10 nights Alta Via 2: My Trip Report

In July 2025, I completed the Alta Via 2 in the Italian Dolomites. This blog outlines my experience, including the elevation / distance covered, huts stayed at, and extra summits completed. For a detailed description of the planning process, see my post “Hiking the Alta Via 2 in the Italian Dolomites - a full guide on a budget”

Day 0: Arrival to Brixen

Before this trip, I was in Slovenia working my way over to northern Italy. I was on a 2 month trip in Europe and had extra luggage that I did not want to carry on the trek, so I organized with my ending hotel to drop off a bag in Feltre. Little did I know this was easier said than done!

The morning of my intended travel (Venice to Feltre, drop bag, and Feltre to Brixen), the Italian train system went on strike. So I go to board my train and all the workers just get off the train, and say it’s not going anywhere. So what next? I get a train refund and go to the bus stop. It took me 3 hours and 2 bus changes to get to Feltre, what would have been a 1 hour train ride! Good thing I left early… I ended up arriving in Feltre around 12pm.

Next, I had to take 2 more buses just to get from Feltre to the train system, and 2 trains (since the direct one was cancelled again) to Brixen. I made it at 5:30pm to my final destination, a whopping 10.5 hours after leaving my hotel in the morning. Very grateful that I made it in one piece and on time as the hike started the next morning!

Brixen was a really cute town with a town square and shops throughout the city. Half of it was only pedestrian streets. I found my friend Tyler and we stayed at the Brixen Youth Hostel in our own room for 31 euros each.

Day 1: Feltre to Genova Refugio

After a breakfast (included in the hostel price) of bread and cereal, the standard Italian breakfast, we took off on our first day. We decided to take a bus from Feltre up to Plose, which cost about 2 euros each. You can hike it but the walk is on streets and not remarkable, so we decided go save out legs since we had a lot of elevation and mileage to cover in 10 days. We met a lady from Vail CO who lost all her luggage on the way over on the airline and had to purchase all new gear. We ended up spending the whole day together and providing moral support.

After getting off the bus, we also *cheated* with a 22 euro gondola ride up to the top of Plose. Again, unnecessary elevation and mileage, so our actual journey started at the top of Plose.

Mileage: 9.5, elevation gain: 2,600ft, time: 5 hours

Without the bus and gondola assists, it would have been something like 16 miles and 6,000ft of elevation gain, so no regrets.

After a longer traverse across the valley, we finally went up over a pass and dropped into the valley to Genova Refugio. We were treated to our first view of the mountains and a gorgeous day with just a little drizzle, plus our first steep climb which became a daily standard.

Rifugio Genova had a stunning sunset. The dorm room was a little dark but not fully booked.

Day 2: Rifugio Genova to Sass Regais to Rifugio Firenze

Today we veered off the traditional Alta via 2 path, mainly because I couldn’t get reservations at Puez (the normal day 2 stop on the AV2). We set off on the same trail for about 3 miles before turning right off the main trail on straight up switchbacks. Today was definitely our “welcome to the Dolomites” experience where we learned that every trail is either straight up or straight down, with no reprieve of nice grades. We trudged uphill for about an hour more until we got to the top and lost all that elevation back down into a new valley. Tyler laid down in the grass, sad about all our elevation loss. Then, we began our Sass Regais journey.

We wanted to do some extra summits for a few reasons. First is we went through all the effort to get via Ferrara gear, which included helmet, harness, and special belay device. So if we are going to carry the gear all the way across Italy, may as well use it. The second reason is we read online that Messner (one of the most famous mountaineers in the world) did this summit when he was 5 years old. I am definitely good enough to be a 5 year old Messner, right? Challenge accepted.

The summit was a really fun climb and a good intro to via Ferrara gear placement. It was probably a 5.4 maximum difficulty, but man, we were winded at times! Of course there was a cross at the top, as was the case in most Italian establishments. After some sardines and nuts at the summit, we worked our way down and to Rifugio Firenze.

Mileage: 8.6, elevation gain: 4,370ft, time: 8.5 hours

Bonus drinks at Firenze - some aperol sprits and carafe of wine - to top off the day. Firenze was one of my favorite huts. The food and views were incredible.

Day 3: Firenze to Piscadiu

After a pretty big day, we decided to take it easy today. Since we made the diversion to do Sass Regais, we were in the valley parallel to the AV2 trail and needed to get back over. We ended up taking another gondola (last cheat day, I swear) to Selva di Val Gardena and a bus over to Passo Gardena to meet up with the trail.

From there, we climbed up to a via Ferrara and clipped in for a ladder and traverse over the cliff face to get to Rifugio Piscadiu. This is a really popular Ferrara for day trippers, and we saw a lot of people having lunch at Piscadiu but heading down in the afternoon.

We arrived pretty early and thank goodness because about an hour after we got there, it started pouring rain and hailing. The Rifugio was entirely booked which made for good dinner company. We sat at a table with a family from the UK who spends half their year in Tuscany… must be nice!

