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Colosseum tickets: what sells out first, and what to do when it has
We went through the official ticket calendar slot by slot for every date on sale, for every ticket type. Even in November, the mornings go within days of release, and the underground is gone everywhere. Here is how to get in anyway.
By The Better Trip Editorial TeamPublished 19 October 2026Last checked: October 20265 min read
The short answer
Buy on the official site, ticketing.colosseo.it, as soon as your date goes on sale, 30 days ahead, and take a morning slot if one is left. On 19 October 2026, every Colosseum slot before about 12:45 had sold out on each date from 11 to 15 November, a week or more after they went on sale; on 18 November, released that day, 27 of 28 slots were still open.
If your date is gone, try the €18 arena-only ticket, which had dates open after the standard ticket had sold out, then the open-date Forum Pass for the Forum and Palatine. A guided tour is the last resort: tour operators sell their own timed entries, at several times the price.
What only this guide tells you
Every date and every slot, read from the official calendar
Most Colosseum guides repeat the rules and argue about the time tickets are released. We opened the Parco archeologico del Colosseo's own booking calendar on the evening of 19 October 2026 and recorded the state of every date on sale for every ticket type, then went through the time slots, one by one, for each date still open.
That shows what the rules do not: how fast it goes. Dates go on sale exactly 30 days ahead. A newly released date still has almost every slot free; a week later, in an off-season month, only the afternoons are left; and the underground had no availability on any date at all.
Which ticket to buy
Which Colosseum ticket should I buy?
The official site sells every ticket and is the only official online seller. For most people the right one is the standard 24-hour ticket: the Colosseum at a booked time, plus one entry to the Roman Forum and the Palatine within 24 hours. The Full Experience tickets add a part of the monument most visitors never see, the arena floor, the underground or the attic, and stretch the Forum entry to the day before or after.
Tickets carry the visitor's name. The name can be changed only once, by midnight on the seventh day before the visit, and only for a clerical error, a wrong ticket type or a serious documented reason, so book in the names of the people who will go.
| Ticket | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| 24h: Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine | €18 | Colosseum at the booked time; Forum and Palatine once within 24 hours |
| 24h Only Arena | €18 | 20 minutes on the arena floor at the booked time; Forum and Palatine; SUPER sites |
| Full Experience with the arena | €24 | Colosseum and arena; Forum and Palatine the day before, the day of or the day after; SUPER sites |
| Full Experience: underground and arena | €24 | Colosseum, arena and underground at the booked time (arrive 30 minutes early); Forum and Palatine; SUPER sites |
| Full Experience with the attic | €24 | Colosseum and attic at the booked time; Forum and Palatine; SUPER sites |
| Forum Pass SUPER | €18 | Forum, Palatine and Imperial Fora, open date within 30 days of purchase; no Colosseum |
What had sold out on 19 October
How far in advance do Colosseum tickets sell out?
Dates go on sale 30 days ahead: on 19 October, the last date on sale was 18 November. That date, released the same day, still had 27 of its 28 slots open at 9.40pm Rome time; only 9:00 had gone, and 8:30 was down to one ticket.
One week later the picture is different. On every date from 11 to 15 November, all the slots from 8:30 to at least 12:30 were sold out, and only the early afternoon was left. Everything from 20 October to 10 November had sold out completely, except 22 October. That was in November, one of the quietest months; in spring and summer, expect it to go faster.
| Visit date | Days after it went on sale | Slots open | First slot still open |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 October to 10 November | 29 to 8 | None (22 October only) | Sold out |
| Wednesday 11 November | 7 | 7 of 28 | 1:30pm |
| Thursday 12 November | 6 | 9 of 28 | 12:45pm |
| Friday 13 November | 5 | 8 of 28 | 1:30pm |
| Saturday 14 November | 4 | 9 of 28 | 12:45pm |
| Sunday 15 November | 3 | 7 of 28 | 1:30pm |
| Monday 16 November | 2 | 18 of 28 | 11:00am |
| Tuesday 17 November | 1 | 19 of 28 | 10:45am |
| Wednesday 18 November | 0 (released that day) | 27 of 28 | 8:30am (one ticket) |
The other tickets: arena easier, underground gone
Are Colosseum underground tickets sold out?
The ticket that was easiest to get was the €18 arena-only ticket: every date from 9 to 18 November was still on sale, including days when the standard ticket had sold out. It trades the upper levels for 20 minutes on the reconstructed arena floor, standing where the gladiators did, and it includes the Forum and Palatine.
The underground was the hardest. The Full Experience with the underground and arena had sold out on every date on sale, including the one released that day. The Full Experience with the arena was not on sale for any date from 27 October onwards when we looked. If the underground matters to you, a guided tour is realistically the only way in at short notice.
How to get the ticket you want
What the calendar suggests, in practice.
- Book on the day your date is releasedWork back 30 days from your visit and book that day. On the day of release almost every slot is free; a week later, even in November, only the afternoons were left.
- If the mornings are gone, take the latest slot, not nothingThe afternoon slots were the last to sell on every date. The Colosseum in the low sun of mid-afternoon is no worse than at 9am, and the 24-hour ticket still lets you do the Forum and Palatine the next morning.
