Yercaud -- Travelogue (Cogito style)

Yercaud is a calm-quiet picturesque hill station located on Shervaroys hill ranges, with lots of coffee estates, eucalyptus and silver-oak trees.

LOCATION : Yercaud is located in Tamil Nadu at around 4000-5000 feet above sea level. It is around 30 kms from Salem and takes around 90 minutes drive from Salem. There are regular buses to Yercaud from Salem new bus junction. The nearest airports are either Bangalore (140 Kms) or Chennai (215 kms). The nearest Railway Station is Salem Railway Station.

CLIMATE : The weather in Yercaud is pleasant. Summers (April-June) are mild, while winters (November-February) are cool.

ACCOMODATION :
Budget Hotels : TNTDC, Star Hotel, and various cottages
High End : Sterling Resorts, Shervaroys

FOOD :
TNTDC Hotel : This one has a decent vegetarian hotel, and the other veg hotels are one at Udipi hotel near the Yercuad bus stand and one at Shervaroys.

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS :
Yercaud Lake : Located right at the center of the hill-station, it has both pedal and row boats, maintained by TNTDC.
Shervaroys Temple : Located at the top most point of the hills. The main dieties are Cauvery amman and Shervaroyappan. The priest maintains that there is a tunnel behind the dieties, that goes all the way to Thalacauvery temple in Coorg.
Botanical garden : This one is open during the weekends, mainly used by botanical students. This garden has a wide variety of herbs. A delight for those who have an in interest in botany.
Ladies Seat : This one gives a panaromic view of Salem Town. The name came after this view was frequented by a English lady during pre-independence days.
Gents Seat : Yercaud;s menfolk, wanted a seat of their own, so they made one for their own.
Rose Garden : This one has a wide variety of roses.
Estates: The whole hill station is filled with private estates. The estates generally grow Coffee, Silver-oak, Eucalyptus, Black pepper, "Kamla" Orange. For those who like "Narasus" coffee, the coffee comes from Yercaud, they have their own estate here.
Garden right across the Lake : This one has a Japanese style garden, don't miss this one.
Montfort School : A convent school, which has students from all over Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. Apparently actor Vikram studied here for a while.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES/TRAVEL TIPS : For those who would like to unwind themselves during the weekend, this is a perfect spot. If you are lucky as i was, the whole place would be totally misty and ethereal. Within yercaud you can take two tracel packages, one which covers the closeby tourist spots. This one would cost around 350. There is one more package which takes you on the Link road(around 38 kms). This costs around 450. Through this trip you can cover the various cofee estates and picturesque views of the hill ranges. I would suggest you not to miss this. The season here is during April/May, other months are off-season. Please bring in Cameras & Binoculars and a woolen shawl/sweater during winters. Enjoy the morning walks and treks. Just like any other hill-station, you can get variety of scents, lotions, honey etc, etc, be careful where you buy the stuff. Even if you buy stuff, buy in small quantities. As per our driver, most of the townfolk's would know the number of tourist who are staying in Yercaud at one given time.