We'll be joining a group tour in Italy that will include a tour of the Coliseum. However, we're arriving a two days before the tour to see some of Rome on our own. I'm looking for information about touring the forum. Are there guided tours? headsets? where do we go in the forum for tickets, etc? Thanks! Melissa

The visit to the forum is free, no tickets needed.

It's been a decade since I was in Rome, but I'm sure I had to purchase tickets for the Roman Forum and Palantine. I remember buying them from a kiosk right by the Arch of Constantine and the Coliseum.

Our hotel supplied us with a guidebook of the Forum, with lots of pictures which included an overlay of what the structures looked like before they were pillaged. That really helped us put everything into perspective.

Peace, Robyn >-

hi, missymissy,

quokka is quite right, entry to the forum itself is free, however the Palatine Hill [more ruins, a museum, views over the forum] is not - you can buy a combined ticket for the Palatine and the Colsseum, hence the memories of theOP, IMO. in fact, people are advised to buy this ticket at the palatine in order to avoid the queues at the colosseum.

lots of OPs speak warmly of various guides to the Forum, for who you do have to pay - try a search of this forum [ie message board, too many fori] for details. Context roma get consistently good reviews. otherwise invest in a guide book like Ricksteves, which has good diagrams to help you interpret the ruins.

Personally, the forum is one of the few places where I wish we had had a guide - the ruins are very difficult to interpret by yourself!

regards, ann

Thank you for the clarification, Ann. I knew I bought a ticket for something - it must have been the coliseum/palatine combo. Robyn >-

Hi Melissa, as quokka said, the Forum is free and you just walk right in. There might be an audio tour available (I seem to remember seeing them at the entrance to Palantine Hill) but you really don't need a guided tour of the Forum, you just need ParadiseLost's self-guided walking tour! I plan to print it out and take it with me on my next trip to Rome in June. See:
http://tinyurl.com/2b9bhz

hi, hausfrau [apologies to Missymissy for hijacking her thread]

thanks for the info about the paradies lost guide - looks better than what I had last year.

What did you decide about your UK trip?

regards, ann

Was at Colosseum/Forum/Palentine Hill about 2 weeks ago. We were walking up to the Colosseum and were approached by a woman asking if we wanted to join an English speaking tour. The cost was 10 euros extra and also included English speaking tours at the other two sites. We decided to do it and were happy we did. We had a wonderful guide and then the next day we went back and had an English speaking guide for the forum. The forum is free w/o a guide. We also could have had the English guide for Palentine hill, but went on our own. Probably would have enjoyed it more with a guide. All this for only 10 euros more. You will be approached. They know you are American, just by the way you look.

thanks for all the advice. Since the tour of the Coliseum is included with our group tour of Italy, we really don't need to buy a combo ticket.......unless we just want to see the Coliseum twice, I guess. haha I'm thinking we'll print out the self guided tour and we'll just wander over and try it on our own and then if we're approached for a tour, we have that option. Good to know. Thanks to all! Melissa

Melissa, have fun! Ancient Rome is incredible and I can't wait to go back for my 3rd visit!

Hi Ann (and likewise apologies to Melissa), we're still working on our itinerary but we will definitely stay in Boscastle for a couple of days (settled on the Bottreaux Hotel), then make our way up to Wales, stopping near Llandrindod Wells and then probably base ourselves in Betws y Coed to explore Snowdonia and the coastal towns. I can't wait!

hi, hausfrau,

I like the itinerary very much. on your way up to WAles, you might like to get off the motorway at Bristol, cross over teh river severn [very wide at that point] and drive up the other side of the river along the A48, up towards Gloucester.

You could then bare/bear [???] off to the west and look at Ross on wye, or east through the Cotswolds [year of the garden this year]. DD and I did this drive the other way last weekend and it was lovely - nice little towns and villages, and a very quiet road.

regards, ann

Melissa - sorry to hijack - again!

hijack all you want! I love ALL travel......it's fun to read trip plans. And, yesssssss the Cotswolds would be lovely......ahhhhh I need more time to just travel! Melissa