- Try the arena-only ticket before you pay for a tourAt €18, the same price as the standard ticket, it had availability on dates where the standard ticket had none, and the arena floor is the view most people come for.
- Do the Forum on an open-date passThe Forum Pass SUPER (€18) needs no time slot and is valid for 30 days from purchase, except first Sundays and other free days. If you cannot get into the Colosseum, it still covers the Forum, the Palatine and the Imperial Fora.
- Book in the right namesThe name on each ticket can be changed only once, by midnight seven days before the visit, and only for the reasons the regulations allow. Bring the matching ID.
- Sleep within walking distanceFrom Palazzo Manfredi the Colosseum is about 190 metres away across the Ludus Magnus, and The Inn at the Roman Forum in Monti is a short walk from the Forum's entrances. An 8:30 slot is far easier when you can walk to it.
What we would buy
Colosseum and Forum tour, with arena or underground
From US$111 a person (19 October 2026)
The fallback when the official calendar has nothing for your date, and the realistic way to see the underground at short notice. You choose the main levels, the arena or the underground; the underground option is a three-hour guided tour that also covers the Forum. Rated 4.7 from 3,292 reviews, run by Touriks. It costs several times the official ticket and is non-refundable, so check the official calendar first.
Check prices and dates
The catch
Resale sites and look-alike official pages
The park says it sells online only through ticketing.colosseo.it and runs a form for reporting unauthorised resale at inflated prices. Many sites that come up in a search look official and are not.
What to do. Check the address is ticketing.colosseo.it before you pay, and if you buy a tour, buy it from a seller you know, with the ticket included and the name rules explained.
One snapshot, in a quiet month
We read the calendar on one evening in October, for dates in November. Availability changes by the minute, cancellations come back, and spring and summer sell faster.
What to do. Treat the table as the shape of the problem, not a promise, and book as early as the 30-day window allows.
Free first Sundays are not easy Sundays
On the first Sunday of each month entry is free, and the online calendar is closed for that day (1 November 2026 was). That means no timed booking, and long queues.
What to do. Unless saving €18 matters more than your time, pick another day.
Where we would stay in Rome
Colle Oppio
Palazzo Manfredi
A palazzo of 24 rooms and suites on Via Labicana with the Colosseum about 190 metres west across the Ludus Magnus, in the window of one room category, in that room's shower, and from the roof terrace.
Monti
The Inn at the Roman Forum
A small house on a pedestrian lane in Monti with its own Roman cryptoporticus off the lobby at street level and breakfast on the roof above the Imperial Forums.
Velabro
Rhinoceros Roma
Twenty-four apartments that Jean Nouvel left half unrestored, kitchens and bathrooms sealed into stainless steel boxes, stacked above a free art gallery beside the Arch of Janus.
Questions people ask
Good questions about Colosseum tickets: what sells out first, and what to do when it has
How far in advance can I buy Colosseum tickets?
30 days. On 19 October 2026 the official calendar was selling dates up to 18 November and not yet 19 November.
How much are Colosseum tickets in 2026?
On the official site, €18 for the 24-hour ticket (Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine), €18 for the arena-only ticket, and €24 for the Full Experience tickets with the arena, the underground or the attic.
Do Colosseum tickets sell out?
Yes, and the mornings first. On 19 October 2026, every slot before about 12:45 had sold out for each date from 11 to 15 November, and every date from 20 October to 10 November had sold out except 22 October.
Can I get Colosseum underground tickets?
Rarely at short notice on the official site: the underground Full Experience was sold out on every date on sale when we checked, including the date released that day. Guided tours sell their own underground entries, at a higher price.
Can I change the name on a Colosseum ticket?
Once, by midnight on the seventh day before the visit, and only for a clerical error, a wrong ticket type within the same order or a serious documented reason, through the official name-change form.
Is the Colosseum free on the first Sunday of the month?
Yes, entry is free on the first Sunday, but the online calendar is closed for that day, so there is no timed booking and the queues are long.
Sources we read (9)
- ticketing.colosseo.it/en
- ticketing.colosseo.it/en/categorie/singoli-1-8-persone
- ticketing.colosseo.it/en/eventi/24h-colosseo-foro-romano-palatino
- ticketing.colosseo.it/en/eventi/24h-only-arena
- ticketing.colosseo.it/en/eventi/full-experience
- ticketing.colosseo.it/en/eventi/full-experience-sotterranei-e-arena
- ticketing.colosseo.it/en/eventi/pass-super
- ticketing.colosseo.it/en/richiesta-cambio-nominativo
- getyourguide.com/rome-l33/ancient-rome-tour-colosseum-underground-arena-forum-t155115
If you book through a link on this page we may earn a commission, at no cost to you. It never decides what we recommend. Last checked: October 2026
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Image credits: Minimum-herb (CC BY-SA 4.0) · daryl_mitchell from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Edgar Jiménez from Porto, Portugal (CC BY-SA 2.0) · BeBo86 (CC BY-SA 3.0)