The chalet stands just below the summit of the 1796-meter high Veliki Snežnik – the highest peak of the Snežnik massif. In 1958, the Ilirska Bistrica Mountaineering Association took over the former military observatory at the top of Mount Snežnik and built a mountain shelter that opened in 1961. Later, additional premises were added. In 1977, they began to enlarge and renovate the shelter, and the present chalet opened its doors in 1994.

The view from Veliki Snežnik is unparalleled. In the northeast are Kočevski Rog, Gorjanci, Medvednica and Ivanščica. In the east, we can see Klek. In the southeast, the view extends across Mala Kapela and Gorski Kotar to the Kvarner bay with the Cres island. In the south, beyond the valley of the Reka river and Brkini, the entire Istrian peninsula can be seen – all the way from Učka to the western Istrian coastline. In the southwest, there is Mount Slavnik, and the Dolomites can be seen in the west, with the Carnic, Zilja Alps and the Julian Alps with Triglav glimmering on the horizon. To the north, the view reaches the Karavanke, Kamnik Alps and Pohorje, and very close below lie the Loka Valley, Lake Cerknica, and the Bloke Plateau. On a clear night, you can see the lights flickering on the shores of the Kvarner bay, the the Brijuni Archipelago coastline stretching all the way to Portorož, Piran and Koper, and the landscape dropping from Tržič all the way to the Venetian lagoons.