[MDED]

A friend of mine has booked a decent resort at Yercaud and I am planning to drive from Besant Nagar. The trip is scheduled during republic day holidays.
I second what ampere has to say regarding NH till Krishnagiri, as the roads are in supreme condition after Ranjeet till Krishnagiri junction. I work at a bank at sriperumbudur and daily travel from Besant Nagar via Manapakkam, Poonamallee Bypass, Nazarathpet. The roads are not even from Porur signal as the entire signal is in a mess owing to the under construction ROB and further till Poonamallee reckless and senseless folks will be driving in a stupid manner. Not to forget the carelessness exhibited by MTC drivers. So to all those folks who are planning a short weekend gateway, please start early around 5 to 6 AM and you can cross first toll at Sriperumbudur in an hour or so and from Ranipet till Krishnagiri drive is breeze.

[BenjiRoss]

I did Vellore - Yercaud and back last week.
On the climb up, Google asked me to take a left well before Salem. A few km in and I slowly regretted this. The climb up was terrible roads - broken, narrow, no traffic, dry and isolated.
This is the route that google showed me from the turn-off:


These video clips will show a bit of how bad the roads were - some good scenery and sections though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dc-qAEfzo8

The drive down was through the Salem route - a bit longer, but the Ghat road was way better!!
Here are a few clips from the downhill drive:

[keshav1426]

Hello Guys

I am travelling to Yercaud from chennai by the 3rd week of August . I would like to know if the route other than Vellore is good interms of road conditions ?My starting point is Medavakkam and i would like to avoid Vandalur route due to the ongoing bridge construction. So please suggest the best route available interms of time and road condition. Also the weather condition in yercaud would help. Thanks in Advance

[hajaar]

Hello Folks,

We are going on a vacation to Yercaud from Chennai next week.

Google suggests the following route - please see the pic. Is this route fine or should I approach Yercaud from a different direction?

[arulpeem]

This route is good since you avoid getting into Salem town.
Which part of Chennai will be you leaving from

[hajaar]

Originally Posted by arulpeem

This route is good since you avoid getting into Salem town.
Which part of Chennai will be you leaving from

Thanks. I heard some people say that the Kuppanur-Yercaud ghat road is a bit narrow and desolate.

I will be leaving Chennai via GST road.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by hajaar

We are going on a vacation to Yercaud from Chennai next week.

The Kuppanur route can be taken. Couple of notes:

- Have your GPS handy. The exit at Kuppanur is not easy to spot. Its looks like some bylane which can be easily missed. (Well thats how it used to look. Dont know if its still the same.)
- The road used to be good but narrow and desolate. There is hardly anyone on this road. And you should be careful at corners as the scope to cross-over is less. (Lets also take a second confirmation on status of the ghat. Since I have not driven on this for long, it would be good, if others can chip in with the status.)
- That apart its all good. Makes a nice drive though.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by hajaar

Google suggests the following route - please see the pic. Is this route fine or should I approach Yercaud from a different direction?

If this route avoids Salem town then I would suggest this. I had gone to Yercaud couple of weeks back and Salem town was really crowded thanks to the flyover construction. It really slowed us down. But once we entered the ghat section, it was all good.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by hajaar

We are going on a vacation to Yercaud from Chennai next week.

I think TBHPian Ddrive had taken this route few years back, I remember seeing a post from him while I was checking for the route couple of years back.

[arulpeem]

Originally Posted by hajaar

Thanks. I heard some people say that the Kuppanur-Yercaud ghat road is a bit narrow and desolate.
I will be leaving Chennai via GST road.

I take this road often and the last time was two months back. The shoulders have been widened and the road is in a good condition. It is still narrower than the main one from Salem. It is not as desolate as it was a few years back.Therefore you do not have to be worried much. Some parts of the road 10Km road leading to Kuppanur from the turn off from the highway is not that great, but only for short stretches.

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by hajaar

Thanks. I heard some people say that the Kuppanur-Yercaud ghat road is a bit narrow and desolate.

Many years ago (atleast 5), I had done this route, only difference was that I had approached the kuppanur turn off from the north (SH from tiruppattur,harur). Yes, it was desolate (definitely wont be as much now) - except the occasional TNSTC bus and some construction truck, there was absolutely NIL traffic and the views were beautiful. Lots of photo ops. If during daytime, absolutely nothing to fear, rest assured. THe climb is ~25kms and will take 45m to 1hr to do sedately.

[Gannu_1]

We had been to Yercaud last weekend and took the Vilippuram - Ulundurpet - Kalakurichi route during the onward journey and the Dharmapuri - Krishnagiri - Vellore route during the return drive.

The former is shorter and the 4-laned road keeps merging into 2-lanes often but is good for the most part. Fastag works on all booths. The road that ascends towards Yercaud is however a little narrow and in some stretches, just one vehicle can pass through. We saw a few trucks going through this route. It is a little desolate too. Google's map guidance is perfect. We started from Chennai (Porur) around 5 AM and reached our resort at Yercaud by 11:30 AM, after a tea and breakfast break.

The other usual route from the Salem city side is better but due to the elevated road/flyover construction in the town, there are diversions and slow moving traffic once you descend down.

[ThilakNex]

Here is the latest update on Salem to Yercaud ghat stretch.

http://youtu.be/prtX5NOk4jE

[ndinesh]

This thread is not updated for 3 years now. Can anyone share latest info/update on the Chennai - Yercaud route?

[praveen_v]

Originally Posted by ndinesh

This thread is not updated for 3 years now. Can anyone share latest info/update on the Chennai - Yercaud route?

Hi, we made the trip few weeks back and took the Chennai - Ulundurpet - salem - yercaud route. Route till ulundurpet is great. Till chengalpet there will be day traffic which can be avoided with an early start. After that till ulundurpet can be covered quickly.

After ulundurpet, while the roads are good, it becomes a 2 lane road every now and then and this slows down progress. To add to this they have installed bollards throughout to prevent going to the opposite lane to overtake. This causes a train of vehicles stuck behind a slow moving vehicle for a few Kms and a lot of impatient drivers try antics like going through the bollard, trying to overtake off-road from the left etc. Apart from this 2 lane stretches, rest of the distance can be covered quick and roads are good throughout.

Once we neared Salem, we avoided the kuppanur route, which seems to be google maps favourite for some reason and mostly desolated. Instead we chose the route via salem which is the better option. We took the right to cuddalore road just before salem town and this takes through Kamala hospital and cherry road on to the main salem-yercaud road which is better. This goes through part of the salem town and apart from one road which was dug up for some work and was single lane, rest of the route was smooth and not much traffic. There are multiple routes through Salem town and mostly all join back in cherry road which then leads to the main ghats.

Once we reached the main Ghats via hasthampatti the climb up to yercaud was good and roads are bit wider than 2 lane for most part but in very few places it got a bit narrow almost single lane. And few places had road expansion work going on but 95% of the climb was on good broad roads. Overall can be covered in 6-7hrs with moderate speed 90-100kmph and breakfast and lunch breaks. Can reach Yerecaud itself for lunch with a very early morning start.

Once you cross Ulundurpet, there are no major food stops and most are small hotels. The next major hotel complex is A2B/KFC/Junior Kuppanna that is just before Athur and can be fully crowded during peak lunch hours.