe tours for the Roman Forum.

Conclusion:

Make sure you plan ahead for a tour of the Colosseum during COVID.  Purchase tickets ahead of time, download your favorite audio guide, dress for the weather, and prepare to be amazed.  Read about how much Rome costs, the best activities to do with kids, and COVID-19 travel to Italy.

Rome was one of our stops during a year-long trip around the world!  To see all our travel adventures, head over to our Instagram page.

If you have questions or tips for visiting Rome or the Colosseum during COVID, let us know!