Colosseum

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One of the items I made sure to book in advance was a visit to Colosseum.  We decided to get there early and I booked through tiquets.   I found the ticket situation frustrating/difficult/opaque for a few reasons:

  • It required checking a number of different tourist sites for tickets
  • It seemed like there wasn't an official site for Colosseum -- I couldn't confirm or figure out where the tourist sites were getting the tickets
  • Some of the sites released tickets months in advance; others less than a couple of weeks.  Each site had different times.
I basically ended up checking for tickets for every weekend across multiple sites.  That being said, you must book tickets in advance.  The queue was out of control when we left around 10:30 AM.  

We arrived awkwardly early since the ticket was not clearly marked e.g., ticket said 8:35, arrive 15 minutes early.  It turned out we got in at 8:50, so 8:35 was early. 

The tickets we purchased got us into the floor, a tour of the second floor, and then tickets to the forum.  

The view from the floor was really special. 





I recommend coming with a guide book specific to Colosseum or my personal favorite, wikipedia.  I found that was pretty helpful in understanding what we were looking at and how it was all created.  

I was really impressed with the Colosseum, but I am not sure I need to go back.  It felt very static, but it felt like it needed to be in motion.  


 Time in Colosseum: 2 hrs
Times visited: 1
Overall: A-
Location: Piazza del Colosseo, 1, 00184 Roma RM, Italy

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