We will be visiting Rome in May and would like to find a painless--no-line--way to visit the Coliseum and Forum. We would like a guide. Our plan is to do our formal touring in the morning, leaving the afternoon and evenings free for wandering.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

You can rent these devices so as you walk around the Coliseum, you push the button and it tells you what you are looking at.

We really liked ICON tours.

I can't recommend a specific company because I can't remember the name, but my friends and I were so happy with our student guides. They were a couple of history majors (and hotties to boot (we're a bunch of middle-aged mothers who aren't above admiring.)) and were so pleasant and answered question after question and took lots of time with us. I'm sure there are several companies who employ student guides.

This past October, we used Context Rome for a tour of the Colisseum/Forum & also the Borghese & Vatican/St.Peter's. They are excellent, well worth the cost & they use M.A.s or PhD.s You can reach them on the web. Goodluck

Do like we did: Walk up to the Coloseum looking a bit confused and you will be recruited by 20 tour guides to join their them and bypass all of the lines. Not especially impressed with the tour, but if you don't secure one before you go, it's always an option.

We liked our tour with Angel Tours. It met at 9:00 at the metro station. We went to the Forum and the Coliseum. The group was small (8 people) and was very enjoyable.

1) Buy the Roma Pass at any major subway station and bypass the lines.

2) Buy the Archeological Pass online before you leave and bypass the lines.

3) Get your ticket at the Palatine hill office instead of the Colosseum and bypass most of the lines.

In Rome, a couple of weeks ago and we rented a video guide at the Coliseum. The darn thing didn't work.
Just read up on it and bring a guide book w/you.
Also, we were there Holy Week, arrived at 9:30 am and the line was very short. Took longer to rent the nonworking video guide than to buy tickets.

I'm curious if the video guide didn't work, why you didn't just take it back to the station and get one that did? While there may have been a line, it seems if you returned one that didn't work to get a new one you wouldn't have to go stand in line again.

My husband didn't think it was worth the hassle and honestly, we did find.

ICON tours are good.