Rome - Colosseum - queues?

[Mumsnut]

We're trying to book a 4-5 hr Rome tour (one day stop on a cruise at Easter, docking at port of Citavecchia). Some of the websites are saying, 'Don't even try to get inside the Colosseum, even with pre-booked tickets'. There is no avoiding the huge security queue.

Has anyone got a perspective on this?

bumpity bump

I went yesterday, with skip the line tickets and it still took 30 mins to get through the queue and was quite chaotic. The sheer volume of people makes it confusing to find the entrance!

You can book tickets through the official co-op culture website for 2 euros more than you pay on the day and this allows you to skip the queue of people buying tickets. The tickets are valid for any date between now and 31/12

Sorry, just seen you did mention pre-booked tickets!

If you have 4-5 hours and nothing else to do I'd say give it a go. You should probably allow 30-45 mins for queues depending on the time of day and then at least an hour inside.

We did a 90 min tour of the lower and upper levels and could have spent longer wandering around the main floor.

Your best bet may be to book a tour which includes entry to it. There are queues to get in and the tours can often get you in quicker. You will all have to go through the security checks so make sure you don't take large bags with you. If not then I would prebook tickets. You may still have to be there about 30-60 mins before your time to get through the checks.

We did the tour at night which has limited numbers and even then we were waiting around to get in.

You will have limited time any way seeing as it will take you a while to get in from the port. Especially if you make your own way in by train.

It is much quicker to get in via the Forum than to queue at the Colosseum. Also, the Forum is a lot more interesting - although you don't have that much time. The Colosseum is a bit walk in, oh it's big and round, walk round in a circle, done.

You can just book the tickets in advance on the official site especially as you know what day you will be going.

We were probably about 10 minutes in the queue in September, with tickets bought on the day going from the Forum. Easter will obvs be busier as we were off season but I don't think it's as bad as made out.

Thanks all

You can prebook on coop culture website. However there is security even if you jump the entrance ticket queue. If time is limited maybe take in the outside and the adjacent Forum/Palatine. The queue to buy the ticket for either or both is often shorter over there.

Thanks for all the advice.

We actually booked a private guide in the end, who booked our tickets for us. He also just walked us to the head of every queue, including the security queue, so we were inside in a few minutes. It was absolute pandemonium; we'd never have found the right line if it was just us.