Rome

1-Day Rome: Vatican & Colosseum Tour

Rome, Italy

Rome in One Day Colosseum and Vatican with real Skip the Line

7 hours
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Discover the most famous landmarks in Rome and the Vatican City in the space of a single day on this in-depth tour. Skip-the-line access means you’ll beat the crowds when you visit the Colosseum, Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica. The itinerary includes audio headsets to ensure you won’t miss a word of the tour.

See Rome’s most famous landmarks all in one day
Skip-the-line access will save you hours of time

What's Included

Professional English-speaking guide
Visit inside all of the attractions
Wireless Audio Headsets

Hotel pick-up and drop-off
Gratuities
Food and Drinks
Transportation

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Arch of Constantine
Via di S. Gregorio, 00184 Roma RM, Italy
Meeting point for the Colosseum tour portion: Arch of Constantine (Piazza dell’Arco di Costantino) - 15 minutes before the start of your tour (please look for the I Love Rome logo carried by our staff).

Start time

08:15 AM

End point

Piazza del Risorgimento, Roma RM, Italy
Meeting point for the Vatican Museums tour portion: Piazza Risorgimento (Bar - Caffetteria L’Ottagono, 400 metres from the nearest Metro A stop, Ottaviano) - 15 minutes before the start of your tour (please look for the I Love Rome logo carried by our staff).

What To Expect

Arch of Constantine

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Colosseum

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Roman Forum

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Palatine Hill

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Vatican Museums

2 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Sistine Chapel

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

St. Peter's Basilica

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Near public transportation
Not recommended for travelers with back problems
Not recommended for pregnant travelers
No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
Please provide the full names of all travelers when booking. Passport or valid ID is mandatory on the tour day.
It is recommended to wear comfortable walking shoes and bring a hat and sunscreen during the summer
Heightened security may cause delays

Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
Customers must adhere to the assigned guide throughout the tour. External guides cannot be added to the group after purchase.
Appropriate attire is required for religious sites. No shorts or sleeveless tops allowed. Knees and shoulders MUST be covered for both men and women. You may risk refused entry if you fail to comply with these dress requirements
Archaeological areas involve walking on medium to hard surfaces
Each traveler must present a valid passport or ID document that matches the name provided at the time of booking for successful entry to the attraction
Access to the Vatican Museums requires escort by the assigned guide. Opting out forfeits tour rights and tickets without refunds.
If you have a pacemaker you will need to show a certificate, otherwise you will not be admitted without being screened
The areas are not wheelchair accessible and may pose challenges for individuals with mobility issues.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 10 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

4.0

48 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 48 reviews

Colosseum tour

Shelly_M, Apr 2024

Everything we saw had a story. Our guide was so helpful and informed. We had a very intimate group of six people. Wonderful experience, terrific guide.

Great Day in Rome

erin_e, Feb 2024

Guides were great for both tours. Viator needs to list meeting point for the 2nd half of tour though. The combo tour starts near colosseum for 1st portion then you get yourself to vatican for 2nd half....butbit dosent list that. Tours themselves were fantastic.

Not great!

Vickie_S, Nov 2023

The tour guide was very boring, also, after touring the colosseum and Roman Forum , no instruction was given regarding The Vatican portion of the tour so we missed it. The tour guide just left!

Left Behind

Roger_G, Jul 2023

The first part of the tour in Rome was informative. I had to ask about the tour to the Vatican City. There was no information on my booking papers. The guide that did the tour in Rome said this is the end of your tour and I was standing there thinking I know when I purchased this it said Rome and the Vatican. The Rome guide gave me a time and address to go to or I would have missed out completely on the second part of the tour. The guide for the Vatican City was not good at all. You could barely hear what was being said. We were left behind and lost our group. So we finished the day on our own

Not a good experience, wouldn't recommend!

Craig_K, Nov 2022

So basically we had 2 different tours. We received info from Viator to meet for start of tour close to Colosseum. This was no problem and we found our tour guide easily. The guide for this part was very nice but was very hard to understand with her accent. We started with I think 12-13 ppl and as tour kept going on ppl kept leaving as was starting drag on till point it was just 3 of us. Where we find out that we need to figure out how to get to next meeting spot to start the vatican part of our trip. We had no info for this. We had to have tour guide call to figure out bc she had no clue we had anything else booked after. She gave me phone for company when called and guy said was impossible we didn't have info. I even showed the tour guide to prove this. None the else we got location and took taxi at our own expense to get to second part of trip. The tour guide at vatican was great. As was set up and poorly set up tour I would not recommend booking this tour with the company I Love Rome Grayline. I can't say for sure if was tour companies fault or Viator's but either way I wouldn't recommend. Colosseum was great to see but from our tour results and everyone leaving I would say most ppl will not enjoy the experience.

