Colosseum, Pantheon and Roman Forum Express: Small Group Tour Skip-the-Line Pass

The MEA tour company changed the itinerary and sites to visit without any notice whatsoever. Moreover, the new itinerary included a two hour wait to enter the Colosseum, a situation that easily could have been avoided with prior notification. The tour guide was appropriately sympathetic and apologetic about these problems but the tour manager was a shockingly rude mansplainer. When I asked for a refund, he told me that it was too late. Of course, it was too late because he had given no notice of the changes. Clearly deliberate, although unless Italian contract law is different from contract law elsewhere in the world, changing the tour without any prior notice was completely illegal. I give a 2 rather than a 1 because the guide was apologetic and tried to find an appropriate solution (although it was too late to find one). Nonetheless, when she and the tour manager explained the changes, it was clear that they were not COVID-related but merely due to poor planning.

Informative and glad we didn't go to the Panathon but went instead to the palatine. Which was so much more interestinga d withess walking to get from. I e location to another.

As described, this tour will include the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and the Pantheon, going in that order. We were into the Colosseum fairly quickly- it took around 10 minutes to get through security (Saturday in February). We immediately realised how knowledgeable and experienced our tour guide was. We were given quite a lot of background information before heading up to the Colosseum itself- perhaps a bit too much though. We then spent a decent bit of time walking around the Colosseum itself and viewing it from different perspectives. The next stop was the Roman Forum (right across the road from the Colosseum)- again we had to go through security which took around 10 minutes. We were shown around well, and were given some interesting facts about its history. We then walked to the Pantheon (around 15 minutes walking) and were given a very quick tour before we were left to free roam. My main criticism of the tour is what is included. I feel like it would make so much more sense for this to be a tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, rather than including the Pantheon. We headed back to do Palatine Hill the next day, only to realise the entry price was very high, and felt that the tour should have taken us here since we had gone through security and had the ticket access anyway. On the contrary, the Pantheon is free and can easily be done self-guided, in people's own time if they really want to. We also had originally booked onto the 09.00 tour, but were told a few days earlier that we would be transferred to the 10.00 tour without asking if this was okay with us. Fortunately it worked out okay in the end but we had booked the 09.00 for a specific reason (to get to the Vatican City for out afternoon tour) so it made things a bit logistically difficult to manage. Overall then, if you don't mind missing Palatine Hill then definitely go for this tour. The headsets are clear, the guide was fantastic and the tour was very clear. If you do want to do Palatine Hill, then choose from the many other tours available on Viator which include it.

Perfect way to tour Rome with a small group! Our guide was very knowledgeable and flexible as well. Kids learned a lot from the tour.

Had a very good guide and exiting visit to those historical places. I had been there about 38 years ago and going back was again a great experience.

Didn’t think a guide was necessary but couldn’t get in with just the Viator ticket. Very annoying;a basic waste of money

We toured on a Sunday which happened to be the first Sunday of the month. The first Sunday is free entry into most historic sites in Rome (if not Italy). Therefore the tour guide can not pick up tickets before hand and get the group to "skip the line". Therefore the group had to get in a line and everyone in the group needed to get a ticket. This added 45 minutes to our wait on top of the security check. Then the tour was rushed. Not sure how you can sell a skip the line pass when you can't actually skip the line for a ticket. Granted this was much shorter than most people wait, but it's still not what was advertised in my opinion.

Our tour took us through the Colosseum the the Roman Forum, followed by the Pantheon. There was an additional cash charge of 23 Euro on top of the tour fee for the Colosseum and Roman Forum tickets (the Pantheon is free to access) so factor that in when comparing to other comparable tours. The tour guide was knowledgeable and easy to understand (you also have an earpiece so you don't need to be right next to the guide the whole time. It was great to hear about the history of these incredible locations and we made the most of it even with a bit of spotty weather.

The tour guide, Francesca was terrific! She engaging, knowledgeable, open to questions and patient. Francesca went out of her way to ensure that some of group, who had difficulty keeping up with the walking, were able to eventually catchup. High recommend the tour along with Francisca.

Kiara took us to amazing place around the Colosseum, and she had sooooo much knowledge and information! She was amazing and loved the small group. There was 8 of us and it was perfect! Love this tour company