Rome Travel Answers

From the Roma Pass website: "At the Coliseum a reserved turnstile is available for RomaPass holders to get direct access to the monument." romapass.it/p.aspx?l=en&tid=... That should solve the issue. :)

I believe the Roma Pass allows you to skip the queue. You can get more clarification on their site romapass.it/p.aspx?l=en&tid=...

Thank you so much :)

You're so welcome! FYI - My Husband and I are leaving for Rome in a little over 2 weeks as well (2nd trip there).

It is my parents first trip, arriving 11 May and already excited :) They aren't sure whether they need the Roma Pass now, if only want to go to Colosseum/Forum/Palentine hill and Castel San Angelo and more churches than museums. #Think they will now need to add up what the cost of those will be with a few Metro trips added in.

Goodfish ... hope you have a lovely holiday

>! Think they will now need to add up what the cost of those will be with a few Metro trips added in I would agree with you - we're not buying the RomaPass as we just don't find it to be of value for us. For transport, there is a 3-day tourist pass available that may just be a better deal instead a combined transport/attraction pass that they may not use much for sightseeing. See info on that pass here: http://tinyurl.com/7pbdqjy Click on "tickets" (it may take a minute for the translation to come up): then look at the 3-day BTI Integrated tourist ticket info. It costs 11 euro and can be purchased (I believe) at most newstands. Hope the translation comes up - the English tab on the ATAC site doesn't appear to be working!

Got the site to work: try this http://www.atac.roma.it/index.asp?p=14

Ah yes, passes can be purchased from tobacconists, bars, or vending machines at metro stations and major bus stops. It's probably easiest for them to purchase from a tobacconist or bar (a bar in Italy is more like a coffeeshop). Here is a nice little piece on riding public transport: rometoolkit.com/transport/ro... With a pass, I believe they only need to validate it in the yellow machines the FIRST time they use it.

Yes, that is correct...you just validate the 3-day BIT ticket the first time you use it. I agree with the above...there is absolutely no point in buying a Roma Pass unless your parents are going to take advantage of all or most of its free entrances. For just the transport element they are better off buying a BIT (it covers buses and trams too, and the commuter trains out to Ostia Scavi..Ostia antica is definitely worth a visit, it's a magnificent Roman site).

We are probably the age of your parents (or older) and we didn't use public transportation much at all. Central Rome is quite small and we walked nearly everyplace. We got a one-day pass for the hop-on hop-off #100 Open Bus and another day we took the Archeo Bus, but mostly we just walked. The only time we used trains was getting into town from the airport and then we walke to our hotel. BTW, we must have been very lucky but there was absolutely no queue when we visited the Coliseum. The nasty line we found was at the Vatican Museum. That was an hour of standing in line although we had fun meeting fellow tourists and all were from Italy visiting the Vatican. Sometimes lines can be fun. ;^^) Here is a useful web site: rome.info/transportation/tic... I hope they have a great trip.

I agree...the 3-day pass was well worth the money. We used to walk around a lot but whenever we got tired we would just hop on to one of the buses or metros which passed very frequently. The Roma Pass is definitely not worth it if you only want the Colosseum. Also the Hop on Hop off bus seemed to always have long queues waiting for the next bus..so if you can do without the commentary and are happy to just wander around on your own I would just get the travel pass as you will get there quicker. (As always be wary of pick pocketers on any transportation - especially if it's packed!!) Also, if you want a good suggestion to get to Rome from Fiumicino airport read my post: "Airport Shuttle Express" - Rome Transportation Tip by oRi_5 We found this extremely convenient and much more worth it!