How to Visit Rome Colosseum's Arena

The scene of thousands of battles and the home of the gladiators during Ancient Rome, the Colosseum is full of intricacies and its walls hold stories that we are all dying to know when traveling to Rome.

The most authentic experience to visit the Colosseum is the one that takes you to see its Arena and the subway level, from where you will get a unique perspective and feel what the gladiators felt when they jumped into the ring. For this, you will have to take a guided tour of the Colosseum with subway and the Roman Forum.

The most complete option

Colosseum Guided tour with underground & Roman Forum

Discover the magic of the Italian capital's most iconic monument

See the Colosseum without queues, explore the subway level area, relive the history of the arena and stroll through the forum on this three-hour guided tour.

From $ 127 at Hellotickets

With this guided tour of the Colosseum with subway and the Roman Forum, you will enjoy a mind-blowing experience that will take you to know the Colosseum of Rome and the Roman Forum as you would have never imagined. An expert guide will give you all the details and tell you the most epic stories of the spectacles that took place in the arena.

In addition, you will visit the Colosseum Arena and enter the subway level, an area whose entrance has been limited for years and which shows the darker side of the Colosseum, where the gladiators of ancient Rome prepared physically and mentally before going out into the arena to fight for their lives. Have you ever wondered what the gladiators were thinking and feeling in those moments before the battle? By taking this tour you will be able to experience it in person.

Recommended if... you want to know the Colosseum in its entirety, all its corners, stories and battles.

The visit to the Colosseum Arena with access to the subway level is much more exclusive than a standard visit to the rest of the amphitheater. The capacity is smaller, so there are far fewer tourists who get to step into this special part of the Colosseum.

If you buy your tickets to the Colosseum in Hellotickets, you will see that is available the visit to the Colosseum with subway access and the Roman Forum (this also includes the Palatine Hill).

The price of the guided tour including the Arena and the subway level costs from 96 €. These are more exclusive areas where not all groups or visitors enter and you can only access this area with an expert guide.

If we compare it with the price of a standard visit, which does not pass through these two places, has a price of 44 €, but it is well worth paying a little more to descend into the bowels of the amphitheater.

Yes, visiting the Colosseum Arena and the subway level will be the most important part of your visit inside the amphitheater: you will have access, not only to step into the Arena as the real gladiators did, but you will have a much more detailed perspective of all the subway tunnels that crossed the Colosseum underneath.

The explanations vary a little, the guide will go into more detail on what happened behind the scenes in each fight, he will explain how the arena worked and you will experience in first person a real trip back in time. If you visit the Colosseum with children, this part will blow their minds.

The visit to the Arena and the subway is part of the rest of the guided tour of the Colosseum: on Hellotickets, for example, there are guided tours that take you to both locations and last three hours in total. The duration also includes the walk through the Roman Forum. There is also a guided tour mode that excludes the subway.

If you do not want to spend so much time on the visit, there are express guided tours of the Colosseum that last only one hour and skip the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, but these do not access the Arena and the subway, so you would be missing the best; and there are also tickets for the Colosseum with access to the Arena, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill from 29€, but they exclude access to the subway level and you will not have the accompaniment of a guide, so you will not enjoy the visit as much.

The current state of the Colosseum

Today, you will find that half of the Colosseum floor is covered by sand (this is a recreation, not the original arena of the site) and the other half is open to the air, exposing the tunnels where the wild beasts waited their turn to fight on stage.

The best views of the amphitheater from the inside

This layout not only gives you the best perspective of the Colosseum, allowing you to stand in the center of the "ring" and imagine how those grandstands filled with Romans cheering their idols were imposing.

Detailed views of the galleries and the subway

You will also be able to peek into the authentic galleries (which are also very well preserved) and understand how the shows worked. For example, you will see how the system of trap doors that was developed to lift the wild beasts to the stage worked or how it was converted into a stage for naval battles. A true work of engineering in Ancient Rome.

The stories of the battles

The guide will share with you several anecdotes and legends: for example, he will tell you why the floor of the Colosseum was covered with sand: to absorb the blood of the fights and prevent slips and falls during the show. Spooky, isn't it?

What will it be like in the future?

Keep in mind that there is currently a project to completely cover the floor of the Colosseum and return it to the state in which it was in ancient times, completely covered with sand.

Although this reconstruction will keep the monument more faithful to what it once was and allow better preservation of galleries and subway tunnels, it is possible that the visit will lose that part of interest in the future, so if you go to Rome soon, take advantage now to visit the Colosseum Arena before they transform it.