Distance from Bangalore: 230 kms.
Route: Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Salem-Yercaud
Season to travel: Summer
Nearest Rail: Salem
Nearest Airport: Trichy

Yercaud is a hill station situated on Shevaroyan Hill Range in Tamilnadu. It is around 230 kms. from Bangalore and around 30 kms from Salem. It is a small, relatively unknown place and very, very peaceful. Since not many tourists haunt this place, its very serene. The main problem which for us is a big plus point is that there is nothing to ’see’ here. No museums, palaces or gardens. It’s the perfect place to spend a couple of quiet, undisturbed days with your inner self.

Day 1

Me and my husband started our journey to Yercaud at around 6 in the morning. We expected to cover the distance in 6 hours and reach Yercaud by 12, just the right time for lunch. We planned to have breakfast on the way. The journey was beautiful. The roads are Banglorish (as in bad) until Hosur. From Hosur, NH-47 is extremely good till Krishnagiri.

Once you turn towards Dharmapuri, be ready for some unexpected, really nasty potholes. This kind of road continues until Dharmapuri. From there on, the road is okay. From Salem to Yercaud, the first 15-20 kms is plain road, the last stretch of around 10 kms is the ghat section. The hairpin bends are much easier (than Ooty) and since there is not much traffic, driving on the ghat is not a big deal. The drive is good, not strenuous and the view is worth it. If you can, do drive to Yercaud instead of taking a bus.

We couldn’t find any open restaurants on the way and were forced to have breakfast in a sidey hotel in Dharmapuri. The fluffy idlis with four different varieties of chutney was good, but the coffee tasted more like juice; it was so sweet. Continuing our journey, we reached Yercaud by 1, an hour late than planned. The town was almost asleep, with hardly anybody or any vehicle on the roads. Spotting our hotel was not too difficult, considering that the town is too small. The TTDC hotel is right next to the lake and each room in this hotel have a view of the lake. This, I think, is the only reason why I decided to continue to stay here. The room was clean and more importantly, the bathroom was clean. No major cribs about the room as such, but the restaurant was awful. It was dirty, it stinked and the food was not all that good. Our evening walk revealed Hotel Shevaroy’s just a few metres away and this became our daily den for food. You get amazing food here.

The hotel itself looked decent and this is another option to stay, if you are not too keen on having a view of the lake in your room.

After the long journey, we needed some rest. We slept like logs for 2 hours and we woke up to roaring thunders. We opened the balcony door and what we saw was just amazing. It was pouring like mad and the whole lake was covered with 2-3 meters fog and it was brrr… cold.

The place was green and it was raining over the plants and the trees and the lake and it was like seeing nature in its best attire. The rain subsided as soon as it came and after a few minutes, one couldn’t believe that it rained so heavily there.

We freshened up and went for a boating in the lake. 45 minutes total and Rs.50 for a normal boat and Rs.60 for the ‘duck’ boat. Apparently, the duck boats are lighter and hence easy to paddle. We took the normal boat, went around the lake and returned the boat before time. Had a yummy plate of Tamilnadufied bhel-puri, a too-sweet tea and went for our evening stroll and came back all rejuvenated.

The next two hours were spent in the balcony, with a book in hand and the lake to stare at out if you got bored. That feeling was wonderful. You are reading something, you find the paragraph too boring or you want to turn the page, and you look up for a fraction of a second to see what’s around you and voila! you see a beautiful and calm lake which seems to be saying ‘Hey, I am giving you company’. After dinner, it was the most peaceful 8 hours of sleep we have ever had. In the midst of crickets, and the knowledge of the peaceful lake watching over us, we slept like the dead. (Not a very good simile, I know.)

Day 2

This was the sight-seeing day. We went to Rose Garden, a well maintained repository of all the rare flowers and plants you can possibly think of.

The striking observation we made is that the color of the leaves of the plants and the trees is so different from that in Bangalore. The leaves look so much livelier and healthier. I guess the pollution of Bangalore has another crime added to its committed-crimes list. They have also have a nursery there where you can pick up some plants. The officer is very friendly and he can give you free advice and tips on gardening.

Closed to the Rose Garden is a viewpoint called ‘Children’s seat’ which has a breathtaking view of the town and the hills around.
It’s so high that you can almost touch the clouds. It was peaceful and beautiful, I wish I had a book in hand. Sigh.

Two more famous view points of Yercaud are Lady’s seat and the Gent’s seat.

Both of them have really good views and Lady’s seat is especially striking in the night. Salem, Yercaud, the winding roads, the headlights of the vehicles traveling up and down, is so romantic. By 6.30, all the tourists return to their respective hotels and you have the complete ‘Lady’s seat’ to yourself. Dance the night away and the heavenly stars above and the humanly stars (town-lights and vehicle headlights) will sing for you. Do make a point to visit the Lady’s seat after the sun set. Be careful because by 7, the area around this seat is completely deserted.

After lunch at Shevaroy’s, we headed towards a waterfall ‘Kiliyuri’ waterfalls which is around 3 kms from the main town. Vehicles can’t reach the falls, so we decided to take a walk. We knew beforehand that the waterfall had absolutely no water, but we still decided to take the walk to enjoy the beauty around. It was definitely worth it. Not even a drop of water, but lot of greenery around.

Day 3

D[eparture]-Day. Had yummy idli-sambhar at Shevaroy’s and had to our fill. Started our return journey at around 10. The return journey was not very pleasant because it got hotter as we neared Bangalore. Made it to our sweet home by 4 and all’s well that ends well.

Back home, we had the lovely green memories and some green companions (plants) to remind us of the wonderful time we had there.

Other Details

Yercaud website
TTDC online reservation
Hotel Shevaroy’s (Use IE to view this site)
Sterling Resorts