We had planned for a weekend trip from chennai to yercaud in the 1st week of Aug09.
The best possible option by rail is to take the salem exp(1063) from chennai egmore. The 2nd best option is the yercaud exp departing from chennai central which reaches salem early in the morning.
We took the salem exp on friday evening(dep 23:30) which started on time but reached late by almost 2 hrs(schd time is 06:00 but actual time was 07:50).
There are a lot of buses departing from the station to the new salem bus stand even during the early morning hrs. The ticket costs Rs.2 and the journey takes about 10-15 mins. You need to get down on the road outside the new bus stand and walk towards the last bay inside the bus stand.
I had read in the review that there are buses to Yercaud for every 15 mins but the schedule displayed at the bus stop showed an interval of between 20-30 mins. We waited at the stop for more than 15 mins before a TNSTC bus came to the bay and it was completely full by the time it reached the stop(if you are travelling alone and capable to getting into a slowly running bus, its better to get into the bus before it enters the bus stand to improve your chances of getting a seat!)
We were unable to get a seat and waitied for the next one to come though. The next bus came in another 5 mins and was surprisingly empty. Further enquires revealed that the bus takes a long detour and it would take 3 hrs to reach Yercaud. We still decided to take the bus as the locals said the next bus to Yercaud will depart only after 45 mins.
We reached Yercaud at 11:30 after innumerable number of stops(the driver had brought along his breakfast and had halted the bus for almost 20 mins at a village to have his food!). I had booked at hotel Tamilnadu(i check the TTDC website a week before travel and no rooms were available. however, I check a day before departure and managed to get the booking done at TTDC’s chennai office). I had booked a deluxe room costing Rs.750(excl tax) and got a nice room with a balcony overlooking the lake. The hotel is located right next to the lake and if you are coming by the direct bus from Salem, you can get down right in front of this hotel(just look out for the lake bus stop).
The weather in Yercaud was hotter than expected(around 30C) though it got better during the day. The temperature dipped a bit during the night though you wouldnt really need woolens if you are travelling during the day.
We had planned for a relaxed weekend and did nothing much on the 1st day except for going on a pedal boat ride on the lake. The pedal boat ride for 1/2 hr costs Rs.70 where as a row boat(you are not allowed to row on your own) costs Rs.90. The lake was a small and clean one(supposed to be the only natural lake among the hill stations in south india but couldnt make out any difference from the artificial ones!). I had lunch at the malar hotel based on recommendations from other on MS. The veg lunch costs Rs.50 and is decent value for money. I had dinner at TTDC restaurant and the rates are quite nominal. However, you wont get any vegitarian side-dish for dinner/lunch. The staff at the hotel and restaurant are very polite and may be able to fix up additional dishes on a need basis. The hotel is mostly patronised by families and there are quite a few lake view cottages which looked great though am not sure of the view from inside.
I took a cab on the 2nd day(TTDC will arrange this on request) and paid Rs.400 for a visit to all must-see spots in Yercaud. I had asked for Kiliyur falls to be included in the list as this is usually not covered in the plan. Our visit stop was on top of Kiliyur falls. The cab driver cum guide had advised us against going down the hill to the bottom of the waterfall as the climb down the hill is quite steep. However, we still walked down for some distance before we realised that he was perfectly right. Please remember that there are no steps to go down the hill and the pathway is created by rain water flowing down the hill. If you have some amount of experience in walking down steep hills, then this should be easy for you. Caution should be exercised when climbing down the hill as not many traverse this path and there wont be any help around in case of trouble. Our next stop was the Montfort school followed by Lady, Gents and children’s seat, rose garden, pagoda point and terminating at the cave temple. The cave temple is situated at a nice elevation but you can walk only a few feet into the cave to reach the altar.
We returned back to the hotel and had lunch buffet costing Rs.50. The buffet is nothing but a standard south-indian unlimited meals package. We took rest for some time and packed our bags to get back to Salem. Once again, we had trouble in getting seats on the return journey(no frequent buses and most of the seats are occupied before the buses reach the starting point). I would recommend taking the bus from the hotel on the onward journey towards Yercaud and then return back in the same bus(most of the locals were doing this to get seats). The journey back took only an hour and we were back in Salem on time for the return train(train #1064) to Chennai Egmore.
Overall, I would say the location is good for a weekend trip.