Rome: Avoiding the long Colosseum ticket line/queue: Palatine Hill ticket office locations
 

[I thought I posted this in the past and was going to top it for rohani but I couldn't find it.]

You can avoid the *long* Colosseum lines if you buy your tickets at the Palatine Hill.
This ticket is valid for both sites on the same day. Also if bought after 1:30PM (it will say on back of the ticket) it's also valid for the next day to 1:30PM.
 
There are 2 ticket offices for the Palatine Hill. One in the Roman Forum area and the other on street that runs along the eastside of the Palatine Hill.

Go to www.capitolium.org/eng/fori/pianta.htm See the '1' now look alttle below it and to the left. See a building with 2 reddish/brown roofs. That is the entrance to the Palatine Hill from the Forum and the ticket office is below it. One option is to explore the Forum and work your way up to the Arch of Titus (which is '1') and then over to that bldg, buy your tickets and then either go up to the Palatine or over to the Colosseum. This ticket office might have a line but definitely shorter than the Colosseum. Easy to find, you'll see people walking over to it from the Forum.

 Still looking at the map website this photo http://www2.siba.fi/~kkoskim/rooma/pages/085_059B.HTM was taken between the '1' which is the Arch of Titus and the building with the reddish/brown roof above it which houses the Forum Museum (Antiquarium Forense).

On the leftside of the photo between the trees you can see the ticket bldg and above it the bldg I mentioned earlier with the 2 reddish/brown roofs on the map.

The 2nd ticket office with no lines is on Via di San Gregorio, see that street on the map website above. The ticket office is where that little 'cul-de-sac' is to the left of the 'eg' in Gregorio.
(www.travelcreek.com/constantine.jpg this photo was taken from the Colosseum, that street is behind the Arch of Constantine in the distance, the ticket office is ~300m from the Colosseum).

 With your ticket you just go to the left of the long Colosseum line. The sign to follow will say 'Tour Groups' or did when I was there in March '04 & '05.

And now for some really important info! W.C./toilet locations :).
Starting at the top of the map. See the 'L.go Corrado Ricci', that's the main entrance to the Forum. At the entrance gate is a small bldg on the left with a w.c., book & gift shop (I don't know if they still rent the audioguides, if not they will be at the Info bldg which is next).   See to the right on the 'L.go' on the street there is an 'circled I', that's the Forum's tourist info bldg. It has a w.c., snackbar, guidebooks and some scheduled tours and possibly the Forum audioguides.
  Further to the right is an 'M' which is a metro station with a w.c.
  Inside the Colosseum after the ticket turnstiles and after the 1st entrance into the arena area there is a w.c. Also outside the Colosseum on the map it's just above 'Colosseo' there is a w.c. by the stairs leading up to the street's sidewalk.
 The Forum Museum also has a public w.c. that they might let you use if you ask.
 In the Forum behind the Basilica Julia and on the map to the left of '10' there is a w.c. The ancient brick ruins (2 piers) right in front of this w.c. are from a monumental arch which was once faced in marble. The w.c. is built over the street that this arch crossed over and was called the 'Vicus Unguentarius' or the Street of the Perfume Sellers :).  
 On the Palatine Hill number '23' is the Palatino Museum with a w.c. Also the 2nd Palatine Hill entrance mentioned above has a w.c. Regards, Walter

What a great post! Thanks for the info.

bookmarking

bookmarking

bookmarking

Many thanks for this information, Walter.

FRom our experience at Ester, the pre-paid ticket entrance at the colosseum is still marked tour groups. THe first queue is the security queue, but ignore the long queue to the right and go through the entrance to the left with your prepaid ticket. Once through security, do not make the mistake we did and join the long queue - that is the ticket queue proper, which again you by-pass to the left and walk what seems very long way til you get to the entrance and show your ticket. Then feel very virtuous that you avaioded that long wait!

