Rome - where to get tickets

[chickenpieandchips]

Sorry, head is spinning.
Taking kids (teens) to Rome in April. Looked at direct ticket sites for the Vatican and colosseum. Do I book direct? Do I get a tour (especially of the colosseum), do direct tickets from the authorised sites do tours or headphone things?
If not, can anyone recommend some teen friendly tours for there. Enough for the interesting facts, but not too long. There seems like loads of choice.
Any other places we should go. The church made from bones?? Not going to overload the itinerary and they won't want a tour of all the old sites so need a few great choices.
Thank you.
Staying near Ottaviano metro.

@SagittariusDwarf sorry, me again, te colosseum I saw another online person saying there was some sort of international firewall on the direct colosseum tickets so you did need to use a 3rd party site . I was surprised when mine worked. There are currently tickets on there until the end of march, however all the underground stuff is sold out from the official site.

In case it's useful, I finally got through to the coop culture phone number just now. They said it's too early to book official tickets for end of March (which is when I will be going), it has to be max 30 days in advance. He also said if you try to access the website too many times you will be blocked for a while.

they don't exactly make it easy!! 😆

Ha its not changed then.
I think its a good way of knowing you are on a genuine tourism site. If its easy to use its probably a 3rd party site.
Also good is the steps up to the dome at St Peters. You can buy them once you are in. Loads of steps and brilliant view.
Don't forget the Caravaggio's in the church between Pantheon and the Trevi. You can see where the sites are because of the security bollard to stop cars being able to race away with them. Aside from that its completely nuts that they are just hanging in a church for free.

please be aware that if you book “Vatican museums” in order to see the Sistine chapel you will be required to walk through the WHOLE complex - I should say shuffle through given the heaving mass of humanity - before you get to the chapel at the end by which time you are basically losing the will to live and couldn’t care less about the ceiling 🤪.

Couldn't agree more. The day I was there the Pope was conducting a service in St Peter's square so the exit usually used by guided groups that leads out to the square was shut. Everyone had to exit through the other small doorway. It actually felt unsafe.

Here is the availability for the 28th march am for the standard tickets. Do still plenty online so hopefully on the phone too. Not sure why the sat and sun are grey? Is it closed then?

And the more advanced tickets. 4 tickets on the 5th have suddenly appeared! 11.15 if anyone tempted 😂. But red means sold out

Just eating ice cream and wandering around Rome popping into churches was fun. So many of them are stunning and have their own rich history and museum displays. There are also archaeological parks down by the river with Roman ruins.

OMG so glad I stumbled on this thread. We are going to August and I haven't been to Rome in over 10 years (and that was pre-kids so we didn't go in the summer holidays) and I had no idea that things booked up in advance. My DS would be crushed if we showed up and couldn't see the coliseum because it was sold out!

get your guide.co.uk website was what I used. I ended up booking everything on there in advance. Catacombs and wine tasting experience was amazing, as was the Vatican & Colosseum. We had a guided tour for everything apart from the Colosseum - which we wished we had a guide for, so I'd advise getting a guide for that - we also paid extra to walk in via the gladiators gate! Remarkable! 😀

A night tour if the Imperial Fora is a must - my DD did it at primary age, when they studied Romans in school, and was awestruck by it, and a friend recently went with teens and they both loved it too. this is the site to book it

I would recommend Caesar’s forum as more interesting. Or you could do both!

We also went to the chapel made from Monk bones, it was astonishing to say the least. We went there straight after the Catacombs, on the same tour/bus trip.

Damn, just spotted it doesn’t open until June. Sorry! But for those summer visitors we’ll worth it.

We usually book all our tours through Expedia so that may be worth looking at .

Be sure to take Shawls or cardigans to cover your shoulders - and loose fit comfy trousers/or anything past knee length too - it's compulsory to enter religious buildings. If you don't cover up you won't be allowed in, they are very strict about that.
Shoulders/chest & knees must be covered for both males & females.

We are going with two teens , 13 and 15, to Rome at Easter too!

As well as doing the usual touristy stuff, we are also going to try and go on the Appian way on bikes
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/appian-way-itinerary

I agree it felt very unsafe - no obvious emergency exits, no staff, narrow stairways between galleries. One loud bang and there would have been a stampede

Book direct for young people's discounts, they can be considerable

Just a reminder to wear long trousers/skirts (below knee) and cover shoulders)shirt/blouse or wrap works too) they are strict about this for many churches. I highly recommend a wide brimmed hat in summer and take water bottles, plenty of refill points.

Can be expensive so check service charges and cover per head before going into restaurants, never order anything not exactly on the menu without checking the price. Also pick pocketing is rife

We were asked for ID when we approached the Vatican so don’t forget to take photos of your passport rather than taking the originals out with you.

Definitely preebook as coliseum etc they booked up ages in advance

If you are early risers I recommend going to see the trevi fountain as early as possible. I went at 6am and it was deserted and I got some amazing photos.

Do not take a rose from anyone if they offer it to you. Especially at the Spanish steps. They are just scammers who will pester you for money.

There are dodgy street sellers with fake designer handbags I'll be honest, I bought a couple and they were pretty good fakes and you just need to haggle. If they say 50 euro, offer 5. You'll probably get it for 15. It's quite funny watching them avoiding the police too.

Not normally an early riser but DD and her friend might be up for it for the 'gram!

For teens I’d highly recommend a Segway tour. We did one with Fat Tire Tours and it was a brilliant way to see lots of the sights with fun info without being boring.

You can change the city on the Citymapper app to Rome, if that's any use!

If any of your teens are fans of.cats, you'll possibly change bus at Torre Argentina and there's a cat sanctuary there. The place they live is where Julius Caesar was murdered.

I'd agree that a food tour/walk is a good idea

Oh we love cats! I think I need a few more days at this rate.
I have a 15 and 14 y/o. One of them isn't mine and I think you need to be 16 to do Segway so think I'll have to skip that. My DS might take himself off though.