Off to Rome...best websites to pre book attractions?

[tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz]

Posting for traffic here, apologies thread police

Myself, DH and DD 10 are off to the eternal city later this year. We've been 4 times but not since she was born so now we are able to pre book things online very easily, yay! However there are so many companies and I don't know anyone who can recommend a good one, any ideas?

We definitely want to do the Colloseum so def want to book tickets to avoid some queuing. I fancy looking at the skulls in the catacombs but there are a few of these too so recommendations would be great.

As I absolutely travel on my tummy and suggestions for amazing gelato and aperativo that we can take DD into would be very welcome.

Oh and v random but we're staying in an apartment with a terrace near the Pantheon and I've got this fantasy picture in my head of evenings after a long day sightseeing spent sat there sipping wine and eating charcuterie whilst watching the world go by. Daft question but are there decent supermarkets close to us? It's one thing we have never looked out for having stayed in hotels.

Grazie mille

I can't speak for anyone else but i tend to use the official websites for the attractions i want to go to. That way i can be sure i am getting the correct ticket. I know there are often discount sites selling tickets for multiple attractions but i don't trust them!

Ooh - book a food tour! We did one and it was a highlight of the whole trip.

Have fun

The official website for colleseum tickets and tours is coopculture.
It is quite a confusing website so I looked at TripAdvisor's Rome Forum and there was a guide on how to book tickets (which sounds unnecessary but the coopculture website is incredibly confusing).
We booked the underground tour through it and it was really good

eavers has it spot on. The Coopculture site is official. You pay entry fees and then but pay for the Underground tour. Not only do you see lots of bits the general public don’t see but you skip the queues. It also gives you access to the Forum ruins next door.

We still haven’t done the Sistine Chapel but there is so much to see regardless. Most other things you can just rock up and buy tickets. The fountain, Pantheon, St Peters etc you din’t need to pay for obviously.

Watching with interest as we are going at half term with a 9 and nearly 2 year old!

My ds and dsis do lots of city breaks and they always book the trips through either Expedia or trip adviser . Never had a problem with any of them

I used this website for a lot of tips before we went. It was great and never steered me wrong. There’s links to book things in the articles but I didn’t pre book anything. Have a read up about the Roma pass. Might be a good option for you.

If you’re staying near the Pantheon you need to go to the Gelataria Della Palma here. Incredible ice cream and they’re very happy to give you samples.

Another thing about coopculture is that the method of booking tickets and tours seems to change a lot.

This is the tripadvisor travel forum thread about booking colleseum tours. There is another threadsomewhere on there about colleseum entrance only tickets.
www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187791-i22-k12543305-Colosseum_underground_belvedere_panoramic_tickets-Rome_Lazio.html

I'd just get a Roma pass when I get there. It can be used on buses too.

We went in May. There are a couple of supermarkets dotted around- one near Piazza Venezia. We picked up breakfast stuff and wine. There was a really good selection of stuff

Following for when we hopefully go in September.

My brother has just been and from him I learned...

Pompeii had 30000 visitors a day so do your research to try and pick best day and time

Colliseum is fully booked well ahead so look at that if you want to go there

Vatican can also be closed for things (like Putin being there when my brother was) so try and look for reports of any issues before you go.

Otherwise, he had a wonderful time - hope you do too

If you want the skulls in the catacombs then you want the Capuchin tombs.

There are loads of catacombs but the others are early Christian burials and have no bones on display at all. Interesting as sites for the early Christians - and you do see their burial chambers and some very early Christian art, but no bones.

I booked everything on coop.culture or the Vatican website.

My top tip that I got from Mumsnet was that the Forum was more interesting than the Colloseum (and had shorter queues - one of the few things we didn't book) and as ever, Mumsnet was right.

Colloseum - go in, it's big and round, um, we're done. Forum - spent most of the day wandering about exploring and working out what everything was. Brilliant.