Excellant info, many thanks

booking marking

bookmarking

great info! bookmarking

The other thing we learned this summer is that you can only visit the Palantine IF you buy a combo ticket with the Colosseum. We have seen the Colosseum before and didn't want to again, but still had to buy the combo ticket in order to get into the Palantine.

So whatever you do, don't buy a Colosseum ticket and then later go to the Palantine, or you'll be paying for it all again.

Thanks for the great info!!!

jmjo, if you think this is good, check out all the wonderful posts by ParadiseLost - great walking tours of the Forum with priceless information! Walter did a lot of research and we truly benefitted from it when we visited Rome last year.

We purchased our tickets at the first ticket office mentioned in the OP. It could not have been easier and I was a heroine to my travel companions when we did not have to wait in line at all at the Colosseum!

bookmarking!!!

bookmarking

ummm. I'm all for bookmarking, but what do you think the odds are that in the past 5 and a half years the locations, regulations, and policies have changed? I'd guess, pretty good! Some threads really do become less helpful as time goes by.

There is no need to continue the ancient practice of "spraying" on a thread to bookmark it. Under the new format, now several years old, simply clicking "Bookmark" on your browser will enable you to enter the thread into whichever personal bookmark folder you may desire.

Easier for you, more bandwidth for Fodor's, fewer annoyances for the rest of us, eagerly opening the thread to see what is new.

just to say that the arrangements have now changed - again!

about 3 years ago the forum was absorbed into the Colosseum/Palatinate ticket, and at that time, it had a separate entrance on via dei fori imperiale. Now that entrance is the exit, and the entrance to the combined area of the forum and palatinate is on Via Celio vibenna - as you come out of the colosseum, you turn left.

if you want to go there to buy your tickets, the ticket office is on your right as you face the colosseum at the bottom of the via dei fori imperiale, about 100 ms along the road.

the entrance to the colosseum has moved as well - the old entrance is now the exit, and the entrance [at least if you already have tickets or a Roma pass] is more central at the end of the via dei fori imperiale.

i hope this is clear! [if you look at a map of the area, it will make more sense].

So this is still valid from the OP.
www.capitolium.org/eng/fori/pianta.htm
The ticket office with no lines is on Via di San Gregorio, see that street on the map website above.
The ticket office is where that little 'cul-de-sac' is to the left of the 'eg' in Gregorio. Via San Gregorio; Entrance and exit for the Palatine Hill and Roman Forum.

So you can still just walk-in and purchase your ticket, leave and walk over to Colosseum and avoid the long Colosseum ticket purchase lines.

annhig; I don't know if changes were made as they often do in Rome, like at the Colosseum over the year with different entrances and exits often changing every few years.

Or *I'm* just reading your directions wrong:-).

Anyway this was the original layout when they again started (2007/8?) charging for the Roman Forum.

And it seems to also be the current layout today?

So please correct if I'm wrong.

This is from the official City of Rome Tourist Office recently (2012 to today) up-dated.
http://www.060608.it/en/cultura-e-sv...-palatino.html OR
http://tinyurl.com/buj9n29

"The ticket, which is valid for the Colosseum and the archaeological area of the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill, may be purchased at the ticket offices in Via di San Gregorio (Palatine), Largo Salara Vecchia - Former Largo Romolo e Remo�(Roman Forum) and Piazza del Colosseo (Colosseum).


The exits are located at the Arch of Titus and the Mamertino prison (closed both entrances and exits at S. Teodoro and at Capitoline hill)."

So using the www.capitolium.org/eng/fori/pianta.htm map
is this correct?

The Roman Forum ticket sales for the 'combined ticket' are to the right of #41 (at the white section 41->|_| ) which is a Largo on the Via dei Fori Imperiali.

This is also *the entrance* and an exit for the Roman Forum.

The Largo was always called the 'Largo of Romolo and Remo' but they changed the name to the 'Largo della Salara Vecchia'.

An 'Exit Only' for both the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill is at the #1 'Arch of Titus' and going down #22 (Via Sacra) towards the Colosseum.

Also near #1 is the open entrance and exit to the Palatine Hill.

