colosseum tour- is it worth the money?
May 4th, 2013, 01:23 AM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 96
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
colosseum tour- is it worth the money?
Thinking of doing a walks of Italy tour of the colosseum. It includes underground and upper tier which is not open tp public. Is that true? Has anyone done this? It will cost $350 for family of 5. Happy to pay if it is a fantastic tour and includes things not included in normal ticket price.
May 4th, 2013, 05:16 AM
#2
You can book a similar tour directly with the colosseum for about 20€ which includes underground and upper tier. A normal ticket is 12€ which includes the Colosseum, Forum, Palantine. The additional upper tier and underground is either 18€ or 20€. The 12€ admission ticket is good for two days (one entry into each area).
May 4th, 2013, 05:20 AM
#3
Here's the official booking for underground and upper tier.
http://www.coopculture.it/en/events.cfm?id=6
http://www.coopculture.it/en/events.cfm?id=6
May 4th, 2013, 05:47 AM
#4
Sorry. That is the official site, but it's not rolling over to the proper options for the underground tour which is booked through Omniticket/ticketclic. It also seems to only be working for the Italian version currently, not the English version. Here is the link in Italian and the price is 21.50 for the underground plus a booking fee of about 1€.
http://www.ticketclic.it/HTML/musei/colosseo.cfm
Scroll down to the VISITA GUIDATA SOTTERRANEI comprende: ARENA COLOSSEO SOTTERRANEI e 3° ANELLO. You must select Ritiro in Loco (pick up your ticket) or you will not get the tour options. On the next screen, select your date and you will get a list that looks like this:
http://www.ticketclic.it/database/B2...?SiteDefId=171
If you will have a Roma Pass, you can use it for your admission and only need to purchase the tour. If you don't plan on getting a Roma Pass, you will need to purchase an entrance ticket.
http://www.ticketclic.it/HTML/musei/colosseo.cfm
Scroll down to the VISITA GUIDATA SOTTERRANEI comprende: ARENA COLOSSEO SOTTERRANEI e 3° ANELLO. You must select Ritiro in Loco (pick up your ticket) or you will not get the tour options. On the next screen, select your date and you will get a list that looks like this:
http://www.ticketclic.it/database/B2...?SiteDefId=171
If you will have a Roma Pass, you can use it for your admission and only need to purchase the tour. If you don't plan on getting a Roma Pass, you will need to purchase an entrance ticket.
May 4th, 2013, 08:24 AM
#6
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 248
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Caroline; ~10yrs ago they put a partial stage and a long catwalk over the Colosseum's arena ========|) which allowed me to walk over the arena.
I took dozens of up-close photos of the elevators, the tracks for the pulley ropes, the tracks for the actual elevator that the gladiators or caged animals were in, holes for crossbeams of the wooden floor, stone turning post bases for the windless, etc.
WOW!!! I was in Heaven!
On other trips I used binoculars and my camera's telephoto lens to take pictures of the closed-off 'upper tier' (stairs, supports, etc).
Around this trip or the ones before or after I had called ContextRome (is was likely still ScalaReale then).
The year before I had gone on a free visit with Context members, their family and friends to a newly discovered warehouse along the Tiber where we had meet and spoken at length.
I had taken many and was taking Context tours on this trip.
I asked him if they had any special non-advertized tours going on when I was there.
"Yes, we are going to the 'French Embassy' which is located in a beautiful, historical Renaissance Palazzo and very rarely opened to the public and it's only a few euro admission."
"No, thanks"
"This is very rare opening!"
"Nah, it's not my interest."
I'm sure most people here would have jumped at that chance but to me it wasn't a WOW!
To me if you had seen 1 beautiful, historic Renaissance Palazzo you had seen them all
.
So is $350 for visiting a small off-limits section of the Colosseum on your tour be a WOW! to anyone in your family @ $70 p/p?
If so, then yes.
If not, perhaps something like a private tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill or a group tour of Ostia Antica, Tivoli, etc would be more memorable for your family and money better spent?
Just a thought.
I took dozens of up-close photos of the elevators, the tracks for the pulley ropes, the tracks for the actual elevator that the gladiators or caged animals were in, holes for crossbeams of the wooden floor, stone turning post bases for the windless, etc.
