Yercaud - Gem of Eastern Ghats. Review on Yeracaud

Yercaudis beautiful hill station in shevaroys hills, Eastern Ghats in Salem District, Tamilnadu. It is situated at a height of 1500 meters (4900 feet) above MSL. We visited this place on the long weekend comprising of Good Friday, Holi. This was my second visit to this place, reason

1. Close to Bangalore

   
   




2. Excellent climate(Not extreme cold)

   
   




3. Very few tourists so you can take your time to enjoy every place

   
   




4. Decent facilities for comfortable stay

   
   

Point 3 above was the main reason for my second visit.

How to Reach?

It is around 230 KM from Bangalore, can be less depending on the area you live. I stay in north Bangalore so its maximum for me as I had to cross the entire city and head towards south.

Nearest major city is Salem which is 35 KM from Yercaud. Salem is well connected with Rail and road transport as it is a major city in Tamilnadu. There are regular buses from Salem to Yercaud(frequency is about 15 minutes from early morning till late night). Salem is also on NH-7 which is longest running national highway in India. Same highway connects it to Bangalore. Nearest Airports are Trichy, Coimbatore and Bangalore. We started in our swift from Bangalore in the morning at 6:30 and reached there at around 1 after taking lunch break halt at Salem and one tea break at Krishnagiri. Road up to Krishnagri is excellent 4 lane road. You can maintain 100 plus KMPH on this road. From Krishnagri till Salem it is 2 lane with construction in full swing for North – South Corridor so its full of debris and heavy construction equipments. One need to be careful while driving on this road. From Salem, it’s a beautiful 2 lane well maintained Ghat road up to Yercaud. Unfortunately when we started, it was raining up to Salem so the road was muddy and traffic was moving at snail's pace at two three places. While returning, it took us 5 and half hours with two breaks, one for lunch and other for Tea.

*Distance from major towns

*Bangalore – 230 KM, Salem – 35 KM, Trichy – 163 KM, Coimbatore – 230 KM, Chennai – 350 KM

The place

*Yercaud is known for its coffee plantations. There are thousands of acres of coffee plantations in this area. Once you start climbing the Ghats from Salem, the vegetation changes from shrubs to thick bamboo and then coffee estates. Same way the climate changes from hot and humid to quite cool within 1 hour. There are not many sight seeing points unlike other hill stations but it boasts an excellent climate round the year. Rains are not heavy as it lies in the eastern Ghats unlike ooty and kodai which are in western Ghats. The flora is good, entire place is dotted with thick plants and coffee estates.

*What to see?

*Coffee estates, for the first time visitors. All estates have their own processing facility to remove the pulp from berries and dry the bean. This they happily demonstrate to the visitors.

A beautiful lake at the centre of the town. Water is very clear and boating facility is also available with ZERO waiting list. Adjoining is very clean and well maintained garden with lots of flower plants. The lake is quite picturesque surrounded by thick trees and high hills.

Few view points like lady seat, gent’s seat, children seat, pagoda point etc. These points offer excellent view of the Salem and other nearby places and are not crowded at all due to very less tourist inflow.  All places are quite clean and safe; you can enjoy excellent views for hours without any disturbance. Do not miss hot bhajiyas and coffee at the points. Also vendors serve fresh fruits. You can spend hours eating snacks watching the clouds dancing in the valley.

There are few other places like Servarayan temple, Bear’s cave, Botanical garden(which is quite good), Montfort School – very famous boarding school(need prior permission), Kiliyur falls.

There is a Flower show at Yercaud in the month of May(second week). Summers are quite good to visit as the entire town gets a cover of flowers as it is flowering season. Now also the coffee plants were full of flowers  and the entire valley was full of the fragrance of them.

*Where to stay?

*There are many hotels, resorts and estates where you can stay depending on your budget. Top end ones are hotel sky rocca, grand palace, hotel shevaroys and plenty of mid end options like grange resorts, star holidays, hotel Tamilnadu etc.

One more advantage of Yercaud is that accomodation is value for money. You get all facilities ad 30%-40% lower price than major hill stations. Also since the tourists are less so you get good customized service. The options for stay range from 500 to 5000 per day.

We opted for Star holiday resort as last time our experience was not good with regards to service at Grange resort. Resort has decent rooms and family suits and well maintained landscaped garden and a decent restaurant which gives you customized service and decent north Indian food too. They have big suits with one large living room with two sofas and one sofa cum double bed and a large bedroom in one single separate unit ensuring privacy. Each unit has two TVs with cable connection, power backup and running hot water and all basic amenities. Room service is good and staff is friendly. The charges are also pocket friendly. They have double bed rooms starting from 650 onwards and going up to 1200 plus taxes.

What to buy?

*There are few factories which produce organic beauty products, natural oils and natural perfumes. These products can be bought. Also you can get honey, good quality coffee.

There are many shops in the market plus you can get them directly from the factories.

Overall, it is a place where you can spend relaxed holidays away from city life without the disturbance from noisy tourists. Town is quite safe and people are quite friendly.