🇮🇹Colosseum Guide: Tickets, Opening Hours and the Best Time to Visit
How the combined Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill ticket works, what it costs, when to go to avoid both the crowds and the heat, and the arch next door that most people walk straight past.
2026-09-05
The Colosseum is nearly two thousand years old and still the largest amphitheatre ever built. In ancient Rome it staged gladiatorial combat and animal hunts as public entertainment; today it's one of the New Seven Wonders of the World and, inevitably, one of the most crowded sights in Europe.
Visitor information
Time needed: about 75 minutes for the Colosseum itself. Bring sun protection — there is very little shade.
Ticket: a single combined ticket covering the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum.
Price: €18 for adults, €2 for EU residents aged 18–25, free under 18. The official site adds a €2 booking fee.
Opening hours: from 8:30, closing in the early evening — the exact time shifts with the season, so check the official site before you go.
Getting there: Metro line B to Colosseo. The station exit puts you directly opposite the amphitheatre.
Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill combined ticket
GetYourGuide · from from €20
Book ahead in high season — the on-the-day queue can exceed an hour
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When to go
The interior has a lot of steps and almost no shade, and midday in July is genuinely punishing. Aim for the first hour after opening or the last couple of hours before closing — you'll dodge both the tour groups and the worst of the sun, and the low light is far better for photographs.
The route inside runs around the tiers, so you can look down on the exposed foundations of the arena floor — the hypogeum, the network of tunnels and lift shafts where animals and fighters were held — from several different heights.
Don't miss the Arch of Constantine
Right beside the Colosseum stands the Arch of Constantine, built to commemorate Constantine I's victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in AD 312. It is 21 metres high, 25.7 metres wide and 7.4 metres deep, and it takes thirty seconds to walk over to.
There are three triumphal arches in this small area. The other two — the Arch of Titus and the Arch of Septimius Severus — stand at either end of the Roman Forum, so keep an eye out for them when you use the rest of your combined ticket.
The Forum and Palatine Hill are immediately adjacent, and your ticket covers all three, so plan them as one continuous morning or afternoon rather than splitting them across days.
Back to the Rome travel guide for the full three-day itinerary.