Behind #16 "Arch of Septimius Severus' is a Roman Forum 'Exit Only' to the Capitoline Hill.


The 2 old entrances & exits when the Forum was free are now Closed.

One was by #17, Forum to Capitoline Hill.

And the other was behind #11 leading up and out of the Forum into a modern neighborhood.

Thanks!

Rostra - the updated City of /rome map shows the entrance to the Forum/palatinate that I'm talking about along the Via di san gregorio [the extension of the via cello vibena] but the wrong side of the road - but it's obvious when you're looking at it what it is.

there are no signs to it though, which makes me think it's quite new, and it certainly looks it.

the other map seems to me to be showing at no 41 the old entrance that we used 3 years ago which is now the exit - and nothing is shown along the via di san gregorio which is where the new entrance is.

yet more confusions for those visiting the forum - we all need paradise lost in our pockets!

Having ourselves unwisely tried one of the old entrances, only to find it no longer in use once we got there, perhaps these will be of assistance?

The two ticket offices:

- Via di San Gregorio 30.... Go here if the Palatine Hill area first! On the road between the Colosseum and Circus Maximus, with an enormous gateway facing outwards that's all but impossible to miss (dating, the inscription suggests, from when it was the entrance to the gardens of the Farnesi family). Luckily the queue there isn't always this long:

http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/image/132465220

- Largo Salara Vecchia.. into the Forums! Not shown by GoogleMaps, but located on the Via dei Fori Imperiali, at its junction with Via Cavour....

http://www.pbase.com/image/149130420

... and likewise, not usually that busy!

.....................................

Last November, at the northern / western end of the Forum area, the exit near the arch of Septimus Severus, which comes out by the Mamertine, was certainly in use...

There were also people climbing the long slow ramp up towards the Capitoline - perhaps they were in for a disappointment, or maybe just going for the view?

Peter

There were also people climbing the long slow ramp up towards the Capitoline - perhaps they were in for a disappointment, or maybe just going for the view?>>

Peter, I've wondered where they were going myself!

one day I'll go up there and let you know what I find.

Ann, hi!

Almost certain that we've used the entrance / exit gate that's up there - perhaps back when the Forum was free?

The road goes near the Tarpeian rock, to then lead past the circular church of San Teodoro al Palatino

http://www.pbase.com/image/139905372

and eventually this one...

http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/image/64451173

Looks as though it must have been in Feb 2000 - and, with the synapses reconnecting now, I'm pretty sure we passed yet another exit while on that walk... somewhere along Via Foro Romano, before getting to either church.

That's how we found the Trattoria San Teodoro, now I come to think of it!

Peter

bookmark

Peter, the first time we visited [8 years or so ago] we used the entrance at the "top" of the via foro romano [ie at the Capitoline Hill end] to get into the Forum, which as you point out, was free at that time. Whilst in the forum, we came across the entrance to the Palatine hill, and bought our Palatine/Colosseum tickets there, and after walking around the Palatine Hill [I think that the museum is very interesting] felt very smug as we walked past all the people who were queuing to get into the colosseum.

the 2nd time, about 3 years ago, the Forum had been absorbed into the colosseum/Palatine ticket and the entrance we had previously used was closed, but we found another half way down the via foro romano. We had to queue for a bit [20 mins?] but the queue at the colosseum would have been a lot longer, and we still got that smug feeling....

this time, our group leader had booked tickets to the Colosseum, so waving her reservation letter she led us past all the people in the queue up to the ticket office where we got our tickets. therefore we didn't need tickets to the Forum, but we still needed to find the entrance and as described above, we were directed [no signs as yet] to the ticket office along the via di san gregorio - where there were no queues at all. the path takes you into the forum at first, and then the Palatine Hill goes off to the left - with no barriers at all.

i think that the only sensible advice is to BOOK IN ADVANCE!

Signed or not when you saw it, there's long been an entrance to the Palatine on Via San Gregorio.

