Pregrada - Kostelgrad

Access to starting point:
a) We arrive in Croatia via the border crossing Rogatec / Hum na Sutli. We continue towards Pregrada and after 15 minutes of driving we are in the town. We park on a larger parking lot by the church or elsewhere in a suitable place.
b) We leave the Zagreb-Macelj motorway at the Zabok exit and at the roundabout choose the direction Tuheljske Toplice, Krapinske Toplice. In the village Jezero Klanječko, we leave the main road and go towards Krapinske Toplice, Pregrada. When we arrive in Pregrada, we park on a larger parking lot by the church or elsewhere in a suitable place.

Path description:
From the parking lot by the church, we go slightly uphill to the north. Trail signs assist us. After one minute of walking, we leave the asphalt and take a narrower path between fences that quickly leads us into the forest.
In the forest, we begin a fairly steep ascent. The ground is occasionally rocky. The path then leads to a junction where we go right. This section features a somewhat more demanding climb over rocks leading to an exposed section. After the exposed section, there is the next junction where straight ahead is a very steep unofficial shortcut; we go right and after a few minutes of ascent reach a bend where the path turns sharply left westward. The steepness gradually eases, at the next bend we merge with the steep shortcut, and after one more minute of walking we emerge from the forest in front of the mountain hut. Characteristic of this trail section are crosses along the path.
The mountain hut is open on weekends but unstaffed. From the hut, there is an exceptional view of the Pregrada settlement and further south.
From the hut, we continue north on a flat asphalt road that begins to descend after a while. When it reaches the saddle, we leave it and go right onto the forest cart track (straight ahead on asphalt to Vina gora and Veliki Tabor).
The cart track quickly starts ascending and turns north at the bend. The ascent is steep; in the final part, we face challenging rocky and muddy ground hazardous for slipping. The track then levels out but is usually quite muddy. After a short time, it leads us to a hunting observation post where we leave it and go left westward.
Soon we reach the next junction where we go right toward Kostelgrad (straight ahead to peak Kuna gore and mushroom pickers' shelter). Soon we reach a cart track where we go left but only for a few meters as we then leave it to the right. This section is poorly marked due to felled trees (status 2021). We continue on the level path, which is quite muddy after rain.
After about five minutes, we reach the point where we leave the cart track. We then lose 100 meters of elevation as we descend, first through the forest and then briefly on a cart track that is occasionally steep. In winter, our destination is visible through the forest here.
After the steep descent ends, there is a sharp right bend. Our path levels out but continues descending. After a few minutes, we reach a junction where the descent ends, and we go slightly uphill. After a few minutes of ascent, we reach another junction where we join the path from Kostel village.
The junction is at the foot of the ruins. Here we go right, and after one minute of further walking, at the left bend is the entrance to the ruins. A constructed staircase aids us here. After the staircase, part of the path is fenced, and a view south opens up. A short walk through the ruins leads to the highest point with a small rest area and benches.