Finally, do not forget the cat sanctuary.

Have a great time OP. We are going next week with our 5 kids. 2 teens and 3 girls aged 6, 4 and 3! Our hotel is near the Spanish Steps. Cant wait!

You lot are awesome! Thanks.

I think I'll definitely look at official sites for the big attractions, first stop Trip Advisor, cheers for that. And eavers for the link. Rome pass sounds good I'll look at that too. We're lucky that DH and I are now fairly familiar with the pantheon side of the river but with DD in tow it's good to be able to hop on a bus if needs be.

Birkenstock, ta. Is it weird that I enjoy looking round "forrin" supermarkets?!

Kez good tip off! I am sooo looking into a food tour! Right up my street!

I'll add that gelataria to the list NotExactly!

Cat sanctuary?! That sounds amazing! DD will love it.

Thanks again to everyone who has replied, i really appreciate it. Right, off to Google Enjoy this amazing city, those of you also visiting soon!

PS apologies for over use of exclamation marks. Can you tell I'm excited and also love the planning of holidays?!!!!!

Gelateria fridgedariam (or similar!) did the best chocolate fondant ice cream.

Yes to the cat sanctuary

Be wary of the skip the line tours - some charge for entry to free attractions.

Evening all

So I've looked at some TA threads and the coopculture website (it really is confusing!) and I've a few questions if you lovely lot can help again as I'm reading some contradictory info.

• Can I pre-book a colosseum/forum/palatine hill combo ticket in advance? TA says yes but the Martin Lewis MSE page says otherwise.

• Are tickets specific to a date/time slot?

• Have i understood correctly that as DD is 11 she'll be free but there will be a service charge for her ticket? We won't be able to print tickets because of hers but we can just show a confirmation email?

• Finally I can't remember if service charge in bars and eating places is included in the bill or not? What phrase should I look for on the bill?

Thanks all

Doh, forgot to ask, can we just turn up to the Capuchin Tomb on the day? I've read it's about 5/6€ does this sound right?

When you go to the Colosseum, the tip we were given was to go in via the Forum entrance. Queue is ridiculously short in comparison to the Colosseum one. Most people to Colosseum, hill, forum, but this way you queue for less time and do forum, hill, Colosseum instead.

You can pre-book tickets to the Vatican Museums and that's definitely worth doing for the queue jump. You have to leave any big bags when you go in, so make sure that you travel light and/or take locks with you.

St Peter's basilica is beautiful, but I struggled with vertigo going up to the very top, so be aware of that.

Have a great time!

Just come back from Rome, my best best tip I picked up on a travel blog and used:-

Go to The Forum first. There was no queue, at all. Buy combined tickets for the forum/Colloseum. (€12 I think). You’ll get given an entry time for the colloseum, ours was in 3 hours time. Spend the 3 hours going round The Forum, Palatine Hill, get something to eat if time spare.....

Waltz past the two hour queuing for tickets poor people at the colloseum around your time slot. Trala! So satisfying.

Such a good tip.

We missed out on the Vatican though as hadn’t pre booked, all slots were sold out.

Thanks both that's helpful, I'm leaning towards just buying on the day via Forum entrance

We just bought on the day, admittedly that was back in 2013. We did queue up for a bit as far as I remember but it couldn't' have been that bad because I am too impatient to queue for very long!

I would buy them online in advance, the queues were horrific when we went but we managed to sail through with prebooked tickets

ecm.coopculture.it/index.php?option=com_snapp&view=products&catalogid=A4CC149C-BEE1-5773-5E59-01675F3EA81C&snappTemplate=template3&lang=en

Also, when going to the Forum, don't use the entrance opposite the Colosseum, the queues are huge, walk to the LEFT of the Forum entrance and there is another entrance - we walked straight in!

Also, it takes hours and hours to walk round the Forum, we booked Colosseum tickets for first thing in the morning, then went to the Forum and spent all day there. Amazing.