Not only mentioned in the 2005 opening post here, it was marked (on the correct side of the road!) on this map in our April 2000 Lonely Planet guide:

http://www.pbase.com/image/149134320

.... and was indeed how we got in - both the first time, over Christmas '97, and again 12 years later.

Peter

>>>Signed or not when you saw it, there's long been an entrance to the Palatine on Via San Gregorio.<<<

Yes, I've used it in years past. Zig-zag gravel path up the hill.

>>>Signed or not when you saw it, there's long been an entrance to the Palatine on Via San Gregorio.<<<

perhaps that's why there's no sign!

www.capitolium.org/eng/fori/pianta.htm

Actually everyone except the outdated 2005 poster is correct:-).

A_Brit; I can't get google maps but try the older name for the Largo *della* Salara Vecchia, Largo Romolo e Remo.

Back to the map;

annhig, You are correct that is how *your* tour group entered the Forum, a cool but odd way in and I'd say on any given day only 1% use that path for a Forum entrance and then it's likely accidental.

So your word "path" which I assume 'dirt' and "no signs" for a Forum entrance got me to conclude;

After your tour group left the Colosseum the guide brought you to the Palatine entrance mentioned above on Via di San Gregorio "cul-de-sac".

Using using the map above;

As you enter you have 3 choices;

The 2 *major* ones used are;

Turn left and in a short distance there are large earth and wooden steps like you would find in a forest park ~2mx3m [```] that goes straight up the hill.

The 2nd option is kyburbon's zig-zag which is a long sloped path up to the Palatine Hill. The easiest and best as you pass the remains of the Aqueduct Claudia and if you make a longer zig before you zag you can see some massive ruins from groundlevel.

Now your guide used this entrance only turned right and followed 'the road less traveled'.

The dirt "path" is on the lower slope of the Hill and takes you around the rightside of #4, then turns left and takes you over to #1 Arch of Titus.

Now you are still within the ticket required area, your choice now is either go left as you say to the top of the Palatine Hill or go straight into the Roman Forum and you can always backtrack back to the Palatine Hill if you like.

A_Brits' map shows the dirt "paths" better www.pbase.com/image/149134320

Also the Via Foro Romano A_Brit mentions is the old entrance/exit (now closed) below # 19 & #11 on the map and not to/from the Capitoline Hill it puts you on a modern street and neighborhood.

The "long slow ramp" is the Clivus Capitolinus (still the original paving stones and in front of #17) that was *the* street to the Capitoline from the Forum and used in the Triumphs and religious parades from the Temples on the Hill.

This is now a closed entrance/exit but the street is still open and good for photo ops.

So as the official website states;

There are 2 entrances (also exits) to the Forum/Palatine but there are also 2 additional 'exit onlys'.

The 2 entrances are; On Via dei Fori Imperiali at the end of Via Cavour (rightside of #41) and the other on the slope of the Palatine Hill on Via di San Gregorio.

After your tour group left the Colosseum the guide brought you to the Palatine entrance mentioned above on Via di San Gregorio "cul-de-sac".>>


lol, i think that "the guide brought you to" would be overstating it - using our teacher's technique of accosting anyone who looked as if they might know, I think we "happened" upon the entrance!

LOL! Now I understand.

[From the Colosseum]
<<<we were directed [no signs as yet] to the ticket office along the via di san gregorio>>>

So no guide was with you, someone sent you in that direction and you "happened' upon the entrance.

And entering there it would only be logical to turn right back towards the general direction of the Roman Forum.

On the plus side you walked thru an area although uninteresting (scant ruins) is still part of the Palatine Hill where very few tourists tread.

But when you made that 90deg left hook you were walking among ruins possibly those of the Baths of Elagabalus who was another crazy Emperor who doesn't get the air time like Caligula and Nero:-).

But even better alongside that the birth home of Emperor Augustus, discovered a few years (6-7) ago and finished in 2011 IIRC, so still ongoing when you walked by it.

