The Best Colosseum and Vatican Tours and tickets for families by age: tried and tested!
Our carefully curated, first hand experience based selection of the best Colosseum and Vatican Tours and tickets for families with kids. Includes booking timing and recommendations by age.
The Colosseum and the Vatican are the two main sites in Rome all visitors want to see, but also those that cause the most confusion when it comes to figuring out what tickets to get.
Due to the sheer volume of tour providers, types of tickets and offering, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and since the cost of tours is significant (for families, it can easily go into the high hundreds!), it is something you definitely do not want to get wrong.
I am a Rome mama of two and I have visited both the Colosseum and the Vatican many times.
I have gone when my kids were babies, toddles, in primary school and now in secondary and I have taken both tours and gone self guides.
So, when I tell you I can recommend the best tickets and tours of Colosseum and Vatican for all ages, you can trust this is advice based on personal experience!
On this page, I recommend the best tickets tours for each of these two attractions by age and, at the end, I also share a tour that combines both attractions in one day.
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Best Colosseum and Vatican Tours and tickets for families by age – chart
| Type of Ticket / Tour | For kids | Age* |
| Official tickets from Colosseum site direct (several options with / without a tour) | Not specifically | All |
| Official tickets official Vatican Museum site with / without tour | Not specifically | All |
| MariaClaudia tours of Colosseum and Vatican | YES | 6-15 |
| LivTours Colosseum Tour for kids with Roman Forum | YES | 6-15 |
| Express Colosseum Tour by LivTours | Not specifically | All |
| Rome4Kids Colosseum Tour for kids | YES | 6-14 |
| Rome4Kids Vatican Tour for kids | YES | 6-14 |
| Pinocchio Tour of the Vatican for kids | YES | 6-14 |
| Express Vatican Tour by LivTours | Not specifically | All |
| Vatican Early Morning Tour for Families by LivTours | YES | 6-15 |
| Turn on the light Vatican Museums | Not specifically | All |
Need to know: Colosseum tickets go for sale on the official site 30 days ahead of your desired date. Vatican tickets go on sale on the official site 60 days ahead of your desired day. Booking via an operator means they will take care of getting the tickets for you so you can book earlier and let them do the ticket sourcing.
Best tickets and tour of the Colosseum for babies / toddlers / preschoolers
If you have very young kids, I do not recommend investing in a tour FOR kids, as these are designed for kids age 6 and up; rather, i recommend to go self guides or with a family friendly private guide.
To go self guided, you can buy tickets directly from the Colosseum website (extra bonus, kids go free!)
The official website to buy Colosseum tickets is https://ticketing.colosseo.it If you opt for general entrance, you only need to book tickets for adults: check the official site for details.
To make the visit fun and engaging, you can use with a scavenger hunt for kids like the one in the photo, which I make doe kids kids! You can get it on Etsy >>> here <<<
If you cannot find official tickets, you can try GetYourGuide.
If you want to have a guide, i recommend you book this Express Colosseum Tour by LivTours: with this, you get a private guide who till talk to you, in terms of info and tone, buy will adapt pace to the needs of a family and will make sure your child feels welcome at all times.
Best tickets and tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel for babies / toddlers / preschoolers
The Vatican Museums are one of the hardest attractions to visit with young kids and I have written metaphorical rivers of digital ink sharing tips for a Vatican visit with kids.
But, in a nutshell, I believe the best tickets for the Vatican if you have little ones are:
Official tickets from the Vatican Museums site, get them >>> here <<< these are a cheap and very valid option if you do not want a guided tour.
This solution is ideal if you want to mostly see the Sistine Chapel (there is a short route to it) or you have the inclination to study the layout of the museums beforehand and plan your own way around.
If you cannot find official tickets, you can try GetYourGuide.
Private Express Tour by LivTours, see info >>> here <<< This is a short, 1.5h private tour with a special yet not exclusive focus on the Sistine Chapel.
It is ideal for families with young kids as the guide is able to go at a pace that is suitable to little ones, yet the tour guide pitches is to the adults, so you have a proper tour, yet in a family friendly fashion!
Best tickets and tour of the Colosseum for primary school kids (age 6 to 11 approx)
if you have kids of primary school age or so, you have more options as you can go self guided, opt for a kids’ tour or a standard tour.
These are my recommendations:
The best tickets to go self guided are from the Colosseum website directly https://ticketing.colosseo.it Great ones to get are standard entry, full experience entry with arena floor, full experience ticket with attico (top floor) and full experience with underground (no tour)
To make the visit more fun and informational for kids, you can get a scavenger hunt and a fun facts for kids like the ones >>> here <<< which I made for my kids (I am a Roman History graduate from Rome, so I felt I had the skills to make these valuable!)
A fabulous Colosseum tour for kids age 6 to 11 is by MariaClaudia Tours.
The tour covers the general areas of the Colosseum and is structured as a scavenger hunt, which makes it fun and educational.
Another fantastic tours of the Colosseum for kids is this one by LivTours.
Compared with the one above, this is a pricier tour but longer and even more comprehensive as it allows you onto the arena floor (where the gladiators fought!) and the Roman Forum and Palatine which is where Rome was born!
