The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded the funding to Cwm Community Action Group of Betws-y-Coed to help create the Snowdonia Slate Trail.
It comes as Gwynedd council bids to secure World Heritage Site status for the region's slate villages.
The pathway, which will use existing rights of way, will also gather stories about the area's rich history.
The Snowdonia Slate Trail will start at Porth Penrhyn, near Bangor, and pass through a number of villages including Bethesda, Ffestiniog, Penmachno, Capel Curig and Betws-y-Coed.
A Snowdonia National Park Authority spokesman said: "This new route will be of benefit not only to walkers who wish to walk short distances, but also for long distance walkers, encouraging them to stay in the area over several days which in turn will be of great benefit to the local economy."
The total cost of the project is £85,000, and funding has also come from Magnox, Ffestiniog and Bethesda town councils, the Snowdonia National Park Authority's Cae Fund and the community fund in Wales.
The walkway is due to be completed in October 2017.

Local residents said they heard gunfire and several explosions but police said there were no civilian casualties.
The attack on the large compound, known as the Green Village, is the second this week targeting foreign workers.
On Monday, two Afghan security guards were killed in a Taliban attack on another Western compound.
"Four suicide bombers have been killed, there was no harm to civilians," Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Ayub Salangi told reporters.
A Taliban spokesman said the group was behind the attack.
The attackers tried to break into the Green Village by detonating a car packed with explosives at the entrance to the compound, which houses foreign contractors and security staff.
"Since the Green Village had been targeted several times in the past, the place was heavily guarded and the attackers failed to reach their intended target," Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said.
The compound was last targeted in October 2013 when a suicide bomber killed two passers-by. Another attack in 2012 killed seven guards and civilians.
Attacks on foreign workers, government officials and security forces have intensified in recent weeks as Western troops end their operations.
Last week, a suicide bomber targeted a prominent female Afghan politician, killing three civilians and wounding others in an attack on a Kabul convoy.
A week earlier, another suicide attacker entered the offices of Kabul's police chief and killed a senior officer.
The creation of a new 85-mile trail through Snowdonia has been boosted by a £53,000 grant.
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Officials in Kabul say police killed four Taliban suicide bombers during an attack on a compound housing foreign workers in the Afghan capital.