>>>Actually everyone except the outdated 2005 poster is correct<<<

I'm sure Walter's post was correct at the time. He's spent tons of time there and written dozens of in-depth posts about the Forum.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...lking-tour.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...m#last-comment

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...lking-tour.cfm

Rostra - yes, exactly. a happy accident. thanks for letting me know what we were seeing - one day I WILL do the forum with a guide and then perhaps I'll understand it better.

KY - I'm sure that you're right about Walter's advice having been right at the time. certainly the advice I got here before we went to Rome the first time about where to enter the forum and to buy the colosseum tickets at the entrance to the Palatinate was spot on.

www.capitolium.org/eng/fori/pianta.htm

I'd also like to suggest 3 routes/walks to take which you can 'mix or match' after you purchase the tickets at the Palatine Hill ticket office on 'Via di San Gregorio'.

Remember tickets are valid for 2 consecutive days but IIRC? can only be used once for the Colosseum and once for the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill.
I assume because someone could use it on Day 1 and visit everything and sell it or give it to someone else for Day 2?

These would be based on your time limitations and level of interest, so starting at the quickest.


(A) Walk back to Colosseum bypass the line/queue, visit, walk up the Via dei Fori Imperiali to #41, bypass the ticket line and visit the Roman Forum.


(B) Enter at the Palatine ticket office, take either path to the top of the Palatine Hill, visit and exit by #1.

At #1 either turn left and visit the Roman Forum and then exit either at #41 or backtrack to #22 and then over to the Colosseum.

Or at #1 turn right and exit at #22, visit Colosseum and afterwards follow (A) route to the Forum.

The advantage of exiting at #22 is walking down the ancient 1stC-AD street that lead thru the Titus Arch and viewing the below ground excavated ruins on the right that have been ID'ed as the birth home of Emperor Augustus.


(C) Follow (B) route into the Roman Forum, visit, exit at #16 (Arch of Septimius Severus) to the Capitoline Hill (Campidolio on the map).

Now here you can either just do a quick walk-around visit or add the excellent Capitoline Museums (with a restaurant if hungry).


Exit by #26 #27 and view the impressive ruins called the 'Imperiali Forums' from the sidewalk on bothsides of the Via dei Fori Imperiali as you walk to your Colossum visit.


At #25 is the Forum of (Julius) Caesar and at #41 the Forum of Nerva. On the otherside of the Via, above (32) #30 (31) the Column, Forum, Markets(?), etc of Emperor Trajan.

This Trajan site has been opened and closed over the years the entrance *was* always on Via Alessandrina which is up a wide pedestian-street staircase that leads to the entrance at the far upper left corner of the site.

But check for updated info if interested, it's worth it if you have the time.


At that (32) #30 (31) and below is the Forum of Augustus.

The street next to that (Via Cavour) has some outside cafes and restaurants if you need to fuel-up before hitting the Colosseum:-).

------------------------------

Also across the street from the Colosseum (on map this is too the right of the Colosseum (~o~)-->* is 50% of the *Ludus Magus excavated ruins.

It's a Gladiator School (the one Maximus enters on the set of the movie Gladiator) that has the remains of the barrarks (once possibly 3 floors) and the training arena they used which is 1/4 scale to the Colosseum's arena and with amphitheater-like seating for 3,000 to watch the training.

It was also connected to the Colosseum by an underground tunnel which made the Gladiator's commute to and hopefully *from* work alot easier:-).

Don't think it's been noted yet, but nowadays there's another major site to visit whilst walking that area...

When standing near the Colosseum, and looking towards the city centre, on the hill you'll see the back of a church with - in front of it - the ruins of an impressive hall, and the remains of many columns:

http://www.pbase.com/image/139564451

On this, it's marked as "Chiesa di Santa Francesca Romana" - near number 20, the Arch of Titus:

http://www.pbase.com/image/149134320

(And indeed that's at the end of the path - the Via Sacra - which betrayed us all those years ago, shown by LP as leading to an entrance!)

