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The Best Colosseum Tours For Families Coming To Rome

If you are looking for the best Colosseum tours for families planning on visiting Rome, Italy then you should check out these recommendations while you plan.

Best Colosseum Tours For Families - Crowds

Crowds All Day

When you are visiting Rome, Italy for the first time with your family, you probably have visiting the Colosseum on your short list of things to do, and you should. There are, however, a few things that you will want to consider when planning your tour, and these recommendations are here to help.

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Tips For Families Visiting The Colosseum

There are a few things you will need to remember when you are visiting the Colosseum in Rome and it is even more important if you have a large family because the costs are multiplied. For example:

Best Colosseum Tours For Families - Night LIghts
  • Plan Ahead – Tickets for the Colosseum go fast, so be sure to order them online once you know your travel schedule. I have a guide for Buying Tickets For The Colosseum, Palatine Hill And Roman Forum that I think will help.

  • Don’t Underestimate The Summer Heat – This goes for the entire family because touring outdoors in the summer heat can be difficult, so be sure to bring water, a hat and wear loose clothing.

  • Bring Identification For The Entire Family – Rome has now been putting the visitor’s names on the tickets to cut down on the abuses of the past, but you will need to bring your passports when you try to enter.

Is The Colosseum Child Friendly?

The child friendliness of the Colosseum depends on the age of your child. For example, if your child is in a stroller, it is possible, but much more difficult to navigate around the Colosseum. There are elevators, but you could get separated from your group and even though it is an oval, you might lose your group, which would be problematic.

If your child is out of a stroller and can climb stairs, then you shouldn’t have any problems staying with your group and enjoying the tours. The only obstacle I found was when we toured the upper levels of the Colosseum, because the stairs are quite high. There aren’t a lot of them, but they are a bit of a workout.

Best Colosseum Tours For Families - Underground

Underground Tours

Is It Better To Do A Guided Tour Of The Colosseum?

The most important part of a great tour is a knowledgeable tour guide. The best guides can make history come alive and make the seemingly uninteresting relevant to today. The Colosseum is an archeological site in the center of one of the most important cities on Earth over the last 2,000 years. Surely there is something you can learn from a guide.

From my experiences (I’ve paid for four different tours over the years) paying for a tour guide is definitely worth it. You can do a self-guided tour, but I have enjoyed the knowledgeable tour guides every time. This isn’t a place to save money.

How Long Is A Guided Tour Of The Colosseum?

You should expect that a tour, like the Colosseum Night Tour, will last around an hour to an hour and a half just to tour the Colosseum. If you plan on taking a lot of pictures, then your experiences may differ. If you have a bundled ticket that includes tours of the Roman Forum and Palatine, then you will be there for at least 4 to 5 hours, but you will want to add a little more time for food and water between the individual sites.

How To Get Free Tickets For Kids To The Colosseum?

Entry to the Colosseum is free for visitors who are younger than eighteen years of age. Visitors who are under 12 years old must be accompanied by an adult. Children under the age of 18 will be allowed to enter together with paying adults on the same date and at the same time indicated on the ticket and they will be able to collect their free ticket after passing the security checks, directly at the ticket office inside the Colosseum.

Best Colosseum Tours For Families - Guides

Our Informative Tour Guide

Your other option is to take advantage of the free entry available to everyone on the first Sunday of every month, but as you might imagine, it is quite popular on those days, and entry might be difficult to get.

Can You Do The Colosseum Without A Tour Guide?

You can get a basic ticket for €16 that only allows you access to the Colosseum. I do recommend, however, that you consider a guided tour, either from the Colosseum staff or from one of the many great tour companies that I’ve linked to here. There are times to save money, but I don’t believe this is one of them. I’ve taken four different tours over the years and I enjoyed each and every one, and I learned something new every time.

What Is The Best Colosseum Tour To Take With Your Family?

As I’ve mentioned above, I would not recommend doing a self-guided tour, so one of the options you have are the tours run by the Colosseum staff, like these:

  • Colosseum, Roman Forum And Palatine – Full Experience

  • Forum Pass Super Additional Fee For “Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine-24h Ticket” Holders

  • The Night Tour (Luna Sul Colosseo)

Best Colosseum Tours For Families - Night Tours

Night Might Not Be Best For Children

If you want to look at an external tour group that you can be confident with, I would recommend checking out Viator’s website and consider these:

More Information About Colosseum Tours, History And Visiting Rome

If you enjoyed this article about taking a tour of the best Colosseum tours for families, or at least found it useful, here are some other posts that you should check out before you finish you vacation planning for your visit to Rome, Italy:

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