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-   -   Quick Getaway - Yercaud (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/45865-quick-getaway-yercaud.html)

:D13th September was a milestone in my life, and we decided to celebrate it differently, this time. We wanted to go to someplace outside Bangalore and given the short time available, the choices were limited - East(Horsely Hills ), West( Mysore, bandipur, Nagarhole, coorg ), North( hmmm... hyderabad was too far ! ), so South we went ------- to Yercaud.

Yercaud was always on our todo list, but we did not find a good enough occassion. This time around, it suited our requirements perfectly - Idlyic place, not very touristy and can be reached in less than 5hrs. We wanted to goto a place which did *not* have much to do, so we could spend time in the hotel, and relax.

Then starts the selection of hotels. Again due to last minute decision, Hotel Grand, the defaut choice did not have rooms. Good for us. We did not hear much about sterling, Shevaroys, Thendril etc., so did not look at these. In hindsight, these were not easily accessible, that too with my huge truck. Good for us again.

To ab kya karen ? We had almost given up on this trip, when we chanced upon Hotel SkyRoca. Chalo review dekho on the net, and surprise, surprise we found excellent reviews of the place, so went ahead and booked.

Wanna know how this place looks ?

View of the hotel from Lady's Seat


Sky Bridge


Sky Bridge at Night


The property is now part of GRT Nature Trails. Is less than a year old, and has wonderfully quaint rooms with equally intriguing names - Panorama, Gardenia, Vista, RoyalSuite and Niche. The Niche rooms have a glass floor that gives you a view of the valley.

The sky bridge and the rooftop provide great views of the Salem City. The restaurant apty named Salem Heights, gives equally panoramic views of the valley. Book a table by the glass wall in the evening to enjoy a truly wonderful evening, or book the bridge and have a cosy dinner on the bridge.

A view of Salem at Night.


Clouds passing by


Sunset from Lady's Seat


Moon playing hide-n-seek


Inspired by the recent photos in the 'non-auto image' thread :) here is a Flower at the Rose Garden. And I have a 'kite' photo too! Soaring in the sky.:D Not posting it here though!




Now some car stuff:

Ride : Tata Safari 2.2 Dicor, Silverado.
Driving time: 5hours door to door, including 15min chai break.

Distance : Same as it was before when others on t-bhp went there!:D

Road condition: Road works going on between Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri. 2 lane single carriage way after Dharmapuri for some distance.

While coming back we missed the diversion at Dharmapuri to NH7 and got routed via Royakatti ?? to Hosur town. The road was pretty good, drive very scenic, we encountered some really heavy rain that made it even more enjoyable.

All in all, a very good, quick getaway from Bangalore. The hotel service was too good, and for a change the food too was good. Carry your own drink and tipple up in the room.

As the other Safari guys on the forum say it - 'Yercaud reclaimed'

Now thats a good writeup. So "reclaiming" fever started again. The hotel does look great and that skywalk, nice.
The picture of the salem from top shows us the height you were in Yercaud.
The Royakotai route is good, only issue is with those trucks. Seems you were lucky enough to not have any.

Nice crisp travelogue and great photos, could you share the mode of booking the room and the tariffs?
Regards,
Hari.

Hari,

I booked directly with the hotel. Their Website is: The Sky Roca Now they're part of GRT, so you can book thru GRT as well.

Interestingly, there is a Club Mahindra property - Lake Forest also in Y'caud.

cheers!
Srini

Nice pics and good write up. Were there any discounts on room rates. Looks to be on upper side. ;-)

Didnt expect Yercaud to have hotels/view like this. Was a nice writeup.

Some of us are thinking of having our next TBHP meet at Yercaud :D

Hey nice pics, nice hotel too. This was not there when i visited there in Apr06.

Looks like yercaud is becoming richer with time, no more a poor man's ooty now. The prices looks quite expensive compared to say Grand palace. Did you get any discount? How was the ambience of this place compared to the price?

Abhi

Nice Write up smsrini..esp the use of hindi in the middle of your writeup..:)

Well, the prices are high for Yercaud, but the hotel is 'jara hatke', so is worth it. Discounts ?

Good place that you been to SmSrini.

How was the food at this place, or do you have to go out to get good food?

And, any photos of your beast?

Well,It did happen to me also.I think while coming back , some how, you are put on the road to Rayakottai and hence there is every chance that you will miss the Dharmapuri route.I remember seeing the point where the road joins the normal BLR-SALEM route on my way up but while coming back, I couldn't find it.

Its newly built. This hotel is quite before the yercaud town limits, while going it comes to your right and is apprx 1-2 kms before the lake.

Been to Yercaud on Septemebr 1st to 3rd. Saw Sky Roca - nice place. Could not check much since I was booked with Sterling Resorts(nothing good to write home about them). Sky Roca seems to be quite attractive and expensive from outside.

Checked Club Mahindras resort - Lake Forest restaurant. Biriyanis were good. But is Yercaud that expensive? Felt the rates are similar to bangalore.

Spent three days at Yercaud, nice and calm place. Loved every bit of the place. I wish to write a travelogue with some pictures, the place demands one. Loop road, the view points, the place has a beauty of its own. Most important - it was less crowded.

I drove to Yercaud from Pondicherry, through the Villiupuram, Attur, Salem route. The highway NH45 is being made 4 line, hence at many places the deviations were troubling the drive. At ulundur pettai took deviation to Kallakurichi, chinna salem ,attur road. This road is bad, no potholes, but rough patches - so a very rough drive. Attur Salem was ok. Took 5 hours from Pondi to reach Salem. Roughly 190-200Km. From Salem it took an hour to reach Yercaud.

Way back to Bangalore - I got lost. At some point a diversion in NH put me through a road via rayakottai to Hosur and reached Hosur without taking the NH. At some stretches the road was being repaired, and was single lane. But traffic was manageable. With family around I was little worried as I was driving this road in the night. Had a GPS from Satguide and Road maps from Lonely planet - helped me quite a lot.

Good that you missed Sky Roca. It's over-priced, and does not provide even basics like hot water! I also went into a diversion, and landed up on SH17 instead of NH7 on the way back. A lot of diversions on the NH7 road!!

Sterling Resorts Yercaud was even pathetic. Every time you want to go out you have to climb very high steps. Lift never works. Very Damp rooms and unhealthy food. Had to go out always to eat. Found Club Mahindras Lake Forest Restaurant to be good for Biriyanis.