In late 2010, the area up there - the ruins of the utterly enormous temple of Venus and Roma - Tempio di Venere e Roma - was reopened....

http://tempiodivenereeroma.benicultu...?centrale=1000

Try the video here for an idea of what it was and is like, and the restorations they've done:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kidx0SJtF8

To get in, use either of the 2 entrances discussed already...

http://www.060608.it/en/eventi-e-spe...ro-romano.html

Peter

PS: For more about that church (although we've just missed their big annual event, earlier this week)...

http://romanchurches.wikia.com/wiki/...ancesca_Romana

Peter great advice!

It's wonderful that the church is now within the Roman Forum ticketed area.

Before when it was fenced-off from the Forum it was easy for tourists to overlook it unless they really wanted to find the other entrance outside of the Forum later on.

And opening up the Temple of Venus and Roma finally to tourists is a big added bonus.

That's the Temple where the ancient urban legend was;

When Hadrian sent his architectual plans to the famous architect Apollodorus to review he critized them.
And Hadrian had him banished and killed.

When actually it's highly believed that Hadrian took his good advice and changed this temple's plans.

Later Apollodorus died of natural causes around the same time Hadrian was causing unnatural causes of death to some pesky Senators and this urban legend was born.

====================================

The OP mentioned the 2 museums and I'd like to add to that.

www.capitolium.org/eng/fori/pianta.htm

#23 is the Museo Palatino (+w.c.) hard to miss as it's the only "modern" 3 story building among the ruins:-).

It's a very cool small museum, 9 rooms on 2 floors with artifacts found on the Palatine from the 'Stone Age' to the 4C-AD.

2 items not to overlook;

In either Room VII-VIII there is a portrait head of Nero, "Regarded as the most precious portraits of Nero..."

In Room VIII in the corner hanging on the wall is a plain white square but if you look closer you can see a simple drawing etched on it.

That is the very famous 'Alexamenos Graffito'.

~200+AD in the nearby 'Imperial Slave School' (Pedagogium) it *seems* that a Pagan classmate etched this graffito on a plastered wooden beam to make fun of his classmate Alexamenos' religion...Christianity.

Google it if interested also it cannot date to anytime before the 'Severan Period' 193-238AD so disregard any earlier dating claims.

And then there is the 'Antiquarium Forense' a Roman Forum Museum.

Very often overlooked (often closed esp in the afternoon) by the majority of tourists and kind-of hidden in plain sight.

It's on the rightside of the church complex A_Brit posted about 'Chiesa di Santa Francesca Romana' (also if you google about this museum it will sometimes show the older name of that same church as 'S. Maria Nova').

So Church complex [```]<--==stairs==|^| Arch of Titus.

The entrance <-- is a small roofed 1-story building.

In the 2nd photo captioned 'View of church from Palatine' you can see it http://romanchurches.wikia.com/wiki/...ancesca_Romana also here http://tinyurl.com/a4q9nal

Very small but with *alot* of cool artifacts and they are talking about expanding it?

There are 17 skeletons from Forum graves and the others are cremation urns with grave goods dating from the 10C-BC to 7thC-BC.

Every grave found had some nice grave goods buried with them by loved ones except for 2 people found in a single grave site in the Roman Forum Sq.

The skeletons are alone in Room 3 compared to the all the others in Rooms 1 & 2.

They are of a man and woman who lived in the 600's BC and as the archaeologists determined "...indentified as the remains of a expiatory human sacrifice."

I've often wondered what they had "to give satisfaction for" "atone" "to make amends" for?

Murder, adultery, a capitol crime or a sacrilege?...perhaps a Vestal Virgin and her lover?

Oh my gosh. I'm so confused. I last went in 2005 and I had no idea the entrances have changed. I'm supposed to lead my entire family on this day---please help me with step by step instructions!

We're getting dropped off by a private transfer from a cruise ship. We only have 1.5 hours to walk through the Forum area, and then we have to check in at the Coloseeum for our Underground Tour.

I'd like to walk down hill, from the Capitoline Museum area (without going into the museum) so that my family can see that awesome view of the Forum, across the Forum, then out to the Colosseum.