Mileage: 3.6, elevation gain: 1,800ft, time: 4 hours (incl bus rides)

Day 4: Piscadiu to Fedaia

Today was a long one, and I thought Tyler might murder me because of it! In retrospect, it would have been best to stay at either Rifugio Boe or Campanna Piz Fassa di Bernard Guido (this one though!!).

We started off super early before breakfast so we could get to Boe in time for their breakfast. We learned that the Rifugios run a tight ship and they were cleaning when we arrived. I was able to order the most delicious marscapone cake in a jar and it was worth every penny. It was also really cold that morning, so the ground was frosted over and I was wearing neatly all my layers.

We decided to add in the summit of Boe in, and I’m so glad we did. We got amazing views through the clouds and the Rifugio at the top was to die for. Literally on the side of a cliff. We stopped for coffee, tea, and a few games of Rummy before continuing onward. Timing was great; as we were heading down, a huge group of tourists who had taken the tram up were all marching to where we had came from. It’s so nice having the whole place to yourself.

We hiked across to the top of the tram and went down a narrow rocky chute for about 2,000ft. Of course I slipped 2 times but I was fine. I hate loose rocks!

We crossed Passo Perdoi and had our last main climb of the day to see the Marmoloda mountain range. They literally took my breath away. There were lots of rifugios in this area, including a hard metal themed one (so random). Probably because we passed into a ski resort area.

Finally, with very tired feet, we traversed over and dropped into Lago di Fedaia. We stayed at Rifugio Fedaia and ate lots of pizza for dinner.

Mileage: 12.2, elevation gain: 3,700ft, time: 9.5 hours

Day 5: Fedaia to Albergo Miralago

Tyler woke up not feeling well, and since this was one of the last places to take a bus diversion, he skipped the hiking and I was on my own. Probably for the best since it was a pretty hard day.

There were 2 routes you could take, one was the traditional AV2 route which went straight up and over the Marmelodas, and the other diverted around a bit but still went over a pass in the mountain range while saving neatly 1,000ft of elevation. I opted for the second route to save my feet and legs, since every day was turning into a ton of elevation.

I decided to start early around 6:30am because I anticipated a longer day. The first hour paralleled a road and was pretty easy, though it was slightly raining and very foggy. I turned off the road at about 3 miles, and quickly realized that literally no one takes the route #2, it was totally overgrown and had no signage. But I was committed (and had a map) so I trudged onward!

The worst part was the long grass which just got everything soaked, mainly my pants, and covered any chance of seeing the trail. There was really no where else to go so I trusted my alltrails map and trudged on.

At one point I hit a steep downhill section with some cables so I knew I was in the right place. At that moment, the weather started clearing up and it was gorgeous.

The trail ended up meeting up with AV2 and I saw a few more people at that point. Bonus is I was listening to the book “The Alice Network” which kept me largely entertained during a lot of the grind.

I hit the summit just before noon and dropped down to have a cheeky snack at Rifugio Fuciade. I made it to the hotel around 2:30, making shocking time and ending my true beast mode of a day.

Mileage: 12.6, elevation gain: 4,000ft, time: 7.5 hours

Day 6: Passo San Pelligrino to Mulaz

The hike started off with a climb up a ski slope, and then leveled off across a big valley as we went from the Marmolada to the Bocche mountain range. We were treated with wonderful views across the valley, and even saw some cows! After a quick coffee pit stop at Passo Valles Rifugio (and lots of pit stops to examine and learn about rocks), we started a big climb up to Mulaz. It was probably a solid 2,000ft of non stop elevation, all above tree line. This section of the hike is where all the Rifugios got rustic. The only way to bring supplies in was a once every other week helicopter drop, or hiking it in. So we had less choices on the food and the accommodations were 20 cots in the attic. It was genuinely awesome. Big bonus is the owner had the cutest dog named Luna, who was a major beggar and had to get kicked out of the kitchen multiple times. When we arrived, we each had a bowl of minestrone soup (allegedly the best minestrone on the AV2… it was pretty good, considering the remote location). I thought about submitting Mulaz mountain but a big rain / hail storm came through so I decided not to. We ate dinner with a Scottish brother and sister, solidifying how much I love the Rifugio camaraderie and vibes.

Mileage: 8.4, elevation gain: 3,780ft, time: 5.25 hours

Day 7: Mulaz to Cima Vezzana to Rosetta

Today turned into a really, really big day, and definitely the hardest day for me. The wonderful and conversely detrimental thing about Tyler and my relationship is we egg each other on to do crazy stuff. So at Mulaz, our placemat was this wonderful map, and we looked at it and saw this summit “Cima Vezzana” and thought it sounded cool. It was a *slight* diversion from the traditional route, and the traditional route was only 4 miles. So we were going to be so bored that day when we made it to Rosetta, might as well, right?

The day started off following 2 miles of the AV2. We saw 10 mountain goats with babies (!!), took inappropriate photos with a super fun spire, and geared up for a via ferrata. Then, we reached the turn off. Said turn off was a steep skree field with seemingly no end. By the way, skree is my absolute least favorite thing. There was no coverage, no reprieve, and zero fun to be had. But of course, Tyler and I said “well let’s try it and we can always turn around”.