WOW!!! I was in Heaven!
On other trips I used binoculars and my camera's telephoto lens to take pictures of the closed-off 'upper tier' (stairs, supports, etc).
Around this trip or the ones before or after I had called ContextRome (is was likely still ScalaReale then).
The year before I had gone on a free visit with Context members, their family and friends to a newly discovered warehouse along the Tiber where we had meet and spoken at length.
I had taken many and was taking Context tours on this trip.
I asked him if they had any special non-advertized tours going on when I was there.
"Yes, we are going to the 'French Embassy' which is located in a beautiful, historical Renaissance Palazzo and very rarely opened to the public and it's only a few euro admission."
"No, thanks"
"This is very rare opening!"
"Nah, it's not my interest."
I'm sure most people here would have jumped at that chance but to me it wasn't a WOW!
To me if you had seen 1 beautiful, historic Renaissance Palazzo you had seen them all
.So is $350 for visiting a small off-limits section of the Colosseum on your tour be a WOW! to anyone in your family @ $70 p/p?
If so, then yes.
If not, perhaps something like a private tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill or a group tour of Ostia Antica, Tivoli, etc would be more memorable for your family and money better spent?
Just a thought
.
May 4th, 2013, 10:27 AM
#9
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 4,591
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
we did this tour in September with Walks of Italy and really enjoyed it. Vincenzo was our guide and I like that they only take small groups. We couldn't help noticing how many people would try to sneak in behind our group on the top tier. Walking out on the stage of the Colisseum was great to get the same vantage point the performers and gladiators would have seen. It was very worth while and to us, worth the money. You also avoid the line on entering the Colisseum and the underground and how the shows were put on were all interesting.
May 4th, 2013, 10:31 AM
#10
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,270
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
We are not typically tour people, but we did a Through Eternity tour of the Coliseum and Forum area. It was worth it and fabulously enlightening. However, there were only two of us to pay for, and for 5 people this is a huge chunk of change. Do check out the company though; we'd highly recommend it.
May 4th, 2013, 12:14 PM
#11
People are commenting about several different things on this thread, not specifically the underground tour (which only started a year or so ago).
>>>So is $350 for visiting a small off-limits section of the Colosseum on your tour be a WOW! to anyone in your family @ $70 p/p?<<<
It would be the same area anyone can book directly through coopculture for 21.50€ per person.
>>>It will cost $350 for family of 5.<<<
Is that $350 or 350€? Does that include your entrance ticket (12€) as some tours don't?
Booking directly with the Colosseum/coopculture would be 33.50€ or $44 per person for both entrance ticket and underground/top tier tour.
>>>So is $350 for visiting a small off-limits section of the Colosseum on your tour be a WOW! to anyone in your family @ $70 p/p?<<<
It would be the same area anyone can book directly through coopculture for 21.50€ per person.
>>>It will cost $350 for family of 5.<<<
Is that $350 or 350€? Does that include your entrance ticket (12€) as some tours don't?
Booking directly with the Colosseum/coopculture would be 33.50€ or $44 per person for both entrance ticket and underground/top tier tour.
May 4th, 2013, 03:52 PM
#12
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 248
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
>>>So is $350 for visiting a small off-limits section of the Colosseum on your tour be a WOW! to anyone in your family @ $70 p/p?<<<
------------------------------------------
<<<It would be the same area anyone can book directly through coopculture for 21.50� per person.>>>
Ahhh...That option was already on the table, did it need repeating by me?
I was commenting on the OP question and that was the 'Walks of Italy' tour which is very highly recommended on this group.
My post was about *that* tour and the price of *that* tour.
And the interests of her group vs the cost of *that highly recommended tour*.
Your 1st 3 posts covered the other tour option *quite clearly*, I saw no reason to comment on that but only on the 'Walks of Italy' tour that the OP was *asking about*.
And as you can plainly see 8mins later I noticed I had forgotten to add that other option and posted this 1-liner.
<<<Opps...forgot to add "Or book it on your own.">>>
------------------------------------------
<<<It would be the same area anyone can book directly through coopculture for 21.50� per person.>>>
Ahhh...That option was already on the table, did it need repeating by me?
