Buy from one place only. The official seller is the Parco archeologico del Colosseo, at ticketing.colosseo.it, or its ticket offices at the site. Search for 'colosseum tickets' and most of what you'll see are resellers and tour companies, often charging far more than the €18 face value for the same entry, sometimes bundled with a guide. In April 2025 Italy's competition authority fined the park's former ticket operator and six online tour sellers almost €20 million, finding that bots had been buying up base-price tickets that were then resold at much higher prices. The park's own regulations ban resale by anyone it hasn't authorised. No ticket, official or not, skips the security check: everyone goes through the same scanners.
The standard ticket: Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine, €18. This is the one most people need, and the one a Roma Pass covers, though pass holders still have to book a slot. It gives one entry to the first and second tiers of the Colosseum (with the panoramic terraces and the Colosseum Museum) at the time you book, plus one entry to the Roman Forum and Palatine within 24 hours before or after that slot. It doesn't include the arena floor or the underground. You can stay in the Colosseum for 75 minutes.
Full Experience tickets, €24. Each is valid for two consecutive days: one entry to the Colosseum at your booked time, and one entry to the Forum, the Palatine and the SUPER sites (the smaller, capped sites such as the House of Augustus and Santa Maria Antiqua) on the same day, the day before or the day after. You get 90 minutes in the Colosseum. There are three versions. Underground and Arena adds the reconstructed section of arena floor and the hypogeum, the underground corridors where animals and fighters waited, visited in accompanied groups of up to 25 every 15 minutes; €32 with the park's own educational tour. Arena adds the reconstructed section of arena floor to the first and second tiers. Attic adds the intermediate gallery, the third tier and the attic at the very top. A stair lift reaches the third level, but the attic itself is reached only by steep steps.
Only Arena, €18. A 20-minute visit to the arena floor alone, entering from the Sperone Stern side, plus the Forum, the Palatine and the SUPER sites within 24 hours. It's a cheaper way onto the arena floor, but you miss the tiers and the museum.
Passage of Commodus, €32. A 25-minute guided visit, in groups of up to eight, to the vaulted underground passage that linked the pulvinar, the box reserved for the empire's top officials, to the outside. It runs on Mondays and Wednesdays, in English at 3pm (Italian at 2pm, Spanish at 1pm), from the Valadier entrance on Piazza del Colosseo, and the ticket also covers the Forum and Palatine over two days.
When tickets are released. The standard ticket, the Underground and Arena and the Attic go on sale 30 days before the visit date. The Arena and the Passage of Commodus tickets go on sale only seven days ahead, and the Arena ticket can also be bought at the ticket office on the day. The underground has capped group sizes and a limit of eight tickets per buyer per day, so if you want it, book on the day your date opens, 30 days ahead. Waiting won't get you a better deal: the official prices don't change with demand.
The name and ID rules. Every ticket carries a name, and at the entrance you must show an original identity document with it. If the name doesn't match, you're refused entry and there's no refund. A name can be changed only once, by midnight on the seventh day before the visit, and only for an obvious typing error, a ticket assigned to the wrong person in the same booking, or a serious documented reason. One online booking holds up to eight tickets. You don't need to print anything: the receipt on your phone is enough.
Arrive on time, or lose the Colosseum. On the standard ticket and the Arena Full Experience, arrive in the 15 minutes before your slot and no more than 15 minutes after. For the Underground and Arena, be there 30 minutes early: there's no tolerance for lateness. Only Arena and Attic tickets have no tolerance either. Miss your slot and the ticket is only good for the Forum and Palatine. There are no refunds or date changes unless the park itself closes.
Winter hours (25 October 2026 to 28 February 2027). The park is open 8.30am to 4.30pm with last admission at 3.30pm; the Colosseum opens at 8.30am and the Forum and Palatine at 9am. The ticket offices close 75 minutes before closing. It's closed on 25 December 2026 and 1 January 2027.
Free first Sundays. Entry is free on the first Sunday of each month, and on 25 April, 2 June and 4 November. Free-day tickets can't be booked; they're given out in order of arrival at the ticket office in Piazza del Colosseo, by the Temple of Venus and Rome. On those days the arena, the underground, the upper levels and the panoramic lift are closed, and so are the SUPER sites. The next free day is Wednesday 4 November 2026; the next free Sundays are 6 December 2026, 3 January 2027 and 7 February 2027. Tickets are first come, first served, so expect to queue.
Under-18s and €2 tickets. Under-18s go free at state sites, but at the Colosseum they still need a booked ticket on ticketing.colosseo.it. EU citizens aged 18 up to their 25th birthday pay €2 for admission; the reduction covers admission only, so a tour on top can cost extra; the night tour, for example, is €2 plus the €26 tour. Disabled visitors and a companion get in free. Children under 12 must be with an adult.
