Colosseum

My review is about the building. Its colossal. Beautiful. Thousands of years old and still standing. For that reason I gave it five stars. As a symbol of man’s progress through technology and engineering methods and skill, it’s a vital part of human history. Sadly though, it’s a money spinner for anyone who can spin money. Outside are lots of people trying to sell tours To tourists. They do not work for the department of culture. They are overbearing and pushy and really ruin what should be an experience like no other. We didn’t go inside because of it. Use reputable tour guides and companies. Do not pass your cash or cards to anyone on the concourse outside. This area is also a pandemic level pickpocket area of operation. They are extremely good at it. Keep all of your belongings in a chest height bag to your front. Be aware of your surroundings and do not let anyone distract you as it’s likely they are creating a gap for a pickpocket to mug you. Be vigilant and stick to your itinerary. Police officers are present but they seemingly have lost all interest in the issue so unless you catch someone red handed and shout out, they will just watch the area. Otherwise, the exterior view is stunning. If you don’t want to go in, a walk down to the area is worth it. It’s exactly what you think it will be. Magnificent.

236philu

Visited here in the afternoon of July-2, 2026 from the Roman forum. Walked the entire circular outside perimeter once and found that like this only a few stairways at the 2nd level & plenty of big holes in the walls are visible. The inside core isn't visible even slightly & would need seperate tickets purchased for an in-depth tour. There is also a public transport bus stop nearby this landmark. Also found huge pictures of roman style sculptures in a black background visible from the first floor. Looking forward to the in-depth core exploration tour on my 2nd visit here soon.

Shruti-Pramod

The colosseum is one of the most iconic landmarks in the world. It's one of those places that you are obligated to visit if given the chance. That's also why it's one of the worst experiences you're going to be subjected to. Because it's an obligation to see this site up close, the site operator knows that they can rest on their laurels and put forth a minimal effort when it comes to guest experience. Before I get into my own experience, I'll lay down some tips that were hard lessons learned: 1) Only buy your tickets from the official website. There's very few official resellers, and rather than matching or offering a cheaper price on the tickets like you see at other sites, these resellers upcharge and price gouge. (And what's worse is you may wind up paying for a fake.) 2) Stay up late to buy your tickets in advance. For whatever reason, the official website only works during business hours in Rome. That means, if you're in the Pacific time zone, you need to remember to log in around midnight to secure tickets. 3) Wear sunblock. The site operator does not care about its visitors getting sunburnt or heat stroke, even during heat waves. There are no shade barriers on the plaza other than for their employees. 4) If you don't get your tickets in advance, go early and bring your entire group to the ticket office. For whatever reason, you cannot purchase a ticket for anyone not present. If you're going midway through the day, expect your ticket time to be 1-2 hours after purchase. (Also see tip #3: the long line that you're required to have your group wait on has NO shade cover.) 5) Bring your passport. They will require you to show your passport at ticket purchase and at the entry point. You can't get in without ID. 6) Bring a water bottle. This is a general tip for Rome, but in particular, the water stations near the site all have fantastic water, and even dispense sparkling water if you prefer it. 7) If you don't know a ton about Roman history, splurge for a guided tour or an audio guide. Despite this being a great photo op, the scale and awe really comes alive when you understand how it really looked and worked in its time. You won't get that just by walking around. Now, my experience was beyond frustrating, and as a former attractions professional, I was appalled at how this place was run. My experience: Let's start at the beginning. The website. It took me a whole lot of searching and scouring of forum discussions to find the correct website, and when I did, it wouldn't load. More searching lead me to figure out it's only open during business hours in Rome, which is during sleeping hours in my time zone. Even after figuring it out, I couldn't get the website to complete the transaction. Attempt after attempt just got me to the final stages, only to time out and dump the transaction before it could be processed. So, after many tries, I decided I would just go to the ticket office after we arrive to purchase tickets directly from them. Fast forward to the day of our arrival... There were no wayfinding signs anywhere in the plaza. From our hotel near the eastern side of the plaza, I wound up asking one of the admission scanners where the ticket office was. They said to go to the opposite side of the site and look for another white tent, and to ask there. We walked around the building to the opposite end and asked another scanner at that tent. They pointed us to the fence on the opposite side of the trees, where there was another white tent, and a line that was reasonable but out in direct sunlight during a heatwave. (It was so hot out that any tiny amount of shade available in the plaza had a massive crowd migrating with it.) My partner and I waited in line, and after a while we were out of water and parched. My partner went to grab refills for our bottles from a water station while I continued to wait. I got to the front of the line, and the greeter told me that everyone had to be present. As it was literally the hottest day of the year, it took some time for my partner to get back. Before that even happened, I asked if we could purchase tickets for the next day. All of the time we spent trying to find the ticket office made us get dangerously close to our dinner reservation. The answer was no, same day only. I explained that their website wasn't working after many attempts, but that didn't change anything. So after all that, we left. The next day, immediately after breakfast, we headed over to the ticket office again. After the 20th or so harassing street peddler came to annoy us on line with offers of overpriced bottles of water and parasols, we got to the front of the line and purchased our tickets... For 2 hours from the time of purchasing. Not a huge deal, as that happens in many popular sites, but it was an issue that could have been avoided with a website that works or ticket options that include other days. We went elsewhere in the interim, and came back at our ticketed time. Thankfully there wasn't much wait to get in due to the timed tickets, but the interaction with the staff at entry was not at all pleasant. The woman in front of us was asked for her "document" when presenting her ticket, and when she didn't quite understand what he was asking for, the scanner showed visible frustration and got very rude with her. She realized what he meant when he said "passport." Once inside, I was able to give my partner some history about everything we were seeing, and there were some information displays, so that factor was decent. The inside was crowded, but not so packed that it was a detriment to the experience. After some waits for a few great photo spots, we felt we'd had enough. It felt like more of a relief to check the experience off on our list, rather than an experience that was at any level of enjoyable. I hope their renovation of the plaza includes upgrades to the ticketing and maybe a training room for the staff. On a positive note, after learning that my colleague had visited the week prior to us, when I returned to work it did give us something to bond over when we both went into how bad the experience was. It turned a 15 minute video call into an hour long storytelling session. My final bit of advice for anyone considering a trip to the site would be to go if you haven't been, but prepare for the worst.

BenneBC