Rome Travel Forum

hello, i was thinking of purchasing entrance tickets to the colisseum in advance of my visit. Is this a good idea? And also, is there admission charge for the forum or pantheon? Should i also purchase tix in advance?
Any good websites that let me do this?
Thank you in advance.

Forum is frre of charge; Pantheon, I think it's also free; Coloseum, I think you shouldn't find a long queue, I didin't when I went in Feb '07

glad to hear there is some free offerings, but i will be there for june, so i assume alot busier than feb.

What yo ucan do is, when in Rome, ask at your hotel, maybe they can tell you how busy is or even can help you to book in advance (kin case it is possible, BTW), I don't know, to be honest; however, Coloseum is not as busy as Vatican museums

i assume vatican museums are free? just long queues?

Noooo, not free at all and long queues, in this case, book in advance or book a guided tour with a travel agency (your hotel will help you), yes, you'll pay more with this last option but, how much "does a long queue" cost?, I mean, if you don't or mind waiting in line for a long time and in the sun or in the cold...

perhaps the roma pass is a good option?

Mmmmmm, you should balance the price together with how many museums you want to visit during a given perod of time, sometimes the pass allows you to visit many many museums in just three days, so, it's almost impossible; it also allows you to use the public transportation, but one interesting thing, form my point of view of the cities is to stroll them

The Forum is no longer free (since March this year).

Consider both the Roma Pass or the Archaeologiccal Card.

http://www.romaturismo.com/v2/allascopertadiroma/en/musei08.html (for the archaeological card).

http://www.romapass.it/english/index.html

Whether either is worthwhile depend on whether you will use them enough. For comparison (re the Roma Pass) a 3-day ticket for bus/tram/metro/suburban trains costs 11 euros (from the booths at Termini bus station).

www.tickitaly.com will allow advance purchase of tickets, but buying online always involves a commission of some sort. There are lots of other agencies if you google. Whether you prefer to pay this and miss potential queuing is your choice.

The Vatican Museums usually have long queues (and are most definitely not free). However, they are frequently shorter mid- to late- afternoon because everyone gets there early to avoid the queues! (Same goes for the Colosseum and St Peter's Basilica....leave your visit until after 4pm for the latter).

The Colosseum ticket includes entrance to the Palatine Hill (in the Forum). If you buy your ticket there, where queues are not usually very long, then you can skip the Colosseum ticket queues later. You should not miss the Palatine Hill anyway.

The Pantheon is free to enter (although not when a mass is being held). Again, go late or very early as it gets very packed during the day.

My God, no free entry the Forum??????????

Not any more. Unless you are lucky to go in 'culture week' as I did..everything is free then! :-)

But if most of the funds raised go towards the huge expense of maintaining these ancient structures (and towards the inevitable costs of further excavation and restoration as the new Metro line is built) then that's ok, imo. You can still see much of the Forum from the road, if you don't want to pay..........

No, I understand if you have to pay for excavations and to mantain it, in that case, no probs at all