Yercaud trip

Two hours of planning for the entire trip on a Friday for a weekend trip to Yercaud. Trip was a farewell to a couple of colleagues who are quitting to pursue their MBAs.

Yercaud, 380 Kms from Chennai, poor man’s Ooty (Poor man’s Shimla) was chosen for one Saroja level trip with 6 guys. We rented a Toyota Innova from Carzonrent. Very good experience, a brand new vehicle, 8K+ kms, good suspension. This ended up being a better experience than taking our own cars and comes at almost same cost. Impressed!

The Chennai->Ulundurpet->Salem->Yercaud is national highway and is better to travel than Thiruvanamalai route or Krishnagiri route. 7 tolls on the road and it is worth paying for the quality of roads where you can easily clock 150km per hour speed.

At Yercaud, we stayed at KC Hotels (1AC room, 1Tv, Washroom) near the Yercaud Lake (center point) for Rs.1100 per night. This works better than the posh resorts or hotels if it is going to be a 1 night stay. Best experience was the day 1 dinner buffet for Rs.650 at GRT Nature Trails SkyRocca. Value for money food, good variety and great service. We visited Karadiyur view point, Shevaroyan temple (highest point at Yercaud) on Day 1 evening  and Kiliyur falls and pagoda point on day 2. The Trek downhill and rock climbing at Kiliyur was a fabulous and tiring experience. Day 2 breakfast at Eggeterian was perfect for the insatiable hunger after tiresome walk back uphill. On our return,we descended the famous 21 hairpin bends of Yercaud and finished our Lunch at GRT Grand Estancia Salem. Repeat customer at GRT!

Fabulous weekend and a welcome break from work schedule to spend time with people and nature. All expenses dutched, it comes to Rs.4000-5000 per head. Yercaud experience could work even better if you visit on a trekking or cycling expedition than just as a weekend trip for Chennai/Bangalore folks.