Skip the Line: Colosseum, Roman Forum & Palatine Hill Guided Tour
Rome

Price: €49
Min age: 0
Rating 4.54 / 5 [19179 ratings]
Tour supplied by:
Travel bucket list idea:
Rome, Lazio, Italy
|Credit Shutterstock.com/Diliana Nikolova
Rome was officially born on 21 April 753 BC when the sons of Mars, Romulus and Remus, were found suckled by a she-wolf on the Palatine Hill. It was the favourite address of the Etruscan and Roman elite, and emperors whose magnificent Flavian residence overlooked the Forum. Although the imperial box is long gone, the Palatine offers the best views over the remains of the Circus Maximus, which once sat 300,000 people for chariot races.
Archaeologists have pinpointed the House of Tiberius, Temple of Cybele, Nero’s revolving dining room and the Domus Flavia, all amid the beautiful 17th-century Farnese Gardens.
Orti Farnesiani, set behind the pavilions and divided by a small terrace, is a splendid ancient garden extends from the slopes to the top of Palatine Hill.
The Palatine Museum houses statues and finds going back centuries before Rome’s ‘official’ foundation. An extraordinary archaeological find, Il Lupercale, is believed to be the sacred grotto where the she-wolf protected Romulus and Remus. It’s still being excavated and cannot be visited.
Although there’s a separate entrance to the Palatine (Circo Massimo and Colosseo are the nearest metro stations), most visitors simply walk up from the Forum. Some sights, such as the House of Augustus, have only limited opening hours so check the website for times.
Allow half a day to see the Forum and Palantine Hill – and these are definitely locations where you want to book on a guided tour to understand what you are seeing.
The Roman Forum, Palatine and Colosseum, all next to each other, are included in one entrance ticket.
The site is open all year round, seven days a week.
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