Colosseum Underground and Roman Forum Small-Group Tour Review: What to Know Before You Book

4.8 from more than 700 reviews · underground option about $201 per person · 3 hours advertised · small group · checked 23 September 2026

We have been inside the Colosseum on our own, on the standard timed ticket from the official site. It costs €20 with the booking fee, and it covers a great deal: the entrance corridors, the first and second tiers, and the view over the arena from the upper tiers. It also includes the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill on the same day.

What it does not include is the hypogeum, the two levels of tunnels, animal pens and lift shafts under the arena floor. From the tiers you look down into it like a floor plan. To walk through it you need a separate Full Experience ticket (€24 plus the €2 fee), which the Colosseum releases in small numbers about 30 days ahead, or a tour that holds underground slots.

On the standard ticket you get the official app and a few signs, and not much else to explain what you are looking at. The Forum next door is harder still: a field of broken columns and brick with very little to tell you which temple you are standing in. That’s where a guide helps, especially in the Forum. An underground tour also gets you into one of the main areas the standard ticket leaves out.

This review covers the Colosseum Underground and Roman Forum Small Group Tour run by CityEyes Private Tours, whose guides meet you under an “Eyes of Rome” sign. It pairs the underground and the arena floor with a guided walk through the Forum, in a small group.

Before we get into it: we have not taken this tour ourselves. For this review, we checked the current listing and recent traveller reports, including the lower-rated reviews where most of the practical problems show up. The listing, options and prices were checked on 22 and 23 September 2026.

There are four things worth knowing before you book:

• The listing is now sold under an arena-floor title, and the underground is one option among several.
• Underground access depends on the Colosseum releasing tickets to the operator, and on some dates it does not.
• Start times move, sometimes with a message the day before.
• The guided Forum section is often short.

Most of these issues come from the way underground tickets are allocated rather than from the guides themselves. The guides are rated 4.9/5 on the listing. It is nevertheless the highest-rated tour in our comparison among underground options with more than 700 reviews.

Top tips before you book this one

• Choose the option called “Colosseum Underground and Roman Forum Small Group Tour”. The listing’s headline title and $148 starting price refer to the arena-floor option, and that option says in its own description that underground access is not included. The underground option was about $201 per person when we checked, with the first open date on 25 October.
• Read your messages the day before and reply to the confirmation email. Start times can change at short notice. In one case a 9:30 start was moved to 8:15 by a message sent the day before, while the voucher still showed the old time, and the traveller who missed the message missed the tour.
• Be at the meeting point early. A group that was five minutes late was not allowed to join. Guides have carried a small paper sign or a tablet, so save the operator’s phone number before you leave the hotel.
• Have a backup plan in case the underground is cancelled. The operator can only sell what the Colosseum allocates. Travellers have had the underground cancelled two days before, been asked to change their date, or been told a week before that their tickets were finally confirmed. Book the free-cancellation option and keep a second Rome morning flexible if you can.
• Keep the rest of the day free for the Forum and the Palatine. The guided Forum section is short on many departures, and the Palatine Hill is not part of the tour. Several travellers stayed on afterwards and walked the Forum and the Palatine at their own pace. Bring water and a hat: the Forum has almost no shade.

Which options run, and when they run, can change from week to week because the Colosseum sets the underground allocation. The calendar is the quickest way to see whether the underground option has a date that suits you. The listing currently allows free cancellation up to 24 hours before, which gives you some flexibility if your plans change.

What the day actually looks like

Three hours is the advertised length. Plenty of departures run to time, but some finish at two to two and a half hours, and one ended forty minutes early.

The order varies. Some groups start at the Colosseum and walk to the Forum; others do the Forum first. A 9–12 departure this spring started in the Forum. You will find out at the meeting point.

The Colosseum part covers the underground, the arena floor and the upper tiers. Groups have typically been around six people, sometimes fewer. One couple was the only booking and had the guide to themselves. The listing now caps its small groups at 10.

Guides are rated 4.9/5 on the listing, against 4.7 for value for money, and several names recur in positive reviews: Alessandro, a former archaeologist; Luigi; Marina; Simone, also an archaeologist; Francesca; Mirta and Azzurra.

Stop 1: The meeting point on Via del Colosseo

The underground option has met in front of Caffè Roma at Via del Colosseo 31, uphill from the Colosseum, with the guide holding an “Eyes of Rome” sign. The listing now shows two meeting points depending on the option, so go by what your voucher says.

Most of the avoidable problems start here. The street is busy with other tour groups, and the sign is small. One traveller was emailed the wrong location and had to be redirected by phone. An older couple had to climb up to the meeting point only to walk straight back down to the Colosseum entrance, which they found tiring before the tour had even begun.

Arrive fifteen minutes early, look for a small sign, and call the number on your voucher if you cannot see your guide by the start time.

Stop 2: The Colosseum underground

When the underground happens, travellers rate it as the best part of the day. You walk the corridors below the arena floor where the animals and fighters waited, past the lift shafts that raised them to the sand. Your own guide takes you down, with Colosseum staff setting the pace.

The problem is whether it happens at all, and this accounts for more of the low ratings than anything else. The listing sells the underground. The Colosseum decides how many underground places each operator gets, and on some dates this operator does not get enough. Similar complaints appear in reviews going back to at least 2023. Travellers have been told a day or two before, or at the last minute. Some were refunded in full, some partly, and some were offered a different date. Others did the arena and tiers instead, and one group said the guide made up for it by showing them as much of the underground as possible from the arena floor.

Reviews of how the operator handles cancellations are generally more positive. A traveller this August, nervous after the Colosseum changed its ticket rules earlier in the year, was offered several options when the tickets could not be confirmed, chose to wait, and heard a week before the tour that the underground was confirmed. The tour then went off without a hitch.

