Rimske Toplice (Šmarjeta) - Dom v Gorah (via Lurd)

Access to starting point:
A) From the Ljubljana - Maribor highway, take the Celje - center exit, then continue driving in the direction of Laško and later Rimske Toplice. At the beginning of the settlement Rimske Toplice, turn right in the direction of Hrastnik, but drive on the main road towards Hrastnik only about 50 m, then turn left onto a local road, along which you quickly arrive at the nearby cemetery, beside which you park on the marked parking lot.
B) From Zasavje, first drive to Hrastnik, then continue driving towards Celje. When you arrive in Rimske Toplice, you will be only 50 m before the main intersection, where the road joins the main road Celje - Zidani Most; turn right onto a local road, along which you quickly arrive at the nearby cemetery, beside which you park on the marked parking lot.
C) From the Posavje direction, first drive to Zidani Most, then continue driving towards Celje. When you arrive in Rimske Toplice, pay attention, as a road branches off to the left at the end of the settlement, leading towards Hrastnik. Head onto the mentioned road, but drive on it only about 50 m, then turn left onto a local road, along which you quickly arrive at the nearby cemetery, beside which you park on the marked parking lot.

Path description:
From the parking lot by the cemetery, we continue on the road towards the south. Already after a few tens of meters, the main road turns left, and we continue straight towards Lurd. We continue on a somewhat narrower road, and while walking on the right side we clearly see the church of the Holy Mother of God in Ogeči (Lurd) all the time, past which the path will lead us higher up.
At the next intersection, we continue slightly left, then only a few steps further at the chapel right upwards. Here we quickly arrive at a smaller triangular intersection, by which there are numerous hiking signposts. We continue right in the direction of Kopitnik and Lurd and continue the ascent on the asphalt road, which ascends transversely to the right. Higher up the settlement ends, and the road enters the forest. Here another path from Šmarjeta joins from the right, the road turns a bit more to the right and brings us to the church of the Holy Mother of God (Lurd).
Just a little above the church, we leave the asphalt road and continue left in the direction of Kopitnik. From the road the path first ascends steeply, then levels out and crosses a short relatively steep slope. The slope quickly levels out, and the path brings us from the forest to the edge of a hay meadow, where it turns left to an abandoned house. On the other side of the house we arrive at a smaller intersection, where we continue straight in the direction of Kopitnik. We walk on the road for only a few minutes, then the blazes direct us slightly right onto a marked cart track ascending parallel to the road. The cart track quickly levels out and returns to the road at an older house. From the house we ascend to a smaller saddle, then at two successive junctions continue left. Further on we ascend on a steeper forest path, which higher joins the cart track, which then completely levels out and brings us from the forest to a larger grassy clearing. Here the path turns slightly left and returns to the forest, through which it then occasionally ascends more steeply again. Higher up we ascend over another hay meadow, and the path brings us to a gravel road, where we join the other path from Rimske Toplice (starting point Tuš store and Rimske terme).
We continue on the gentle road, along which we walk to the homestead Pri Izeri. At the homestead the road becomes asphalt, and we walk on it only a few meters, then the inscription on the tree "koča" directs us left into the forest. Further we ascend briefly through the forest, then join the path from the villages Marno and Turje. From the junction onward we step out of the forest, and the gentle path continuing over a larger meadow brings us to the Koča na Kopitniku in a few minutes.
From the Koča na Kopitniku continue right towards Gore, Mrzlica and Šmohor, where we walk a few steps on the road, then the hiking signs direct us slightly right into the forest, where the path leads along a cart track. From the cart track we soon return to the road, and at several intersections we follow the signs for Gore. The path ahead gradually turns into a poorer road, which leads past a solitary house, behind which it enters the forest and gently descends to a junction by a concrete spring, where a chapel once stood.
Here we continue straight (right downhill to Marno on the NOB path), and a little further when we leave the forest a beautiful view opens to the right side, where the view reaches Uršlja gora and further to Golica / Koralpe in neighboring Austria. Somewhat further we reach a macadam road, a few steps further an asphalt road. After a short descent we arrive at an intersection, where the road to Fračji dol branches right, and a few steps further a marked path from Zidani Most - the path over Širje - joins from the left.
The path ahead leads us on the asphalt road, along which we mostly descend gently to moderately, and lower we also go along some marked shortcuts.
We return to the asphalt road again at a marked junction, where a path leading from the settlement Marno towards Dom v Gorah joins from the right.
A few minutes further we leave the forest, and from the right another path from Dol pri Hrastniku joins us. We continue straight and after a short ascent arrive at Dom v Gorah.
From the hut we can continue past the sports fields to the nearby church of St. Jurij, which is located on a rise slightly west to northwest of the mountain hut.
Rimske Toplice - Koča na Kopitniku 1:40, Koča na Kopitniku - Dom v Gorah 1:00.

On the way: Lurd (300m), Koča na Kopitniku (865m)