Sometimes you just want to hang up your boots on a weekend... nothing but relax...
if u can drive around 220 km, then from bangalore the ideal spot would be yercaud.
the drive:
It is a fairly decent hill station. I went with my friends in a car. there were four of us. left early morning and with stoppages for breakfast, we reached in about 4.5 hours . the roads from bangalore to salem are pretty decent. there are stretches where the roads are super smooth. Some stretches around krishnagiri are not so good but then u can still drive at a decent pace. after salem it is a 40 km climb to yercaud consisting of winding roads , steep hairpin bends.....
hotels:
I have been to yercaud twice.. stayed at grand palace the first time... and sterling resorts the second time. Hotel TN provides decent food ( not so great) but the water is not really tasty . the hotels where I stayed were pretty decent. both have a view of the valleys , so if u get hold of good rooms u will be looking down the valley as u open ur eyes to have a glance outside.
places around:
there are a few points which people visit around yercaud. they are the children’s point, lions point and tiger’s point. (all these are basically valleys) . good view.. u can sit for some time and relax.
there is a garden which has quite a good scene...u can si around for some time.
there is a lake where u can boat ..it is pretty wide and enjoyable. Other than these I did not find anything much to look out for.. but then the whole idea of going there is to relax and not to roam around..!!
some of the hotels (including the one I stayed in) have provision for bonfires .It really help to sit around and beat the chill.
I still vividly remember an early afternoon scene in yercaud. We had gone to one of the valleys and parked our car at the top of the mountain( maximum dist posssible)
it was pretty sunnny and therefore we had a climb to one of the nearby spots which was around 10 m higher . Suddenly I saw the clouds coming in between two hills...it was travelling slowly... and it was really an enchanting sight to watch. gradually the whole valley was filled with clouds and as expected we were caught in the midst of rains. Completely drenched but the spirits were high... it was a sight which I still vividly remember though its been some time now.
the food was not so great at various places...so lower ur expectations..having a personal vehicle is very handy otherwise u r at the mercy of buses and autos.
overall a good place to be at...