Can someone please give me directions based on the numbered map? We're on a super tight schedule that day and I'd hate to get lost. I'm printing tickets out at home to bypass the lines.

Thanks so much!

Sure MaddieEms I can see with all the jumping back and forth on the thread it can get confusing:-).

www.capitolium.org/eng/fori/pianta.htm

Ok the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill is just one big combined site which can be entered and seen on the same ticket.

There are *only* 2 ENTRANCES to this combined site (on map);

(A) Is the Roman Forum entrance which is just to the right of #41 (in the |W|hite section 41->|W| ) which is at 'Largo della Salara Vecchia 5/6' on the Via dei Fori Imperiali.

(B) Is the Palatine Hill entrance which is on 'Via di San Gregorio 30'. That entrance is where that little 'cul-de-sac' (`)= is to the left of the 'eg' in Gregorio.

----------------------------------

There are 4 EXITS;

The above 'entrances' are also exits.

There is an 'Exit Only' to the Capitoline Hill which is stairs behind #16 (Arch of Septimius Severus).

There is a Roman Forum and Palatine Hill 'Exit Only' to the Colosseum at #1 (Arch of Titus) and going down #22 (Via Sacra).

-----------------------------------

With timing a 'cruise ship' disembarking, an over the road private transfer to a fixed time Colosseum tour you have estimated that you will have 1.5hrs to tour the Roman Forum.

So in reality it will likely be plus or minus 1.5hrs?

I would pass on the Capitoline Hill scenic view because you would have to backtrack at #26/27 to the Via d. Fori Imperiale then over to #41 Roman Forum entrance. I know it makes a great 1st impression but you can no longer enter from the Capitoline and you don't have all that much time.

But that's your call.

So I would get dropped-off at (A) the Roman Forum entrance #41, visit and then exit at #1 & #22 and then over to your Colosseum tour.

----------------------------------

But if you have time towards the end of your Roman Forum visit you could quickly (15-20mins) do this;

At #1 enter up to the Palatine Hill and turn right to this Scenic Roman Forum overlook;
www.pbase.com/isolaverde/image/142756499

You can see this from the Roman Forum like in the photo see it's real easy to figure out how to get up there.

Looking left from there to the Capitoline Hill; www.pbase.com/isolaverde/image/139511784

Straight ahead; www.pbase.com/isolaverde/image/120072175

And right towards the Colosseum;
www.pbase.com/isolaverde/image/120072177

---------------------------------

If you do decide just to enter at #41 here's an imaginative visual you can tell your family.

We are now standing in 21stC Rome, as we walk down the ramp we will walk back in time.

We will walk thru space that was once Renaissance Rome, then Medieval Rome and at the bottom of the ramp we will be back in ancient Rome 2000yrs ago.

I use 2000yrs because the early 19/20C archaeologists excavated down to the Emperor Augustus level (31BC-14AD) although some ruins date to before and after that period.

>>>There are *only* 2 ENTRANCES to this combined site (on map);

(A) Is the Roman Forum entrance which is just to the right of #41 (in the |W|hite section 41->|W| ) which is at 'Largo della Salara Vecchia 5/6' on the Via dei Fori Imperiali.

(B) Is the Palatine Hill entrance which is on 'Via di San Gregorio 30'. That entrance is where that little 'cul-de-sac' (`)= is to the left of the 'eg' in Gregorio.<<<

>>>I'd like to walk down hill, from the Capitoline Museum area (without going into the museum) so that my family can see that awesome view of the Forum, across the Forum, then out to the Colosseum.<<<

Entrance "A" is between Piazza Venezia and the Colosseum. It doesn't give the view you mentioned because you enter mid-way at a lower elevation. If you just want a view before your Colosseum tour, you can go up the Capitoline Museum and walk behind to have the view. You just can't enter from there. Also close to the entrance "A", before entering, you can walk up Via di San Pietro in Carcere for views of the Forum toward the Colosseum that are somewhat elevated.