2 hours later. I’m sitting in the middle of said skree field as we turn another corner and don’t see the top. Tyler is committed at this point, I might throw my backpack down the mountain just to have a reason to turn around, and we’re getting perilously close to noon. But then there it is, the cables and via ferrata start. Plus, we were at a point where turning around would have resulted in a worse situation because we would have to regain the nearly 3,000ft of elevation we had already climbed, and at that point, the thought of one more foot of elevation lost would be the death of me.

Once we got on the ferrata, it was fun. Climbing up to the summit was pretty chill. We even saw a local guy with no gear and his dog, jogging down. Made me feel silly for all the complaining.

The summit views made it *almost* worth it. Mother Mary was there to greet us of course, and I probably went pee somewhere on the summit in her line of sight. Oh well!

The down was a slog but nothing too bad. Had to watch the route because of potential crevasses. Once we eventually made it, we heard from some other people that the AV2 4 mile journey took them nearly 8 hours, exactly what our route took. So I guess either way we would have had a long day. In retrospect, so glad we did the summit (type 2 fun at its finest!)

Mileage: 6.2, elevation gain: 3,800ft, time: 7.75 hours

Day 8: Rosetta to Cereda

Today was again a long day, but at least we were prepared! There were 2 other rifugios (Pradidali & Treviso) that I couldn’t get into, despite my 100 emails over the course of a few months. So we gave up and skipped them to divert straight south to Cerada. Bummer to skip those ones but just glad we could be out there!

The first stretch to Pradidali took 2-3 hours. There was a long climb out of the Rosetta valley, which popped us out at Pradidali. We did a section of a famous via ferrata loop, but since we had such a long decent into Cereda, we opted not to do the whole thing. We just did a pretty insane 500ft tall ladder that went into the clouds. After, we grabbed some pasta lunch at Pradidali and started the 6,000ft descent. After a longgg time down, we hit a little town and took a plunge in the ice cold water. Tyler went all the way in and I just did a leg ice bath. It was slightly raining out and I was afraid I wouldn’t warm up! Good thing because right after it started full raining, and we had to hike the final 3 miles in the rain.

Arriving at Cereda marked when we skipped ahead from our main group to the group ahead of us. Since we skipped a few days, we also left behind our fellow travelers on a 12-13 day AV2 hike. We were welcomed with open arms to a group of 15 British hikers, a few people from the US, and some local Italian dudes. Cereda was a gem - the food and beers were amazing, probably second best to Albergo Miralago. I finally got to eat a salad and straight greens.

Mileage: 12.3, elevation gain: 2,390ft, time: 9.25 hours

Day 9: Cerada to Boz

We knew today was going to be big. An unrelenting climb greeted us… straight 4,000ft elevation with no breaks. We climbed up a dry ravine up and over the last mountain range of our trip (Feltre). It was basically a line of people just trudging through to the end. One of the Brits turned around and took a bus because she had seen enough up for a lifetime. Good thing I love climbing! The whole climb took nearly 4 hours. After we traversed across these gorgeous meadows, and with 1 mile to go, we stopped at a cold creek to ice the feet. Boz was a cute spot with triple bunks. It was spacious and we had our fair share of beers and wine on the last evening on the AV2.

Mileage: 8.5, elevation gain: 4,300ft, time: 6.5 hours

Day 10: Boz to Feltre

Everyone was up early for the final day, eager to get a shower and make the bus from Croce d’Aune at 3:30, which avoided hiking the final 6 miles to Feltre! Some of this day felt like we were cattle all going at the same pace so Tyler and I stepped away from the crowds to enjoy the experience and views. The route today was exposed in sections with narrow pathways between rock spires. We eventually got out of the mountains and started hiking down a more established road to Croce d’Aune. I had entertained the idea of hiking all the way to Feltre, but a little slip and sprained ankle towards the end made the decision for me to take the bus and call it quits. Our Italian friends hiked all the way and they said it wasn’t worth it, so that made me feel better! We stopped at a birreria outside of Feltre for celebratory drinks with the team. After a few beers, we made our final walk into Feltre before getting back together for some more drinks and pizza near the town square.

Mileage: 14.6, elevation gain: 3,160ft, time: 10.5 hours (including beers of course)

Day 11: Depart Feltre

After a morning of showering 3 times, coffee shop hopping, and pastry searching, we headed off on the 11am train south with Tyler leaving out of Venice and me adventuring on to Lake Garda. It was sad to say goodbye to our new friends but happy to finally be out of the hiking boots!

It was the trip of a lifetime. Same time next year?

My top picks:

Favorite Rifugio: Firenze

Best food: Albergo Miralago

Best hiking: All the Ferraras! Especially Sass Regais

Best views: Marmeloda mountain range on day 4

Hardest climb: up to Cima Vezzana, I almost turned around omg

Best community vibes: Rosetta dinner and attic bunk room (plus bonus puppy!)