Treat the underground as very likely but not guaranteed. The same allocation rules apply to every operator selling underground access, so booking elsewhere does not remove the risk. Free cancellation, a flexible second day and reading your messages are what protect you.

Stop 3: The arena floor and the tiers

This part is reliable. You walk out onto the rebuilt section of the arena floor, where the fighters entered, and then climb to the first and second tiers for the view across the whole bowl. Because independent Full Experience tickets can also include the arena floor, the main value here is having a guide rather than gaining unique access.

Audio can be an issue. Headsets have been handed out on some departures and not on others, and one traveller this summer said the guide’s microphone gave mostly static. In a crowded Colosseum with a soft-spoken guide, a small group of six still found it hard to follow.

If hearing the guide matters, stay close and ask at the start whether headsets are being used.

Stop 4: The Roman Forum

The listing promises a guided walk through the Forum, and that is what you get, but often a short one. Travellers have come away saying they saw only a couple of things before the guide wrapped up, or wished for more time and more explanation. One group saw a couple of stops in the Forum before they had to exit and hand back their earpieces. On other departures the balance flips: one guide spent an hour and a half in the Forum and only half an hour or so inside the Colosseum.

With a good guide, even a shorter Forum section can still be useful: the best-reviewed guides point out the layers of different centuries in a single building. The Forum is also where the heat hits hardest. There is almost no shade, and the guides who get praised are the ones who stop in whatever shade exists.

The Palatine Hill is not part of the guided tour. Your Forum entry gets you in, and several travellers went on to explore the Forum and the Palatine at their own pace after the guide left.

It helps to treat the Forum section as an introduction and leave the afternoon free to go back over it and climb the Palatine yourself.

Common issues to know about

Issues specific to underground bookings

• The underground is cancelled or not confirmed. It depends on the Colosseum’s allocation. You get a refund, a partial refund or a new date, but not the underground on the day you planned.
• Your start time is moved. Changes from morning to afternoon, or an earlier start sent the day before, have caught out travellers who were not checking messages. The voucher may still show the old time.
• Booking the wrong option. The listing’s name, description and headline price now describe the arena tour.
• Late arrivals are not waited for. Five minutes can be enough to lose your place.

Other things that vary

• A tour that ends 30 to 60 minutes early, or rushes one half.
• A guide who is hard to hear, with or without a headset.
• Heat in the Forum between June and September.

So — would we book it?

Yes, on the underground option, if we were booking a month or more ahead with a flexible day in the plan. At roughly $201, it costs around $170 more than the €26 official underground ticket at current exchange rates, and that ticket is very hard to get yourself. For the extra cost, you get a highly rated guide, a small group and help from the operator if the underground allocation falls through.

Book something else if you need the underground sooner, or only care about the Colosseum. The Colosseum Arena Floor or Underground tour has an underground-and-arena option capped at seven guests, with 4.8 from more than 350 reviews. It was about $171 per person with a first date of 17 October when we checked, but it does not include the Forum. Our table of earliest underground dates lists every tour with a sooner opening.

If crowding or hearing the guide is what worries you, the Colosseum, Underground and Roman Forum Private Tour holds 4.9 from more than 70 reviews. It was about $671 per person for two people when we checked, with a first date of 27 October, so it only makes sense if having the guide to yourselves matters a lot.

If you are in Rome before late October and the arena floor is enough, the same listing’s arena option has dates from 29 September at $148, with the same guides.

Booking early, keeping some flexibility in your Rome itinerary and checking your messages the night before will help you avoid most of the preventable problems mentioned in recent reviews.

Frequently asked questions

Does this tour always include the Colosseum underground?

No. Only the option called “Colosseum Underground and Roman Forum Small Group Tour” includes it; the listing’s title and headline price are for an arena tour without the underground. Even on the underground option, access depends on the Colosseum allocating tickets to the operator. When it does not, travellers have been refunded in full or in part, or offered another date.

How much does the underground option cost?

About $201 per person when we checked on 22 September 2026, for a first date of 25 October. The $148 headline price on the listing is the arena-only option. Colosseum entry fees are included.

Can the start time change after I book?

Yes. The operator has moved bookings from morning to afternoon and brought start times forward with a message the day before, while the voucher still showed the old time. Check your messages the day before the tour and reply to the confirmation email.

Is the Palatine Hill included?

Not as part of the guided tour. The guided section covers the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. Several travellers went on to explore the Forum and the Palatine at their own pace after the guide left.

How long does the tour last?

Three hours is the advertised length. Many departures run to time, but some finish after two to two and a half hours.

Where does the tour meet?

The underground option has met in front of Caffè Roma at Via del Colosseo 31, with the guide holding an “Eyes of Rome” sign. The listing now has two meeting points depending on the option, so follow your voucher and arrive early: late arrivals are not waited for.

How we put this together

We have visited the Colosseum on our own on standard tickets. We have not taken this tour. The sections on the tour itself are based on what travellers on recent departures reported, the low ratings as much as the high ones, together with the operator’s own listing and option descriptions. Guide names, timings and incidents come from those accounts.

The rating was checked on 23 September 2026: 4.8 from 723 reviews. The underground option price and first date were checked on 22 September 2026: about $201 per person for 25 October. Prices and dates move with the season and the option you pick.

This page previously reviewed a different tour, which withdrew its underground option in September 2026.

We may earn a commission if you book through the links on this page. It does not change what you pay.

Related reading:

• All Colosseum Underground Tours: Compare 19 Guided Tours
• Can You Visit the Colosseum Underground Without a Tour?
• Colosseum Hypogeum: What Is Actually Down There
• Arena Floor vs Underground: Which Tour Is Worth It in 2026?
• How Much Does the Colosseum Cost? Ticket Prices Explained (2026)