May 06, 2009 01:11 PM
5588 Views
We visited Yercaud in May and decided to stay at the Hotel Sky Roca, a 3- star hotel, owned by the GRT group. The hotel is officially named GRT Nature Trails. The hotel is located at the 20th hair pin bend just 2 kms before Yercaud town and lake. Our main reason for choosing this hotel was the fantastic view and the ambience this hotel had to offer. Being a 3-star hotel, naturally everything is priced high. But when you compare it to other places, the rates are value for money (Rs.3500/-, in the off-season there would be a 1000/- discount) .
Ambience is good, the front office staff are very courteous and helpful. Check in was smoothly done and shown to our room. The Valley view rooms have a balcony with a lawn and a sit out. You can get a magnificient view of the Shevaroys mountain range from your sit out. This is the best part of the entire hotel stay. It is worth splurging on a star hotel for this view alone. You can sit and watch the hills, you can watch monkeys play in the tress below and you can see the ghat roads far away, where you can see the vehicles driving in. And at night, you get a great view of the city of Salem with its lights on.
The maintenance of the hotel is great, room maintenance is good, there is a mini bar, DVD player, room heater(for winter) in the room. Housekeeping is prompt and all staff have a great customer friendly attitude.
The main feature of Hotel Sky Roca is the Sky Walk. When you go to the terrace, you see a lawn and a sit out with benches. Connecting the terrace with the restaurant is a bridge with wooden planks and a part of the bridge is made entirely of glass. You get a thrill, when you walk over the glass section and can see the valley below and you get a feeling of doing a tight rope walk mid-air. Youo wont get tired walking over this bridge any number of times. And don't worry, the highest safety standards are in place.
Other attractions at the hotel are:
1) A library with books, computers with internet facility (though the connection was done because of a BSNL problem) and DVD's of movies (only Tamil movies though!)
2) The hotel has thoughtfully provided cycles at the entrance for kids to have an enjoyable time.
3) There is a indoor play area, where you can sit with your family and play Scrabble, Chess, Carrom or any of the other board games.
4) Just sitting out on the terrace is itself a great attraction
5) There is a tree house in the adjoining plot, where you can enjoy the evening breeze in the sit out.
6) The elevator with glass walls allows you to get a great view as you move up to the terrace.
The restaurant of the hotel is called Salem Heights. Breakfast is complimentary and the hotel provides a vast breakfast buffet. Buffet is available for lunch too, but as in all star hotels are overpriced (Rs.275 + taxes). But the only downside is service, which is not upto the mark. Service time for al-a-carte orders is very slow. And the food taste also is just average. That is the only downside of this hotel.
If you want to enjoy a relaxing vacation at Yercaud, then Sky Roca is the place to go. Yercaud is not a very costly place, so the money you can save on other expenses can be splurged here. Overall, a great experience, which I would recommend to others.
