This Ugadi it was a long weekend. We decided to visit Yeracaud just a night before.. It was two couples and a baby. We planned to go by car. We could not get an online hotel booking as most of the hotels in Yeracaud do not provide online booking facility.
The drive:
We started from Bangalore around 8AM in the morning. In 20 mins we reached electronic city on hosur road. Around 2 kms of road after electronic city is not good because of flyover construction that is going on. After that the road is execellent.
After travelling for around 30 mins we stopeed on a petrol pump that has a very good restaurant attached to it.. We had our breakfast there and left after 45 mins.. After that we were constantly drving at around 80-100 Kmph.. The road is excellent and we could have easliy touch 110-120. Around 12:15 PM we reched Salem. You will have to travel through Salem city and it will take around 20-25 mins to cross Salem..
Just after Salem the hill journey starts. Its a very beautiful drive and the roads are very good for a hill station. It took around 45 mins to reach the hill top. We reached Yeracaud at 1:30 exactly 5:30 hours journey including 45 mins breakfast break and 15-20 mins tea break.
Accommodation:
The first hotel that you will find in Yeracaud is GRT group’s Sky Rocca. Its a very beautiful hotel situated on the hill slope and we really wanted to stay there but it was totally packed. We moved on and found some local hotels that were offering rooms for Rs 500 to 800 inclusive of everything.
I wanted a better place to stay and so we didn;t occupy any of those hotels. All the big hotels that offered online booking were full because of the long weekend. Finally I found one good hotel called the Shevaroys. This hotel is good but not as good as Sky Rocca.. We took two rooms each costing 1975 + 12.5% tax. The rooms are very big and beautiful .
The overall ambience is very good. They have a small plantation, a park etc.. The restaurant is good and offers tasty north indian food. I only tried north indian food so I don’ t know about the south indian food. Although I was expecting some freebies for the amount I was paying but I would say it was a good deal even otherwise.
Tourist spots:
Not many. There is a lake where you can try paddle boating.. Its actually good and I liked boating in the awesome climate. There is another place called Lady Seat. You can spend some time there. Another place called Pagoda Point offers beautiful view from the top of a hill. There is also a Kalliyur Fall. You will have to walk to reach that place. Its a very steep walk down the hill. I was the only one who dared to go down.. Its actually very risky and don’t even think of taking ladies and kids there.
Moreover its not worth the effort you put to reach there.. There was very less water and not well maintained. There is also one botanical garden but is not open on weekends and so we could not visit it.. Overall the experience was good. There are not many places to visit but you can enjoy the weather and journey. Overall its a good experience and you can actually visit this place on any weekend and no need to wait for a long weekend.