[scopriobharath]

I had been to Yelagiri Hills between August 11th to 13th and am pinning down my experience.

The trivial Q: Is Yelagiri a one-day or a two-day visit location? My Take is this - It all depends on each individual. Some prefer a single day, I prefer to spend two full days there. I was traveling with my spouse and a child son, so I preferred a less hectic drive and a more leisurely trip.

Office pressure was building up and I needed someplace to break that monotony. I wasn't in a mood to drive too long and yet wanted to visit some place that I haven't been. After a quick search narrowed down to Yelagiri and Horsely hills. There isn't much to do at horsely hills and adding to that it would be impossible to manage my restless child, so gave horsley hills a miss and narrowed down upon Yelagiri. Looked out for accommodation and Sterling Marigold ridge was decided as it was safe for the family. The best prices were available on Aug 11th - 13th, so this date was selected. We got two night for a total of 3700/- (1750/- per night).

Our ride for this trip was our trusted 10 year old Santro Xing. Fast forward to Aug 11th, we started by 9:15 from Velachery. We took the standard route Porur --> Poonamallee -> Sriperumbudur -> Vellore -> Vaniyambadi -> Ponneri -> Yelagiri. I could have taken the Tambaram manimangalam, but I wanted to try the Fastag at sriperumbudur (was my first time), so took this longer route. The journey was uneventful and pretty much standard fare till Vaniyambadi. We stopped after the third toll plaza for some bites. We were disappointed with the food quality but nevertheless, we carried our journey on.

After crossing vaniyambadi, there is a signboard which says Tirupattur, to the left. We took that left and headed straight till we get a market type of town. At that place, take left and its 14 kms to Yelagiri from there. Roads are very good and nothing to complain about. Since we've driven extensively in ooty, yercaud, kolli-malai and other hills, it was very very easy to reach yelagiri. We used GPS to locate Sterling but its pretty much easy to locate Sterling. Its bang on the main road.

Review on Sterling:
If you are used to other Sterlings and club mahindras, trust me you will be disappointed. yes you read it right - you will be 200% disappointed with service, facilities, parking and food variety. The rooms are maybe upto other Sterlings, but other facilities not so much. Their restaurant is just a 50 seater and with almost a compulsory Buffet. The waiter clearly tell that ala-carte would take minimum of 45 mins, so almost forcing you into eating the buffet. Even the buffet is standard fare and nothing great or to write home about. The first day buffet was pathetic. The gravy items and dal were watery and the "fry" starter was tooo salty.

Now coming to Parking: The hotel compound can hardly accommodate 10 hatches / sub-compact sedans. Even MUVs and SUVs would have a tight fit. However, one can park along the compound wall outside their premises, but its risky from an enthusiasts perspective. There is no security outside, but just verbal assurances that nothing would happen.

We Reached Sterling by 1:00 pm and promptly checked in on arrival. We were given a nice room. All rooms in sterling, open to the mountains on one side and the swimming pool on the door side. That's nice. As mentioned above, we were almost forced to have that pathetic lunch buffet. We ate there, as we were too tired and damn hungry to go on and hunt places.

Boathouse and attached park:
We came back to the room after lunch and went to the boating lake. Rs 20/- is the parking fee for parking under a tree. No choice but paid up. Walked down to the boating lake ticket counter (takes around 7-10 mins) and purchased ticket for row-boat. Paid around 100 I guess for a 30 minute round trip. They have a boatman for row-boat and self row option is not available. Pedal boats are available for RS 180/- for 30 mins per boat (Seats 4).


Nature Park / Garden:
There is a kids park/garden attached to the boathouse with slide, climbing frame, see-saw, merry-go-round etc. the maintenance I very very average and most equipment is rusted. We spent about an hour in total and then came out and visited the nature park, bang opposite to the boat-house road. It is a kind on garden with various plants and trees and flowers. There is nothing much do, unless one is interested to look at plants and flowers. There are good spots to take photographs though.

We came back to the resort by 6:00 pm and explored the resort. We took some photos and spent sometime at the play area, which had carom, table-tennis, chess, octa carom and shuttle. by 8:30 they opened up a disco in the TT room. THe songs were average and wasn't really anything great. They were just average collection of songs and there was absolutely no bass. We danced for about thirty minutes and then had dinner. It was the same buffet option (we took a lunch + Dinner package for 900 ish per head). Again the variety, taste, options, service is nothing to write home about.

Resort Roaming:
On Tuesday morning, we go up and had breakfast. Then took rest for about an hour in the room and then went to the swimming pool. The good thing is that its big and pretty much swimmable and the bad news is that there is a waterfall, which would be switched on inly with a minimum strength of 6 people. Secondly, the water is a bit cold, so might inconvenience some. We just spent about two hours at the pool and went back to the room, took bath and spent some time at the games room.