Last but not least, you can also opt for the express tour of the Colosseum by LivTours, which is kids’ friendly and allows access to the arena and is shorter: if you have older kids who don’t need a specialize tour and can follow a short tour for a general audience, this is idea.
Good to know: The Colosseum also offers a guided tour option, under their ‘educational tours’ section on the website. This is a tour aimed at a general audience but is it kid-friendly and it is ideal if you have kids who are able to follow a tour that is not game based: the info provided are not hard to follow but due to the nature of the attraction, which hosted fights and capital punishments, it can occasionally contain disturbing concepts.
Best tickets and tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel for primary school kids (age 6 to 11 approx)
The best tours and tickets for the Vatican for kids of primary school age those is in the table above. My absolute favorites for consistency of quality of guides and customer service are:
Standard ticket, no tour, with option to get a kids’ audio guide inside. This is an excellent, cheap option for a self paced tour.
If the tickets on the official website are sold out, you can try GetYourGuide which also has this super handy availability calendar that shows how urgent it is / isn’t for you to get a tickets.
Kids’ tours of the Vatican with MariaClaudia Tours: a really fun, upbeat game based tour of the Museums and Sistine Chapel
Kids’ Tour of the Vatican with LivTours, which is fabulous as it also includes the Egyptian part of the museum (always ask them before committing, to be sure it is accessible when you go).
Express Tour of the Museums / Sistine Chapel by LivTours, find info >>> here <<< This tour is not for kids as such but it is great as it is short and focuses on the Sistine Chapel, so the attention doesn’t wander off!
Something special: a very special, very expensive, once in a lifetime tour you can take with the kids is the ‘Tour of the Vatican – Turning on the lights‘.
With this tour, you enter the museums with the key holder and literally open the doors of the rooms and turn on the lights, effectively seeing the museums totally empty of people and ‘waking them up’! This is a very expensive but mind-blowing experience, highly recommended if at all within budget!
Best tickets and tour of the Colosseum for tweens / teens / secondary school kids
Once your kids are in the tween/ teens year I find in most cases you can ‘graduate’ from kids’ tours and either go self guided or join a standard tour, depending on the child of course.
If you want to go self guided, the best tickets to get are from the official website https:///ticketing.colosseo.it
All tickets here are good, if you can I would aim Full Experience with arena floor, attico (top floor) ticket, general entry ticket or underground access.
The reason why I mention underground last is because it is exceptionally hard to get tickets for it. However, if you do get tickets, it is great! You can choose between unguided and guided and both are good.
If you prefer a guide tour for teens, MariaClaudia Tours has a couple of guides who are able to keep this age engaged, making the tour fun yet not childish.
If you have teens that can take a standard yet teen friendly tour, I recommend the Express LivTours tour which also covers the arena.
If you are ok with a bigger tour group, the tour by The tour Guy is also excellent and teen friendly. Please do note that these are tours for a general audience and have no game element.
Best tickets and tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel for tweens / teens / secondary school kids
For me, the best tickets and tours for teens at the Vatican Museums are:
Group tour by the Vatican Museums Guides: this is a budget friendly, quality option if you have kids who can follow a standard tour and do not mind a group of 20+ participants.
Express Tour of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel by LivTours in either private or semi private form. The private one can be adapted if you have teens who still like a more child-centers approach
Teens tour of the Vatican by MariaClaudia Tours: Mariaclaudia have some guides who are excellent with teens and will tell you at the time of booking if available.
Something special: a very special, very expensive, once in a lifetime tour you can take with the kids is the ‘Tour of the Vatican – Turning on the lights‘.
With this tour, you enter the museums with the key holder and literally open the doors of the rooms and turn on the lights, effectively seeing the museums totally empty of people and ‘waking them up’! This is a very expensive but mind-blowing experience, highly recommended if at all within budget!
Best combined Colosseum and Vatican Tour – see all in one day
If you are short on time and you want to see both the Vatican and the Colosseum with kids, I recommend you invest in a private guide at least for the Vatican, or the risk of overwhelm is real.
I would recommend either investing in this tour, which can also take care of sourcing the tickets at suitable times (and even bring you from one to the other)
Or I’d recommend to book an early entrance Vatican Tour and then self guides Colosseum tour for later in the day from the official site.
Best Colosseum and Vatican Tickets and Tours for families – Pin this!
Marta Correale
Marta Correale is an Italian mama of two. Born and raised in Rome, Marta has a passion for travel and especially enjoys showing off Italy to her kids, who are growing up to love it as much as she does! A classics graduate from the University of Rome, Marta channeled her passion for culture and travel into the creation of family travel websites that inspire, support and help curious visitors to make the most of a trip to Italy and learn about Italian culture on the way. Marta also manages the thriving online community of parents 'Italy with kids' who turn to her for expert advice and competent Italy travel planning support. She is the author of the travel guides 'Best of Rome with kids' and 'Best of Florence with kids' available on Amazon and of an array of kids printables (scavenger hunts, info booklets etc) available on her Etsy shop 'Mama Loves To Print'
