Rimske Toplice (Šmarjeta) - Vrhe (at Gore) (via Lurd)

Access to starting point:
A) From the Ljubljana - Maribor highway, we take the Celje - center exit, then continue driving towards Laško and later Rimske Toplice. At the beginning of the settlement Rimske Toplice, we turn right towards Hrastnik, but we drive along the main road towards Hrastnik for only about 50 m, then turn left onto a local road, along which we quickly arrive at the nearby cemetery, by which we park on the marked parking lot.
B) From Zasavje, we first drive to Hrastnik, then continue driving towards Celje. When we arrive in Rimske Toplice, we will be only 50 m before the main intersection, where the road joins the main road Celje - Zidani Most; we turn right onto a local road, along which we quickly arrive at the nearby cemetery, by which we park on the marked parking lot.
C) From the Posavje direction, we first drive to Zidani Most, then continue driving towards Celje. When we arrive in Rimske Toplice, we pay attention, as at the end of the settlement a road will branch off to the left towards Hrastnik. We head onto the mentioned road, but drive along it for only about 50 m, then turn left onto a local road, along which we quickly arrive at the nearby cemetery, by which we 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 Ogeče (Lurd) all the time, past which the path will lead us higher.
At the next crossroad, we continue slightly left, then only a few steps further at the chapel right upwards. Here we quickly arrive at a smaller triangular crossroad, 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 towards the right. Higher the settlement ends, and the road turns into the forest. Here another path from Šmarjeta joins us from the right, the road turns even 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 flattens and crosses a short relatively steep slope. The slope quickly flattens, 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 crossroad, 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, which ascends parallel to the road. The cart track quickly flattens 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 flattens and brings us from the forest to a larger grassy clearing. Here the path turns somewhat to the left and returns to the forest, through which it then occasionally ascends more steeply again. Higher 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 along it for 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 onwards we step out of the forest, and the gentle path, which continues across a larger meadow, brings us to the Koča na Kopitniku in a few minutes.
From the Koča na Kopitniku we continue right towards Gore, Mrzlica and Šmohor, where we walk a few steps along the road, then the hiking signs direct us slightly right into the forest, where the path leads us along a cart track. From the cart track we soon return to the road, and at several crossroads we follow the signs for Gore. The path ahead gradually turns into a poorer road, which leads us past a solitary house, behind which it enters the forest and gently descends to a junction by a concreted 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 also an asphalt road. After a short descent we arrive at a crossroad, where to the right a road branches into Fračji dol, a few steps further a marked path from Zidani Most - the path over Širje - joins us from the left.
The path ahead leads us along the asphalt road, along which we mostly descend gently to moderately, lower down also taking 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 us from the right.
A few minutes further we leave the forest, and from the right a path from Dola pri Hrastniku joins us. We continue straight and after a short ascent arrive at Dom v Gorah.
From the hut we continue past the sports fields towards the nearby church of St. Jurij, which is located on a hill slightly west to northwest of the mountain hut. The marked path bypasses the hill with the church on the right side, along the marked path in the direction of the railway station in Hrastnik we walk to the place where the path turns left downhill from the road. Here we continue straight and walk to the vicinity of two weekend houses between which we continue, the path along which the markings continue returns to the forest and ascends to the indistinct summit Vrhe. The highest point of the summit is located only a few steps to the right of the path.
Rimske Toplice - Koča na Kopitniku 1:40, Koča na Kopitniku - Dom v Gorah 1:00, Dom v Gorah - Vrhe 0:10.

On the way: Lurd (300m), Koča na Kopitniku (865m), Dom v Gorah (762m)