My Hindi Forum - Yercaud - the so-called poor man's ooty.

Yercaud is a hill station near Salem, Tamil Nadu, India in the Servarayan range of hills in the Eastern Ghats. It is at an altitude of 1515 metres (4969 feet) above the mean sea level. Yercaud hill area is also called Shevaroy Hills.

Popular as the "Poor man's Ooty", Yercaud is one of the low cost hill station destination in India.

Best Time to Visit

Just like any other hill station in the Southern India, the best time to visit yercaud is the rainy season. The natural beauty of yercaud can be best admired during a cloudy or rainy day only.

Visiting the place in summer is simply a bad idea, as the sun is unbearable during those months.

Best Places to Visit

Yercaud Lake :- Its actually a pond, but finding water at that height is itself a challenge, finding a full sized pond is simply amazing.

Killiyur Falls :- You can simply ignore this place if you don't like trekking. The source of water is actually a sewage system (yeah, I was shocked to find it out, during my trip). But the place looks nice from above, and is one of the nicest places for nature photography.

The Servaroyan Temple:- Low maintenance of the place makes it nearly useless to visit this place. But if you can forget about the fact that you are sitting near a dumpster, the place is quite enjoyable.

Green House :- It is the paradise for nature lovers. The place is filled with heavenly fragrances of innumerable varieties of flowers and spices thriving in the premises of Green house.

Pagoda Point :- This is also another vantage view point. Once upon a time a beautiful place adorned with stone built pagodas, it is now home to a huge temple. We simply gave it a miss, as we were already frustrated with the maintenance of other such vantage points.

Where to stay

When we reached Yercaud, we realised that booking in advance is a must, as there is hardly a room available in any of the resorts. We advise the same for anyone visiting yercaud. Also, good places to stay are:

Shevaroy Hotel
Grang's resort
Thendral Resort
grand Palace Hotel
Hotel Tamilnadu

Although, the cost of accomodation and food is quite high, so, considering this place as a "poor man's ooty" is wrong.

In the end, I can say, its a good place to visit only if you are living somewhere in 100km radius. Spending 5 hours in travel from bangalore to yercaud, didn't seem justified to us. Bangalorean should probably give it a miss, as visiting Nandi Hills is nearly the same experience, only a lot cheaper.