Hello All,
We are going to be in Rome June 26th and wil be there for 4 days / 4nights. Wed. the 27th we are headed to a Vatican tour, booked already. The 28th we are headed to the village wher my grandmother was born and raised. Friday we want to vist the Coloseum, and have read about buying tickets at Palatine. The posts seem to suggest doing this will help avoid line at the Coloseum after you are done visiting Palantine. Any suggstions. I am assuming we should do Palatine, the Forum and the Coloseum? Thanks for the help.


JBOZ

Hi jboz -

You can indeed purchase tickets for both the Palatine and Colosseum (combo ticket)at the booth near the Palatine. We had no line when we did this and it does allow you to avoid the usually long ticket line at the Colosseum. There is, of course, no charge for the Forum.

All three locations are wonderful. We did the Forum first, then the Palatine and the Colosseum. We also did a self-guided tour, although there are many excellent guided tours often recommended on this website.

How wonderful for you to visit your roots! Have a wonderful time . . .

Linda

I would definitely plan to visit all three.
Another suggested itinerary is to visit the Palatine first starting at the non-Forum entrance off Via di San Gregorino. If you walk through from that entrance you end at the Farnese gardens overlooking the forum (great view) and can walk down into the Forum, visit that area, then go to the Colosseum in the afternoon, bypassing the lines.
The combo tickets to the Palatine and Colosseum are good for a day. If you buy later in the day you can go to the other site the morning of the next day, but I am not exactly sure when in the afternoon that option starts.
The main problems with my alternate itinerary is that it might get you to the Forum in the middle of the day, which would be hot in late June (the Palatine is cooler and greener).
Either way, you should visit the capitol area,too. Even if you are not going to visit the museums and galleries there, you should plan at some point during your stay to walk up Michaelangelo's Cordonata to the Piazza del Campidoglio. There is another great view of the forum from the terrace off to the right of the Palazzo Senatorio.

Also, you don't mention visiting the Pantheon/Piazza Navona, Campo de Fiori area, but I am assuming you would do this one day? The Pantheon is an absolute must see for anyone interested in Roman history.

Hey guys, thanks for the great advice. A couple of questions?
Can we buy the tickets at Palatine ahead of time? Online or through some type of ticket agent? Or do we just go to the location listed and purchase them same day...is there a best time to go?

Also, can we do the Palatine, Forum, Coloseum and the Pantheon/Piazza Navona, Campo de Fiori in one day?

Thanks

iJourneys.com has a fantastic iPod tour of the Coliseum and the Forum. and they tell you about the ticket booth at the Palatine so you don't have to wait on what the Italians may call lines, but are really just pandemonium at the Coliseum. Take the iJourneys tour and you'll know everything. And please don't buy your tix at the Coliseum, it will only stress you out.

I know you can get advance tickets for the Colosseum and Palatine on line through http://selectitaly.com/. I didn't use this method and looking quickly at the website, it may require you to select a time for the Colosseum visit. Of course if you do these advance tickets you don't have to worry about lines at the Colosseum and could rearrange timing of visits to it/the Forum/the Palatine area.

I think you would be able to get the tickets easily w/o reservation on line and w/o waiting in line if you go to the Palatine first. Just go to either of the entrances described. The one in the Forum is near the Arch of Titus on the Via Sacra which is maybe 2/3 of the way along the Forum, at the Colosseum end.

In answer to your other question, yes it is possible to do all 3 major Roman sites plus the Pantheon/P.Navona/Campo de Fiori in one day. I think some guided tours do the Forum/Palatine and Colosseum all in about a 3 hour span which seems rushed to me.
I believe the Forum, Palatine and Colosseum all open at 8:30. The earlier you start, the less crowded these sites will be and the cooler the temperatures will be. I was in Rome once late June and it was very hot in the middle of the day.

You can get from the Forum/Colosseum area to the Pantheon/P.Navona by foot, bus or taxi. The piazzas are fun to see in the late afternoon/evening. The Pantheon closes at 7:30.

Instead of buying from SelectItaly (ticket is $25 for just Coloseum/Palantine), you can buy the Roma Pass for 20E (about $27) which gives you entrance to 2 museums (discounts at others) and transportation for 3 days (bus/metro).

Five ways to avoid lines at the Coloseum and links to Roma Pass and Coloseum tickets -
http://www.pierreci.it/do/show/article/01009/notitle

Just did a tour of the Forum and Colosseum around Easter with Angel Tours. It was very informative and we thoroughly enjoyed it. I believe it was 25 Euros a person plus Colosseum admission.

They also have a free evening tour of the Pantheon.

I can't remember how much it cost to buy the tickets to Colosseum/Palatine. Certainly less than 20 Euros, probably more like 10 or 12 per person

If you want to go to one or more of the other museums and/or use public transit a fair amount, the Roma Pass sounds like a good deal.

The Angel tour does not go to the Palatine but you could do that on your own. The three sites have very little information posted so if you don't have a good guide book or a guide it is hard to understand what you are seeing.

One thing I forgot to mention about the Campo de Fiori area: the open air market there is only open 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday to Sat. So seeing the market might not fit in easily with your other "must sees." The square is still worth a visit and busy in the evenings, too.

Where are you staying in Rome? Depending on your location you might be able to visit some sights another afternoon/evening.

We chose to do an Icon Tour which I would highly recommend. It def. helped us avoid lines and we got a great introduction to all three of the locations you mentioned: http://www.icontours.com/

Here is a snippet from my trip report that year:
Icon Tours, Ancient Rome, E25/each
On our second day, we chose to take a guided tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palantine Hill. We were led by Sarah who has lived in Rome for four years. She was quite knowledgeable and really helped us understand the history and evolution of the area better. The entire tour lasted 3 hours (instead of the allotted 2.5) and was worth every penny.