Parking below tower - Rudnica (above Podčetrtek) (short circular path with Zavetišče Šmarnica)

Access to the starting point:
When you arrive in Podčetrtek, turn right at the roundabout for the centre and immediately at the next roundabout continue straight towards the centre. Pass the municipal building on the left and the school on the right. Pass the church on the left and head up the steep hill (where the Race across Slovenia takes place), keeping to the left side. When the road flattens out, you will see a parking lot on the right and a little beyond, on the left, a signpost for the Tower of Health and Joy. Follow the asphalt winding road all the way. After a while the asphalt turns into a macadam road, which you follow until you reach a parking area where you will see the sign Poni Ranch.

Path description:
This video shows a short route through Rudnica. The route starts at the Ogrizek Pony Ranch parking lot. We head towards the more challenging path leading to the Tower of Health and Joy on Rudnica. We make the climb up to the tower, where the view at the top rewards all our efforts. From the tower, we continue down the valley in the opposite direction from where we came. At the crossroads, you can choose whether to visit the Šmarnica shelter or to turn right and follow the easy path back to the parking lot (in this case, you will have shortened the route by more than 1 km). In our case, we will take the path to the left towards the Šmarnica shelter. Here you will again have wonderful views during the year, and on weekends you can have a drink or a snack in the shelter itself. Here again you can decide on the length of the route itself. If you turn right downhill, you will reach a road and follow it to the parking lot (the route is extended by about 1 km on an easy flat path. In our example, we have used the road back to the shelter to show how to get there. At the turnoff to the tower, keep on this road and after a few metres descend to the lower road coming from the slight extension. After about 500 metres, we reached a parking lot where we parked the car. The route shown is 3 km long and 110 m of total ascent.
A video of the route can be found at: https://youtu. be/yrPvplDpJLM All other attractions and routes are available on the VISIT RUDNICA facebook and instagram pages. You can use @visitrudnica in your social media stories or leave the hashtag #visitrudnica under the pictures so that everyone can admire your views and highlights from your trip.

On the way: Stolp zdravja in veselja na Rudnici (620m)

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