Colosseum and Roman Forum 2026: Which Ticket, the Rules, and What You See for Free

I saw the Colosseum from outside three times in two days in November 2025: floodlit on my first evening, in the rain the next noon, and lit again that evening. A day later I looked down on the Forum from the Capitoline Hill.

The tickets are the part to get right. Every one carries your name, most carry an entry time, and the rules are strict. Below are the rules as the Parco archeologico del Colosseo, which runs all three sites, published them in October 2026.

Which ticket

The Full Experience and Only Arena tickets above, and the Forum Pass SUPER while capacity lasts, also include the SUPER sites: frescoed houses and rooms on the Forum and Palatine, open from 09:30 until an hour before closing. With the 24h ticket, they cost €4 extra. The House of Livia has been closed for restoration since 24 August 2026, and the House of Augustus is closed on Mondays.

Who pays less:

• EU citizens from 18 until their 25th birthday pay €2 on any of these tickets. Non-EU visitors get the same only where their country offers Italians the same.
• Under-18s go free.
• With a Roma Pass, the 24h ticket is €11.50.
• With a ticket to the Museo Nazionale Romano, the Jewish Museum of Rome or Villa Farnesina, it's €14.

Choosing. The 24h ticket is the standard visit: the Colosseum from its first two levels, and the Forum and Palatine. Pay the extra €6 for a Full Experience ticket if you want to stand on the arena floor or go below it. If you only want the Forum and Palatine, the Forum Pass SUPER needs no entry time. The park's own guided tours of the Colosseum or the Forum are €26, the Forum and Palatine included.

Booking rules

• Where: the park sells online "exclusively" on ticketing.colosseo.it, its "official reseller", and asks visitors to report tickets sold elsewhere at higher prices.
• When: sales open 30 days before the visit. The Full Experience Arena and the Passage of Commodus tour go on sale only 7 days before. Entry times can sell out; the park doesn't say how far ahead.
• Names: every ticket is in the holder's name, and you show ID with it at the entrance. A name can be changed once, by midnight seven days before the visit, and only in limited cases.
• Entry times: you can't go in at a different time. With the 24h and Full Experience Arena tickets, arrive from 15 minutes before your time to 15 minutes after. With the Underground ticket, arrive 30 minutes before. With the Only Arena and Attic tickets, arrive 15 minutes before. For those last three, there's no allowance for lateness.
• If you're late, you lose the Colosseum entry. The ticket then covers only the Forum and Palatine, with no refund.
• Refunds are given only if the park is forced to close.
• Group size: up to 8 tickets per online order.
• On the day: since 4 May 2026, the 24h ticket is sold on site only at the Piazza del Colosseo ticket office. The Forum Pass SUPER is sold on site only at Largo della Salara Vecchia and Foro Romano 1. Ticket offices close 75 minutes before the park does.

Agencies. The park's visitor regulation lets it refuse entry to anyone whose ticket was bought through an agency it hasn't accredited, though you can then buy a new ticket at the ticket office. That's why this guide links only to the park's own site.

Opening hours

• The Colosseum opens at 08:30, and the Forum and Palatine at 09:00.
• Until 24 October 2026, the park closes at 18:30, last admission 17:30.
• From 25 October 2026 to 28 February 2027, it closes at 16:30, last admission 15:30.
• Closed on 25 December and 1 January. Hours from March 2027 aren't published yet.

A few ticket pages still show last entry times that fall after the winter closing, so go by the times the booking calendar offers. Unplanned closures happen too. In September 2026 the park closed for three days after a workplace accident. On 8 October, heavy rain shut the underground until 10:30.

Free days

Entry is free on the first Sunday of each month, and on 25 April, 2 June and 4 November. By that rule, the next are Sunday 1 November and Wednesday 4 November 2026; the park announces the arrangements for each one, so check its notice nearer the time.

On the free Sunday of 4 October 2026:

• tickets were handed out at the ticket offices in order of arrival, the Colosseum ones only at Piazza del Colosseo;
• the upper levels, the lift, the arena, the underground, the Passage of Commodus and the SUPER sites stayed closed.

Under-18s always go free, but the visitor regulation says free tickets must still be booked online. The FAQ on the ticket pages says the opposite; follow the regulation.

At the entrance

The Colosseum's entrance is near the Arch of Constantine. Everyone goes through metal detectors.

• Bags: hand luggage can be no bigger than 30 × 40 × 15 cm, and there's no cloakroom or left-luggage.
• Banned items: glass bottles, trekking poles, helmets, umbrellas over a metre wide, spray cans, speakers and selfie sticks.
• Queues: the park publishes no waiting times.
• Audio guide: the park's own app, MyColosseum, is free, with audio guides in Italian and English.