Response from Host, Dec 2022

Dear Craig, thanks for taking the time and for leaving a detailed feedback about your experience! We are sorry it didn't live up to your expectations though we must say the tour is one of our best sellers and we don't get many complaints about it. As you say, it is indeed two tours put together which we call combo tour. There is a version that includes a transfer from the Colosseum to the Vatican and there is also a version that doesn't include transport, which is the option you opted for. We are sorry if the website didn't make this clear enough. We are going to conduct a content verification to make sure the options can be easily identified. Best regards, Gray Line Rome Reviews Team

Wonderful guides

FellowTraveler203201, Nov 2019

Our guide for both tours was outstanding. The lunch was very good and the Vatican was beautiful. The Coliseum was nice and I enjoyed the history but it was very crowded and if it was considered “skip the line”, then something was wrong. I’d say the one very negative aspect of the tour is the fact you’re on your own after the Vatican tour. It would be better received if a van was waiting to take you back to your hotel.

Colussum

Ann M, Sep 2019

Alexandra was great especially because she had pictures of what the colussum looked like originally. Lunch pizza good pasta not so much. Sauce tasted like sauce on spragettos . Frederico was excellent too

Needs improvement

Explore49157040310, Jun 2019

Colosseum was good, then we it started to go downhill from there. Lunch was under cooked pizza. The Vatican portion may have been good, but the audio equipment used was out of date and sounded terrible. We could barely make out what was being said, and it resulted in a very disappointing tour

Quick visit

Marcy_G, Jun 2019

Took speed train into Rome from Florence to see highlights in one busy day. Have three children 9,14,16 years. Both tour guides were very nice, but difficulty at times understanding their English with accent making it tough at times to ask questions. Vatican extremely crowded on the visit. Still worth seeing but would have perhaps booked a private tour.

Tour started out well but crashed...

David_K, Jul 2018

Tour started out well but crashed and burned at the Vatican. Early morning pick-up was timely. Dropped off at Colosseum where Grey Line Carrani Tours staff seemed confused as to what they should do with our group of 3. It was our understanding per the web site that our tour would start at the Vatican versus at the Colosseum. Finally after much discussion and waiting we ended up joining the Colosseum tour. Our guide was very good. Knowledgeable and he had a great sense of humor. First part of the tour was a winner and we had no complaints. Our guide escorted us to an area where we met another couple and their daughter and we were escorted to a nearby restaurant for lunch. Nothing spectacular, but it met our needs. A bus picked us up after about an hour and we were transported to the Vatican. Upon arriving, we were assigned a guide for our tour. She informed us that the Basilica had closed at 1 PM and we would not be able to access the sight. Their was a Papal mass scheduled for the next morning and it was usually closed the day before as a result. Those in our group were all upset over this revelation. I specifically asked why our tour was not started at the Vatican - as noted in the tour information - versus the Colosseum so we could have accessed everything in the morning. The guide said she did not know and could not give me an answer. As we began the tour it was obvious the tour guide was knowledgeable, but was having a hard time capturing the full attention of the group. The Colosseum guide in the morning was better suited to relating to the group and offering an a keen perspective and an often off -beat perspective on things. Just before visiting the Sistine Chapel our guide instructed us to hurry to the Chapel, because she was informed it would be closing early. She would meet us at the exit in about 20 minutes after we had enjoyed our visit to the Chapel. Our group waited for the guide at the exit of the Chapel for over 30 minutes and she was no where to be found. Our group continued through the Vatican without guidance, but enjoyed each others company. We inquired, but were not able to gain information as to how we could access St. Peter's Square without exiting the Vatican entirely. My family and I exited at closing and had to walk several blocks to gain entrance to St Peter's Square at an alternate gate. Over all greatly disappointed in the Vatican tour and failure of Grey Line I Love Rome by Carrani Tours. I did contact Viator regarding the issue without resolution. I would not recommend this tour operator. The response I received from Viator was that the tour operator states that the Library at the Vatican was open and made available to our tour as a substitute for the Basilica. This was never communicated to anyone and we never did see the library. My question regarding the morning change was never answered and the tour operator should have known the Basilica was going to be closed due to the next day's Papal mass. Very disappointing.

