Croatia to upgrade 884 kilometres of hiking trails and 23 mountain facilities
- by croatiaweek
- in News
Graficar mountain hut – Zagreb (Photo:Julien Duval/Zagreb Tourist Board)
ZAGREB, 15 September 2026 (Hina) – The Croatian Mountaineering Association (HPS) plans to upgrade 23 mountain facilities and 230 registered hiking trails across Croatia over 2026 and 2027, covering almost 884 kilometres of trails.
The total investment will exceed €220,000, with funding going towards materials, equipment, maintenance and fieldwork.
The HPS Executive Board has approved a procurement plan covering the necessary construction materials, tools and equipment.
Of the funding, €110,000 secured through an agreement between the HPS and the Ministry of Tourism and Sport will be used to upgrade 15 mountain facilities. A further €60,000 from membership fees will fund improvements at another eight facilities.
The first allocation will cover work at the Bitorajka, Babino and Jakob Mihelčić mountain shelters, as well as the Umberto Girometta, Lipa, Sveti Gaudent, Promina and Željezničar mountain lodges.
Work is also planned at the Sveti Jure, Majer, Belecgrad, Jančarica, Na Strahinjčici and Anin vrh mountain huts.
(Photo: Šime Modrić/Zagreb Tourist Board)
Planned improvements include replacing exterior joinery, repairing roofs, upgrading sanitary facilities and installing or improving water filtration systems.
Membership fee funding will support work at the Zlatko Prgin, Šugarska duliba and Vjetar s Dinare shelters, the Omanovac, Lipa and Sveti Jakov lodges, and the Podglogovik and Dragutin Hirc mountain huts.
The programme was developed based on requests submitted by mountaineering associations following an HPS call issued in July.
A total of 65 associations submitted requests for hiking trail improvements, while 30 sought funding for upgrades to mountain facilities.
As a result, 230 registered hiking trails with a combined length of 883.62 kilometres have been selected for work.
(Photo: Šime Modrić/Zagreb Tourist Board)
Most materials, tools and equipment, including standardised hiking trail signs, will be delivered directly by suppliers to the relevant mountaineering associations. Higher-value tools will also be available to associations on loan from the HPS headquarters.
A further €54,200 has been allocated to cover fieldwork costs.
Croatia’s mountain infrastructure extends across all of the country’s mountainous regions. There are currently 163 mountain lodges, huts and shelters in operation, managed by the HPS, mountaineering associations and clubs.
(Photo: Šime Modrić/Zagreb Tourist Board)
The wider hiking network includes around 7,800 kilometres of marked trails maintained by the HPS and its member associations.
The Croatian mountaineering community currently comprises 340 associations, with more than 43,500 individual members organised through the HPS.