I was commenting on the OP question and that was the 'Walks of Italy' tour which is very highly recommended on this group.
My post was about *that* tour and the price of *that* tour.
And the interests of her group vs the cost of *that highly recommended tour*.
Your 1st 3 posts covered the other tour option *quite clearly*, I saw no reason to comment on that but only on the 'Walks of Italy' tour that the OP was *asking about*.
And as you can plainly see 8mins later I noticed I had forgotten to add that other option and posted this 1-liner.
<<<Opps...forgot to add "Or book it on your own.">>>
May 4th, 2013, 03:55 PM
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 96
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi everyone! Thanks so much for your replies. Kybourbon- I will def check out that site. Are you sure it's the same as someone is making a lot of money out of this tour. It's $350 american and does include all entrance fees. My son (13) and I are real history buffs as is my husband to a lesser extent, but not sure if it will hold the girls attention as much (15 and 5)
May 4th, 2013, 04:31 PM
#14
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 4,350
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Last May, we did the tour Kybourbon speaks about above and enjoyed it very much. I don't know what the difference in price gets you with the one caroline 65 is referencing. We had a great guide and he thoroughly explained everything along the way. $350 is a lot of money. I think it was around $150 for the four of us.
May 4th, 2013, 05:05 PM
#15
It's the official booking from the official tourism website for Rome.
http://www.turismoroma.it/?lang=en
While the link says Pierreci, they have recently changed to coopculture and haven't changed the wording on the tourism website yet, but when you click Pierreci, it rolls over to coopculture.
http://www.turismoroma.it/cosa-fare/colosseo-2?lang=en
At first, when they started offering this underground tour a year or two ago, the only way you could tour was with the official tour. The only way you could book it was by calling Pierreci (official booking designated by the state). You could not book it online. They are now letting a few outside tour companies have access, but some of them just do the booking and are really signing you up for the official tour and charging you a few just to book for you. Other companies are using their own guides. It's up to you whether you think it will be worth it to pay an outside tour company or use the Colosseum's own tour. I don't believe any of the outside companies are allowed any more time to tour than the Colosseum's own tours.
Similar to booking the Vatican's own tours or paying an outside tour company to take you through. It's much cheaper to book directly with the Vatican for their tour.
Rostra - Some people are commenting on Colosseum tours which are not the underground tour. I saw your post as a bit confusing for someone that hasn't been. Commenting on 10 years ago, when this tour didn't exist, unless you are saying you had some special arrangements back then to tour it. Also, talking about Context when the OP is asking about Walks of Italy which aren't the same company.
>>>greg on May 4, 13 at 9:48am
The coopculture site underground tour is listed to be only for 12 Sept 2012 to 31 August 2013. What happens to the underground the tours after 31 August 2013?<<<
Since the state determines this and this is their official booking, they will determine when fall booking opens. Outside tour companies tend to take bookings past the dates that the official sites are offering. Some just hold your money (depends on particular site being booked), send you their own confirmation and when the dates are posted, book the tickets. Others sometimes have a tour operator only booking link. Many state museums in Italy only take bookings about two months in advance, but an outside tour company may give you date six months out. For example, the Vatican is currently only taking bookings through July, but Context Rome would let you book October on their website.
It's the same as if the Smithsonian was offering tours and hired a booking agent such as Ticketmaster to process their bookings for them. Coop Culture is simply hired by the state (ministry of culture) to process the Colosseum bookings.
You can see on the official ministry of culture website that they link to coopculture. They've announced night tours of the Colosseum and have the link to coopculture.
The Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Environment was established by Giovanni Spadolini (with decree 14 December 1974 n. 657, converted into Law 29 January 1975, n. 5 - OJ 14 February 1975, n. 43), with the task to assign a unit to the specific expertise of a specially formed Ministry of the management of cultural heritage and the environment in order to ensure the organic protection of interest of extreme importance on the internal and national level. (Organization of the Ministry of Cultural and Environmental Heritage by decree of the President of the Republic no. 805 of 3 December 1975)
http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac/ex...433220072.html
http://www.turismoroma.it/?lang=en
While the link says Pierreci, they have recently changed to coopculture and haven't changed the wording on the tourism website yet, but when you click Pierreci, it rolls over to coopculture.
http://www.turismoroma.it/cosa-fare/colosseo-2?lang=en
At first, when they started offering this underground tour a year or two ago, the only way you could tour was with the official tour. The only way you could book it was by calling Pierreci (official booking designated by the state). You could not book it online. They are now letting a few outside tour companies have access, but some of them just do the booking and are really signing you up for the official tour and charging you a few just to book for you. Other companies are using their own guides. It's up to you whether you think it will be worth it to pay an outside tour company or use the Colosseum's own tour. I don't believe any of the outside companies are allowed any more time to tour than the Colosseum's own tours.
Similar to booking the Vatican's own tours or paying an outside tour company to take you through. It's much cheaper to book directly with the Vatican for their tour.
Rostra - Some people are commenting on Colosseum tours which are not the underground tour. I saw your post as a bit confusing for someone that hasn't been. Commenting on 10 years ago, when this tour didn't exist, unless you are saying you had some special arrangements back then to tour it. Also, talking about Context when the OP is asking about Walks of Italy which aren't the same company.
>>>greg on May 4, 13 at 9:48am
The coopculture site underground tour is listed to be only for 12 Sept 2012 to 31 August 2013. What happens to the underground the tours after 31 August 2013?<<<
Since the state determines this and this is their official booking, they will determine when fall booking opens. Outside tour companies tend to take bookings past the dates that the official sites are offering. Some just hold your money (depends on particular site being booked), send you their own confirmation and when the dates are posted, book the tickets. Others sometimes have a tour operator only booking link. Many state museums in Italy only take bookings about two months in advance, but an outside tour company may give you date six months out. For example, the Vatican is currently only taking bookings through July, but Context Rome would let you book October on their website.
It's the same as if the Smithsonian was offering tours and hired a booking agent such as Ticketmaster to process their bookings for them. Coop Culture is simply hired by the state (ministry of culture) to process the Colosseum bookings.
You can see on the official ministry of culture website that they link to coopculture. They've announced night tours of the Colosseum and have the link to coopculture.
The Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Environment was established by Giovanni Spadolini (with decree 14 December 1974 n. 657, converted into Law 29 January 1975, n. 5 - OJ 14 February 1975, n. 43), with the task to assign a unit to the specific expertise of a specially formed Ministry of the management of cultural heritage and the environment in order to ensure the organic protection of interest of extreme importance on the internal and national level. (Organization of the Ministry of Cultural and Environmental Heritage by decree of the President of the Republic no. 805 of 3 December 1975)
http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac/ex...433220072.html
May 4th, 2013, 06:07 PM
#16
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 248
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
<<<Rostra - Some people are commenting on Colosseum tours which are not the underground tour. I saw your post as a bit confusing for someone that hasn't been. Commenting on 10 years ago, when this tour didn't exist, unless you are saying you had some special arrangements back then to tour it. Also, talking about Context when the OP is asking about Walks of Italy which aren't the same company.>>>
That's what you claim I wrote?
Others can read what I wrote and now what you *claim* I wrote and they can decide for themselves.
That's what you claim I wrote?
Others can read what I wrote and now what you *claim* I wrote and they can decide for themselves.
May 4th, 2013, 06:45 PM
#17
We are booked on the walks of italy tour in late may! family of four, so it is pricey for us too! We did the vatican tour threw the vatican itself for less. These are our two "official tours". We are winging the rest, well maybe..
May 4th, 2013, 09:29 PM
#18
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 96
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi again kybourbon, I checked out that site. i found it a little confusing. When you click on underground and upper tier, a price of 12 euro comes up. Is that the tour of it all or just admission price of the ordinary colosseum ticket.
May 4th, 2013, 10:06 PM
#19
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 96
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Kybourbon, disregard previous message. My husband came on board and we muddled through different sites you gave us and we bought our tickets!! YOU ARE A GEM!!! It cost us $143aust! I'm so thrilled! Where do you live? We'll shout you dinner! What an mazing amount we have saved thanks to you and this forum!!
