Lavričeva Hut the Best Mountain Hut and Krekova the Best High-Mountain Hut...

Lavričeva Hut the Best Mountain Hut and Krekova the Best High-Mountain Hut 2025.

In the 11th season of the Best Mountain Hut action of the Alpine Association of Slovenia (PZS) and the media Siol.net, in which 147 mountain huts participated, the laurels were won by Lavričeva Hut on Gradišče (PD Šentvid pri Stični) as the best mountain hut and Krekova Hut on Ratitovec (PD for Selška dolina Železniki) as the best high-mountain mountain hut. Lavričeva is celebrating the first Dolenjska victory, Krekova has been crowned the most popular high-mountain hut by mountain visitors for the third time on its centenary, and their common point is the long-term family or club management tradition and delicious flancati.

The Best Mountain Hut action promotes hiking and encourages active leisure time in nature, as well as raises awareness about responsible and safe mountain visits. The eleventh season was also marked by mountain experiences with authors of the Alpine Publishing House and the resonant monitoring of the Sweet Slovenian Transversal by Žiga Papež. In this season, which lasted from May 29 to September 10, participants voted among 147 huts - 27 high-mountain and 120 mountain in lower areas - to choose those that excel in tidiness, hospitality, and offer. For the best mountain hut 2025, they chose Lavričeva Hut on Gradišče (509 m), and for the best high-mountain mountain hut 2025, they crowned Krekova Hut on Ratitovec (1644 m) for the third time.

"Congratulations to the teams of the winning huts, Krekova Hut on Ratitovec with management teams within PD for Selška dolina Železniki and Lavričeva Hut on Gradišče under the auspices of PD Šentvid pri Stični! This year's winners are examples of huts where the same team has been working for a very long time and they work with heart. In the long term, this is reflected in satisfied guests who like to return to these huts. Krekova Hut is so popular that it received the title of best high-mountain hut for the third time this year, while Lavričeva, as a lower-lying and easily accessible hut, includes various interesting activities in its offer and thus appeals to a wider circle of visitors. Both huts also received the highest average score in their category in the sum of votes for tidiness, hospitality, and offer, which only confirms the appropriateness of the choice," emphasized the professional associate of the Alpine Association of Slovenia Dušan Prašnikar.

Prašnikar also gives an assessment of the season and information on the openness of mountain huts in autumn: "This year's summer season is very good for mountain huts. High-mountain huts, despite worse weather than in some previous years, had a very good attendance, comparable to last year's, which recorded the most overnight stays in mountain huts in the last two decades. For most lower-lying mountain huts, the main season is spring and autumn, when hikers and other guests shift from high mountains to hills and knolls. High-mountain huts generally remain open until the end of September, some longer, while lower-lying huts mostly maintain constant openness or some switch to weekend openness at the end of September or end of October." Mountain visitors who will go to admire the autumn color backdrop of the mountains should check the exact information on the openness of huts on the PZS website pzs.si/koce.php before departure.

Mountain huts, which are an increasingly important part of Slovenian tourist infrastructure, await numerous investments and challenges, which Prašnikar also highlights: "As every year, mountain clubs or owners of mountain huts try their best with renovations and maintenance of mountain huts. This year, the state helped through the Eco Fund, which in a special call in the next two years allocates 1.5 million euros for new investments in efficient energy use and renewable energy sources for the renovation of mountain huts. The needs for 159 mountain huts are much greater. We hope that the state will enable financial support for environmental and energy renovations of mountain huts in the future, which, along with mountain paths, represent important infrastructure for mountain tourism in Slovenia."

After 2021 and 2022, Krekova Hut on Ratitovec (1644 m) has won the laurel of the best high-mountain mountain hut for the third time. "This news is almost a surprise to me! From mid-July to the end of August, my husband and I were at Krekova Hut and no one talked about it. It means a lot to us that we are doing well, the entire team will surely be happy. Excellent! We don't hear criticisms often, visitors are satisfied. There were really many in the summer, both day visitors and those who stayed overnight; in August as many as never before," was happy the manager Anica Lotrič, with her husband Alojz at the head of the management team of Krekova Hut for more than a quarter century: "Ratitovec is a well-accessible mountain, has beautiful views, visitors can go further, otherwise the hut awaits them at the top - and in it we try to make them feel good. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes they have to wait in line, but we all work with good will."