What a day !!! Great team of guides...

lynnland, Jan 2018

What a day !!! Great team of guides . All very knowledgeable. A little confusion with guides in afternoon before heading into the Vatican. Truly amazing !

Attended the tour with my husband...

Jelissa_B, Oct 2017

Attended the tour with my husband. Our tour was extremely LONG, if you are doing this please come prepare there is a LOT of walking. I really enjoyed the tour, first we went to the Colosseum which included a walk next door. You get a very good visual and understanding on how the people in Rome lived. You learn about the rulers and how Rome is like a Lasagna of history. The lunch was a HUGE pizza pie, couldn't finish it. We then went to the Vatican LOTS of more walking. The weather was about 84 degrees and I was sweating but Rome has lots of water that you can drink for free public water fountains, great tasting water. I learned so much and the architecture is amazing, pictures can not grasp the beauty of seeing It in person. We had two different tour guide the guide for the Colosseum was very nice and detailed. The guide for the Vatican was good but the crowed made it more difficult to hear and get all the information needed. If your time is limited like ours then this tour is great.

Our tour guide did a great job of...

Jennifer B, Oct 2017

Our tour guide did a great job of explaining everything and was very engaging! I loved how she showed some pictures of what areas would have looked like back then. It really brought it all together! Our Vatican guide did a great job also! He was entertaining but educational. Enjoyed both guides!

Our One day tour was really two half...

Laurie S, Oct 2017

Our One day tour was really two half day tours. No big deal to us, but things were a little unorganized in-between the two. The line at the Colosseum was very long! Skip-the-line is definitely the way to go. You get in much faster with a group. Our guide was great. We learned a lot about the history of the Colosseum and the surrounding area. You will walk a lot! It's hard to imagine going to Rome and not seeing The Vatican. I would say it's a must. However, the Vatican was mobbed. Even the tour group lines were long but moved much faster. Again, Skip-the-line is the way to go! Our Guide at the Vatican, Linda, was fantastic. She was entertaining, knowledgeable and funny! Since it was crowded it was hard to keep together as a group. She did a very good job of herding us around. There's so much to see. So many rooms to go through. It's hard to take it all in. The Sistine Chapel was not quite what I expected. It was crowded. They do want to you to be reverent so you're asked to be quiet. There were people in the Chapel shushing you. That was unexpected, but understandable. The hotel pick-up and drop-off is great. I wouldn't recommend driving anywhere! This was a good tour but it does take all day to do both. You won't have time to see anything else.

Lunch was horrible. Restaurant staff...

Veronica_S, Sep 2017

Lunch was horrible. Restaurant staff very nasty. Drapes in restaurant fell while waiting to be serve and place very very warm. no air-condition. did not even know 6 tourist missing from group. had to look for her and miss half the tour. need better guides giving instruction to tourist. Same happened in the Vatican. Lost the guide due to poor instruction....unacceptable..

Amazing. Both guides were fabulous...

Rene S, Sep 2017

Amazing. Both guides were fabulous. Best thing I did was to try to book this trip 24 hours before it began, so happy I was able to get in. I wasn't cheap but it was worth every penny! If you are thinking about it or still researching/reading reviews to find the best one.... STOP...... and BOOK IT!

The tour guides were super...

Lynn C, Sep 2017

The tour guides were super knowledgeable. It was quite organized. The lunch was a bummer....food not good and was held in a very cramped, hot restaurant. I think whoever books this tour should be aware that it is VERY rigorous....LOTS of hills, steps, walking over VERY uneven surfaces.....And, in the summer, most of it in the hot sun. This would be a very long day for older people or anyone that can' walk for 7 hours straight. If you're up to that, it's great!

Well worth it especially for the...

luis b, Jul 2017

Well worth it especially for the skip the lines because the regular lines were super long. The guides were very informative.

Our tour guides were WONDERFUL...

doonehc, Jul 2017

Our tour guides were WONDERFUL! Very knowledgeable and friendly. Both the Colosseum and Vatican were VERY crowded, but this was truly a skip the line experience. We felt like VIPs. This is a definite must tour when in Rome!!!!

The tour was good. A little rushed...

Michelle S, Jun 2017

The tour was good. A little rushed but with so much to see I get why. The guides were knowledgeable about told the history well. Slightly disorganized but again over 30 people in the tour so I understand why. I recommend doing this tour when you arrive then go back and spend more time later.

Likely to Sell Out