Soak up the rustic charm BUT avoid Hotel Hills. Review on Yelagiri

Route: Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Vaniyambadi -Ponneri - Yelagiri Hills

From Bangalore to Krishnagiri, on NH7 it's about 97km from the slikboard junction in Bangalore. The road is nice but at places tend to have slow traffic due to big trucks and state buses blocking both lanes. After the toll tax at Krishnagiri, go about 2km and watch out for signs towards Vellore/Chennai. Get on to NH 46 going to vellore/chennai. This road, at most places is a 3-lane(each way) highway and very very wellmaintained. You have to go about 72km on this road towards vaniyambadi. After crossing the toll, near vaniyambadi, go about 3 km and take the ramp towards your left. Signboards are there for Yelagiri. The ramp takes a u-turn thru the NH-46 underpass and goes towards Tirupatthur. You have to go about 8km, before you'll find a circle and a road leading to yelagiri on your left. Go straight up the hilock on this road and most of the hotels are on this road itself.

Weather: I went during April-May time. It was pretty hot! Bangalore was probably cooler than this place.

Activity: None! That's the beauty. Soak up nature. Nothing too great about the view or the man-made lake aka pond! But just walking on the small roads near the vally view point is a bliss. No sound during day time, except for birds and insects!

Food and lodging: I stayed at Hotel Hills. This hotel was recommended at every website that had something to say about Yelagiri. I checked out deluxe and super deluxe both(Rate Rs.1500/2000/3000 for deluxe/super deluxe/royal suite) - same room size, only super deluxe has a fridge. Very small room, clean but very poorly designed. No asthetics at all. Bathroom was ok. The beds are horrible. The mattress is too thin and it hurts your back! 14" TV in room! All in all, it's twice as much overpriced. Food at the Diana restaurant was average. Staff are very helpfull though. Good thing about this place is, it has lot of things for entertainment, if you are going with kids. It also has a open air theater. They play only Tamil or movies dubbed in Tamil. Another advantage is that the lake is walking distance from Hotel hills.

I would suggest hotels other than Hotel Hills. Taj Gardens(Very close to the final hairpin bend on your right), Sterling Resort(After crossing Hotel Hils, on your right) or O' Nila Resort(on the same road, keep going for about another 1.5km).

I chose to avoid rainbow resort based on other user reviews. If you can negotiate a 40-50% discount, I would suggest Hotel Hills. Otherwise go for Taj Gardens(not of Taj group) or Sterling.

To summarize my experience, it was a nice and relaxing weekend as the drive was also not taxing at all on me and my car! So enjoy your stay but don't expect a grand view or scenic getaway.