We left the resort early and headed out to a adventure zone (thrill valley). Head on the boat house road and take a left. It is a straight road from there. The options are really really bad, except for fowlong boat for children. Avoid the ATV ride, ATV is not at all maintained. It is very tight to maneuver.

We decided to hunt for lunch outside. There are very very few options and we preferred a pure veg outlet . There was a hotel near the resort itself (ambalal resort), but when we reached by 1:00 pm, they had closed their kitchen. We went to Landmark hotel, which looked like a huge resort, but even that kitchen was closed too. Tourist spot and kitchen closing by 1:00 pm don't go too well together. With no option left, we came back to sterling for lunch and had the buffet.

View of the lake while boating


The boat-jetty / house in the background


Walking path around the boat house.


View of Yelagiri Hills from the boating lake


another view


The trail leading to a government guest house


Boat jetty at the far end


Dual-slide for children at the boating park


Merry go around


Benches to relax


Other facilities like in the park


Playing in the park


Swing and Garden


Another merry-go-round


Some jail like setting


Flower garden, opposite to boat house road


artificial bridge and river created inside the flower garden


Mini Aquarium inside the garden


Rocky plains setting


Pathway to other flowering zones


A nice plant but spoilt by people


More garden


Another rock setting


Fowlong boat for children (safe - water depth is hardly 3 feet)


Fowlong boat in another color


View of the forest from the adventure zone


View from the balcony of Sterling


Bouncing on the trampoline

[scopriobharath]

After about an hour's rest, we went to the boating again and spent some time. My child son likes boating very much. We again did the same boating (row boat). IT was a little better and calmer as the crowds weren't there. We were the only person in the boating lake. We then took a short walk on the path, around the lake. My son started telling lets get back to resort, lets get back resort. So we wound up the walk and went towards the resort. We decided to explore the road that went ahead of the resort and just kept driving for a couple of kms.

We came back to the resort, spent time at the games room again and had dinner at the resort itself.

The next day, we checked out the hotel at around 10:00 am and headed towards Jalagamparai falls. Since we have a child, we decided to go with the road option via jolarpettai.

There are some temples around Yelagiri (Murugan temple and Siva Temple) but we didn't visit the same.

Yelagiri --> head down-hill --> at the junction take left --> head straight towards jolarpettai --> After passing tirupatur, take left where there is a board mentioning jalagamparai (on Madavalam Road).

The above route is short but roads are narrow and pathetic. There is an alternative route, albeit a little circuitous but roads are much much better. The additional distance is compensated by the higher speeds you could drive at. The route is head straight after tirupattur --> at Gandhipet take left --> at Madavalam take left and its a straight road from there to Jalagamparai.

We paid Rs 20/- as that panchayat parking charge and walked upto the falls. It is hardly a 7-10 mins walk with steps all the way, except the last ten meters or so. There are changing rooms but very very basic (no door and very dirty). Use them only if you are comfortable. I used them and changed into swimming shorts and took bath. Spent about 30 mins and came back to the car. We drove back to Chennai and the drive was pretty much uneventful. As Always, the Fastag worked like a charm everytime.

Photos of Sterling Marigold Ridge:

Artificial Waterfall, Adult Swimming pool and child pool


Tattoo Zone


Zorbing ball


table games


Kids art work area


Regular Carom


Hexa Carom


Chess


Board Games & Jigsaw puzzles


Archery & Badminton/Shuttle cock


Front view of pool


Cycling


Table Tennis


DJ Equipment


Exercise cycle


Archery


Thrill valley adventure park


Bouncing Trampoline


Lawn to rest


A Lush green farm before Sterling resort (when coming from boat house)

[ampere]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[skdking]

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

....

Review on Sterling:
If you are used to other Sterlings and club mahindras, trust me you will be disappointed. yes you read it right - you will be 200% disappointed with service, facilities, parking and food variety. The rooms are maybe upto other Sterlings, but other facilities not so much. Their restaurant is just a 50 seater and with almost a compulsory Buffet. The waiter clearly tell that ala-carte would take minimum of 45 mins, so almost forcing you into eating the buffet. Even the buffet is standard fare and nothing great or to write home about. The first day buffet was pathetic. The gravy items and dal were watery and the "fry" starter was tooo salty.
...

Nice log. Kudos.

BTW what were the charges for the resort?

[scopriobharath]

Originally Posted by skdking

Nice log. Kudos.

BTW what were the charges for the resort?

thank you so much

We got a price of 3500 per night (but there was an offer for buy 1 night get one night free) on one of the travel portals (cleartrip). So effectively, it was 1750/- per night approx. for accommodation and complementary breakfast for a family of two adults and one child.

[shuk]

Planning Yelagiri Hills purely leisurely trip on 01-Nov. Any suggestion would be much appreciated.