Green Yercaud

Green roses

Look at me

Don't ask my age

two threes are six

not a rose!

Pitcher plant

Hills, clouds and peace

Yercaud Lake

Yercaud Village

Trip to Yercaud

We were two families and when we set out for a small picnic to Yercaud we didn’t expect to see much there. We were glad; we and our children would have each other for company. Poor man’s Ooty, nothing much to see there, it is not even a hill station; these were some of the comments that we got before we set out on our trip. What we got to see there was much more than what we had imagined; simple yet captivating.

Yercaud is located on the Shevaroy hills of the Eastern Ghats in Northern Tamil Nadu. Previously known as Yeri-kaadu meaning lake-forest in Tamil, the name was rounded off to sound better by the British as Yercaud.

We took the route Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Salem – Yercaud. Total distance 222 km.

Day 1

We left at around 7.30 in the morning, had breakfast in one of the A1 plazas run by Reliance (very good service, neat and well maintained). Salem to Yercaud the final 27 km was cooler and more pleasant. The roads were recently tarred so it seemed with not a single pot hole along the way. There were 20 hairpin bends, with each bend the visual treats getting better. And all along the monkeys were there to receive us or were they waiting for some goodies from us?

At 1.30pm we reached our resort. We had lunch, had good rest and took a stroll in the evening. The resort was near the Lady’s seat. The place was frequented an English Lady in the evenings, during the British era, to view the breathtaking scenery from there and from then on the name stuck to the point. Evening set in quickly, Yercaud is east of Bangalore and by 6 it was almost dark. Salem city was getting lighted and within 15 minutes the entire area was full of specks of light. It was as if we were viewing the star lit sky below us!

Our children had their warm head gears on, so we strolled around for some more time, had tea from a road side stall, chatted and chatted, had a light dinner and walked back to our rooms. The view from the room’s balcony and the cool breeze made us linger on for some more time. I was filling my eyes to the brim with the sight, because once back to Bangalore it will be the ‘routine ragda’.

Day 2

What to say of the scenic view, early in the morning from the room’s balcony? It is as if you wake up to see a sweet dream!




We left for a four hour sightseeing trip in a mini van (part of the package from resort) with a guide. The first stop was at Montfort School which was established in 1917. A huge and attractive school with very big play grounds, swimming pool and beautiful gardens. The wall beside the main entrance gate had many faces sculpted on it. They were of great people right from Shakespeare to C V Raman. We had to be satisfied with what we saw from outside, since it is open to public only on Sundays. Nagesh Kukunoor had shot one of his movies here, we were told.

Next we were at the pagoda point. It gets the name from three pagoda like structures made from piles of stones. There stood a small temple too. The Yercaud town has 64 villages and some of them were visible from this point. We spent some time here soaking in the misty view of the hills across.






From there we hopped on to the highest point at 5326 ft. Again spectacular view and we kept clicking, capturing the sights from every angle possible. Enroute we saw a bauxite mine. Mining has been halted there, instead a small children’s park is coming up. Not a single tree around wonder if the project will be successful.




The Servarayan temple is located here. The belief is Lord Servarayan resides here with his consort Kaveri. The locals of Yercaud revere the deity as the protector of all the villages of Yercaud. The temple is basically a cave and one has to creep through to reach the idols. Kneeling down one can see the tunnel extending beyond those idols. It is a long tunnel we were told, extending till Talakaveri in Karnataka. No photography permitted inside.


The drive to these sightseeing points was equally memorable. Both sides of road were lined with coffee plants, silver oak trees and other tall trees with pepper plants creeping on them and orange plants. The orange plants were laden with small sized unripe oranges. The guide suggested we visit Yercaud in December again to see them all ripe and orange in color!

The last halt was at the Horticultural research center. I am glad we made that halt. There among the wild collection of rare plants and orchids were the Pitcher plants enclosed in a big iron cage. Thanks to the digital camera I carried, we could capture some close up pictures of the plant. Children were thrilled to see the plant real! They were praying hard a fly would sit on it and the plant would shut its lid! We hung around for some time too in that hope, but there was not a single fly around. Some of the orchids and rare flowers were in full bloom. I enjoyed every moment clicking close-ups of them.

Orchid Flower

Pitcher Plant

After lunch, we headed for the Kiliyur falls, but we had to abandon halfway. There was a very narrow trail downhill; we could hear the roaring sounds from down below in the woods. Wrong timing! Shadows had started growing longer, the fear of return uphill climb in the darkness made us call off the trip. :(



No picnic experience can be complete without a boat ride. We had a good 20 to 25 minutes ride in the pedal boats in the Yercaud Lake. The view of the lake is good no doubt, the view from the lake is even better! The lake is lined with tall trees all around, beyond the trees were the blue hills and beyond them the blue sky.

Day 3

We packed up for the return trip. One last glance from the balcony and we were on our way back! We spent some time in rose garden.

The drive down to Salem city was smooth. We packed lunch from the A1 Plaza at Omalur and took the diversion to Mettur Dam. We reached the Stanley Reservoir one of the largest fishing reservoirs of South India. We would have had the lunch there had not some of the employees there told us we have to drive 4kms further to reach the actual dam.


The roads were good; we finally reached the Mettur Dam. It is one of the oldest in India with a total length of 1700meters, we had read. “Oh! It is just like the one we see in our books!” screamed the children on seeing the dam. A good park and hills around, and we found plenty of locals holidaying there.

After lunch we drove non-stop to Bangalore.