At Krekova Hut, which stands just below Gladki vrh (1667 m) on the summit ridge of Ratitovec, the easternmost extension of the Julian Alps, they celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first hut on Ratitovec on August 15, which was burned during World War II, and the new one was opened in 1954. "Ratitovec is a point that every hiker visits at least once. In addition, we have had a well-coordinated team for years, which surely contributes to the popularity of the hut. It's good that we change often, which has good and bad sides, but it seems to go quite well for us," is also proud the president of PD for Selška dolina Železniki Alojz Lotrič. "We persist with one-pot meals, we offer jota, ričet, pasulj, goulash, obara, hikers like žgance, this year vegetable soup was popular, then ocvirkovica, tarragon potica, of course flancati are in first place, for which the hut is known. We have to try hard to bake as many as there are visitors," he backs his words with the data that last Sunday they set a record with 600 freshly baked flancati. A trio baked them from five in the morning to five in the afternoon, otherwise at weekends they usually bake 200 to 400 daily, during the week between 100 and 200.

The hut is maintained and managed by the mountain club itself. Throughout the year, nine groups of club members alternate, in summer five of them duty for one month each and during that time other members and locals help with managing the hut on weekends. "We have this way of management for 40 years, we work for the club, there is a lot of volunteer work and it pays off. Therefore, we can have moderate prices, because due to visits from the valley we can't have exorbitant ones. Locals are regular visitors to the hut, who come even if it rains. In the Friends of Ratitovec action, between 400 and 500 people participate, who make more than 20 thousand entries on Ratitovec annually," explains president Lotrič, satisfied also with this year's summer hiking season: "This year's season is not over yet, as the hut is open until October 20. Summer was even one percent better than last year, when it was record and seemed unattainable. We are very satisfied, we practically didn't raise prices. The last major investment was roof covering and insulation, now we are planning to modernize the cargo cableway, which will be another big investment, so we hope for the state's ear."

Lavričeva Hut on Gradišče (509 m) is the first mountain hut in Dolenjska that has won this title. "Nice, I'm surprised! This recognition means a lot to me after all these years of effort, it's nice to hear that we are the best mountain hut," was moved the tenant Sonja Trlep. "Maybe the location, because the hut is lower, the ambiance, a bit different hut, always tidy surroundings with wooden sculptures, a lot happens, all year - in the end probably us, me, Maks and the children. If we weren't as we are, probably people wouldn't come," Sonja thinks about what tipped the scale this year to become the best mountain hut. For 15 years the tenant of Lavričeva Hut is a professional cook who previously worked in nursing homes, now she pampers the visitors of the popular hut: "Already 25 years ago we introduced trout into the hut's offer, years ago as an addition also barbecue and home lunches - soup, roast, ribs, potatoes or štruklji and salad. Among desserts, flancati are a big hit!"

Her partner Maks Jerin, also the president of the Mountain Club Šentvid pri Stični, also couldn't believe the happy news: "The soul of the mountain hut is Sonja, but the whole family tries. We still have to arrange many things, but this is an obligation to try even more. The basis is that people are satisfied. I myself am all over the hill, as well as the children, who grew up in the hut and are still all involved in the work. Everything returns if you do good. The hill is made for people, for children - when you see them enjoying and exploring, your heart sings. On Gradišče, history, nature, and good offer go hand in hand, which attracts people."

Formerly a hunting hut just below the top of the hill Gradišče (519 m) above Šentvid pri Stični, it has been a mountain hut for the last 35 years, and Jerin involved in the happenings on Gradišče for four decades. "We started arranging accesses to the mountain hut, food is available even during the week, we are open all days except Monday. We try in all areas and also organize many other activities, we host sculptors, blacksmiths, various events, we will set up a hayrack under the church. We do everything ourselves, also new wooden playgrounds at this year's chainsaw sculptors festival," boasted Jerin, about the visit he said: "This year there were incredibly many foreigners, much more than usual, otherwise we have mostly local visitors, many come from Ivančna Gorica, also from the monastery in Stična, and of course families with children." The season in Lavričeva Hut is actually just starting, as warm autumn days and dry winters with inversion attract the bulk of visitors in the colder part of the year, when mountain lovers return to lower-lying mountain huts.

In the category of best mountain hut, besides the winner Lavričeva Hut on Gradišče, the top five also included (in alphabetical order) Dom na Kofcah (PD Tržič), Koča na Ljubelju, Planinski dom na Boču (PD Poljčane) and Planinski dom na Slivnici. Among high-mountain mountain huts, the winner Krekova Hut on Ratitovec was followed by (in alphabet) Kamniška koča na Kamniškem sedlu (PD Kamnik), Koča na Kriški gori (PD Križe), Koča na Planini pri Jezeru (PD LPP) and Pogačnikov dom na Kriških podih (PD Radovljica).

Users rated mountain huts by three criteria - tidiness, hospitality, and offer. For each, it was possible to assign from one to three points, to an individual mountain hut a maximum of nine points together. The points were added together and in the end the mountain huts that received the highest number of points or the highest total score won. Also in this year's selection, one user could vote only once for an individual mountain hut during the entire voting. 9,200 votes were cast, and 3,250 different visitors voted.