Colosseum and Roman Forum Tour

Before I visited Rome, every time I thought about the Colosseum, I usually referenced the movie Gladiator.  My favorite scene is when Maximus throws his hands up and says "Are you not entertained!?"  Gladiator battles are not the only events that happened at The Colosseum and Roman Forum.  There is so much history to learn and incredible architecture to see. The Forum was the main center of Rome.  So much of a Roman's life was centered around this area.  I wanted to buy tickets for a tour so that my family can learn more about the ancient Romans.  We booked a Colosseum tour which included special access to the gladiator entrance, and a tour of The Roman Forum.  This blog will include l highlights of our tour. You will also read some tips on how to have a stress-free visit to the Colosseum with kids.

I did a lot of research on which tour to book.  We needed something that will be interesting enough for my teens and somehow keep my toddlers from getting too bored. After reading blogs and watching a few YouTube videos, I booked our tour through The Roman Guy.  This tour included skip the line tickets for the Roman Forum. Also, an authentic gladiator experience through the “Death Gate” of the Colosseum.  One of the key factors for booking this tour was that it is only 2 ½ hours long.  That was plenty of time to see everything and for all the kids not to get too disinterested.

We met our tour guide at the green kiosk in front of the Colosseum Metro Station.  I was surprised by how small our group was.  We only had 12 people on our tour.  Most tours I saw had at least 20-30 people.  Our tour guide mentioned that the company likes to keep tours small, max 15 people.  It makes for a better experience.  She passed out our headsets and we were off to the Roman Forum.

Tip #1- There is not a lot of shade at the Roman Forum and Colosseum.  Bring water, hat and apply sunscreen.  I would also suggest, bring an umbrella to shield you from the sun.

Our small group tour started at the Roman Forum.  Our wonderful guide was a history major in college, so she was so informative and really knew her Italian history.  As we went through the tour, she had a binder with pictures of what certain buildings looked like originally.  We saw the Temple of Julius Cesar, Arch of Titus, Vestal Virgin Atrium, and the Roman Senate House.

I found the Vestal Virgin Atrium so interesting.  The Vestal Virgins were Priestesses to the goddess of Hearth, Vesta in Ancient Rome.  Their main duty was to guard the fire of Vesta, the oldest and sacred shrine in the Forum.  They took an oath of virginity for 30 years.  The first 10 years they spent learning. The second 10 years were spent performing the duties.  The last 10 years they spent teaching others.  After 30 years of service the virgins would leave office and live their own life.

After an hour into our tour, the tour guide gave us a bathroom break.  There are clean restrooms in the Roman Forum. This was a nice break for all of us.  We drank water and took lots of pictures of our surroundings.  There was a nice grassy area to take great pictures of the Colosseum.

Tip #2- Pay the extra money to get skip the line tickets with special access.  We saved so much time going through the back entrance.  The line at the front entrance was at least 75-100 people long.  I would recommend the skip the line tickets, especially if you have smaller children.  It took all of us around 5 minutes to get through the security line and inside the Colosseum.

We entered the reconstructed arena floor through the Gladiators Gate.  At this level we had a 360-degree view of the entire Colosseum. As we walked in, we could see the sub floor underneath.  The gladiators would enter through an underground tunnel and train underneath the arena floor.  Through our tour guide, we learned about the rope and pully system used to lift the gladiators onto the platforms.  They also used this to lift the animals used for certain battles.  Romans would watch the lions, tigers, panthers, and even rhino’s fight a certain group of gladiators called the Bestiarii.  This was on a rare occasion, because animals were expensive and hard to capture and transport back to Rome.

Our tour guide gave us plenty of time to walk around the lower level and take plenty of pictures.  After two and a half hours our tour finished.  We had an opportiunity to go to the upper levels and tour that area.  Our family decided not to and grab an early dinner.

I’m so glad we booked this small tour.  Our family learned a lot about the Roman Empire, the history of The Colosseum and details about the gladiator battles.  If The Colosseum is a stop on your Rome site-seeing list,  I would suggest upgrading your ticket budget and spend a little more on a small tour.  Do you like to book tours on vacation? Leave a comment below.