To get there, take metro line B to Colosseo or line C to Colosseo-Fori Imperiali, buses 51, 75, 81, 85, 87 or 118, or tram 3. More in getting around Rome.

What you can see without a ticket

A ticket gets you inside the Colosseum and onto the paths of the Forum and Palatine. A good deal of the area is in view from public streets:

• The Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine. Rome's tourist board lists the arch, beside the Colosseum, as "Free access". I saw the Colosseum from Piazza del Colosseo three times.
• The view from above. Largo Gaetana Agnesi, which the city made pedestrian-only in 2018, is its "terrazza sul Colosseo", a terrace whose belvedere looks straight onto the Colosseum and the Imperial Fora. The Colle Oppio park is open from 07:00 to dusk. In the tourist board's words, its terraces and paths give "amazing close up views of the Colosseum and Palatine Hill".
• Via dei Fori Imperiali. The street from the Colosseum to Piazza Venezia is always closed to private cars. On Sundays, public holidays and the last Saturday of each month, its whole length is pedestrian. From it you look down into the Imperial Fora. The city says the 33-metre back wall of the Forum of Augustus is "currently visible" from this street and from Via Tor de' Conti. New paving is being laid along it, so expect works. On my first evening, Trajan's Markets were floodlit above Trajan's Forum.
• The Forum from the Capitoline Hill. I looked down on the Forum from the hill, with the Arch of Septimius Severus below me. The city publishes nothing on the open terraces beside the Senate building, so I can't give you their hours. The official view is inside the Capitoline Museums:
  • the Tabularium gallery's arches give "an excellent view over the whole archaeological area of the Roman Forum, with the Colosseum and Palatine Hill in the background";
  • the museums open daily, 09:30 to 19:30;
  • a ticket is €16.50 until 1 November 2026, while an exhibition is on, and €15 when none is, with €1 extra if you buy ahead;
  • entry is free on the first Sunday of the month.
• The Circus Maximus, below the Palatine. The tourist board lists the open field as "Always open". The fenced archaeological area at its end costs €7, is closed on Mondays and, from 25 October, closes at 16:00.

When the ticket is worth it: for the inside of the Colosseum, whether that's the view from its first two levels or the arena and the underground. It's also the only way to walk among the ruins of the Forum and the Palatine. If you only have an hour, the outside of the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine and the view from Largo Agnesi cost nothing.

After dark

"A Night at the Colosseum", the evening tour of the arena and underground, isn't on sale. On 26 September 2026 it was listed as temporarily suspended. By 13 October its pages had gone, and the park has given no reason or return date.

The outside is another matter. On both evenings I passed, in late November 2025, the arches were floodlit: at about 19:20 on the first and 18:15 on the second. The park doesn't publish lighting times. There's more on the city after dark in Rome at night.

Skip it

Skip: the costumed centurions

Rome's Urban Police Regulation, article 15, bans posing for photos for money "anche con abbigliamento storico o costumi in genere" (including in historical dress or costumes in general). The ban covers the historic centre's UNESCO area, Villa Borghese and anywhere near historic monuments, which includes the Colosseum. Roma Capitale's own announcement of the rule named the centurions. The fine is €400, and offenders can be barred from the area for 48 hours, or up to 60 days if they do it again. The city doesn't publish how strictly the ban is enforced in 2026. Either way, a photo with a costumed "centurion" is a paid service the city has banned, so don't pay for one.

Questions

How much is a Colosseum ticket in 2026?

The standard 24h ticket is €18, or €2 for EU citizens aged 18 to 25, and free for under-18s. It includes the Roman Forum and Palatine. Full Experience tickets, with the arena, the underground or the attic, are €24.

Do I need to book the Colosseum in advance?

Yes, in practice. Tickets carry your name and an entry time, and sales open 30 days ahead on ticketing.colosseo.it. On the day, 24h tickets are sold only at the Piazza del Colosseo ticket office.

What time does the Colosseum close in winter?

From 25 October 2026 to 28 February 2027 it closes at 16:30, with last admission at 15:30. It opens at 08:30.

When is the Colosseum free?

On the first Sunday of each month, and on 25 April, 2 June and 4 November. On the free Sunday in October 2026, tickets were handed out at the ticket offices, and the upper levels, the arena and the underground stayed closed.

Can you visit the Colosseum at night?

Not at the moment. The park's evening tour was suspended in September 2026 and is no longer on sale. You can still see the outside after dark from Piazza del Colosseo; it was floodlit both evenings I passed in November 2025.

Is the Roman Forum included in the Colosseum ticket?

Yes. The 24h ticket gives one entry to the Forum and Palatine within 24 hours of your Colosseum time, and Full Experience tickets give one over two days.