[Peets]

Hi Everyone,

I`m back from a dream drive to Yercaud over the last weekend and here`s to share the details with you folks.

Total distance covered: 508 Kms
Vehicle: Tata Indigo CS LX
Fuel: Diesel (Indian Oil XtraMile)
Mileage: 19 Km/Litre (50% of the distance with the AC on)
Stay: Hotel Grand Palace Resort & Spa.
Route: Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Salem - Yercaud.
Toll: Electronics city (Rs. 40), Attibele (Rs. 25), Krishnagiri (Rs. 53), Dharmapuri (Rs. 66), Yercaud (Rs. 20)

Started at about 8am on Saturday 9th October with my wife and took the outer ring road towards silk board. Fuelled at the Indian Oil station near HSR layout and soon found myself on the expressway towards electronics city. Since it was a weekend ther wasnt much traffic and hence managed to cross electronics city rather quickly after paying the toll at the end of the expressway. Once i was on NH7, i found a fair bit of traffic, mostly trucks. Paid the toll at Attibele and drove along as the roads looked a little less busy once i crossed Hosur..soon i was cruising at speeds in excess of 100 Kmph and in what seemed quite a short while we were at Krishnagiri. Paid the toll once again and took the straight road heading towards Salem and viola, the traffic suddenly looked a lot lesser (i guess most of the traffic goes towards Chennai after Krishnagiri) and the roads were brilliant (noted that they were maintained by L&T). Raised my windows up and with the AC on and my wife playing her favourite numbers, i was enjoying myself and could easily maintain speeds of 100-110 Kmph and soon crossed Dharmapuri as well. As we were nearing Salem we found a patch with frequent road bumps (probably owing to the rather steep slope downwards) soon we were entering Salem.

At the entry to Salem i was not too sure of the by pass and hence stopped to ask a passer by for directions who directed us through the city. After the zoom till Salem i seemed to find the traffic in Salem city quite irritating (for a moment i forgot that i drive in Bangalore!!). Managed to get through Salem city and was then driving up the ghats to Yercaud. Manouvering the 20 hairpins was fun.

We were atop the Yercaud hill in about 45 minutes or so. Found our way to Grand Palace which if i am right is the highest among the other resorts at Yercaud. Checked in and then stopped by the restaurant to feast on what was a real sumptious lunch with a drink to go with it. The food at the hotel was amazing all along. Spent the evening sitting on the lawns and gazing into the quiet valley. The ambience was so serene and peaceful that i wished i had planned a longer holiday. But before i could realize a day was gone by and i found myself driving down the hill back to our very own Bengaluru with the monday blues already beginning to creep into my mind.

In my opinion: Excellent road condition (worth the toll you pay) and a good get away for a day or two.

Cheers.
Peets.

[ampere]

The hotel looks like Grand Palace. Good start.

[kannan666]

@ampere - Me thinks it's both the start as well as the end ! Nice but very short travelogue Peets, how about some more pics from you and some more details about Grand Palace for a restart ?

[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by kannan666

@ampere - Me thinks it's both the start as well as the end ! Nice but very short travelogue Peets, how about some more pics from you and some more details about Grand Palace for a restart ?

I don't know if that hotel has changed a wee bit from my last visit in 2007 or so. Their food was lousie and so was their service.Claims to be a 3 star hotel though.

Going by peets opinion methinks they should have re-vamped.

[ampere]

Here are some from mine. I was there at that the place for a new year.
For the new year night, food seemed to be OK!

Some snaps of the hotel.






Tried to capture sunset from the Balcony.

[Anandg]

This hotel, though the only sensible resort, apart from club mahindra, looks gorgeous at night with all lights lit. The view of the lake is amazing. And the Mist visits it more often. We had food there but not quite upto taste if the crowd is less. But is good as compared to nothing you get in city! This hotel also has big Pub and Dance floor. Good if you go with many friends there. But advance booking is recommended as this is the only good hotel, rest all in the city are very badly maintained and have that fungus smell all over.

[rajakumar]

Originally Posted by Peets

Hi Everyone,

Toll: Electronics city (Rs. 40), Attibele (Rs. 25), Krishnagiri (Rs. 53), Dharmapuri (Rs. 66), Yercaud (Rs. 20)

As we were nearing Salem we found a patch with frequent road bumps (probably owing to the rather steep slope downwards) soon we were entering Salem.

Toll at Krishnagiri was 25Rs one way. Not sure whether it got increased recently. Similarly the toll at Dharmapuri was 48Rs one way and got increased to 66Rs.

The region you are referring to is Thoppur ghat section. There are 7 to 8 humps on that section to prevent people from over-speeding on a downhill. The humps are numbered similar to the hairpin bends.

[joe1980]

Even I was there at that Hotel in the year 2007. It was a pleasant stay indeed. Yercaud is a silent place and is definitely worth a visit.

[mkh]

Might be somewhat debatable, but this hotel is not getting as many good reviews as before. We have some friends too who have mentioned about its deteriorating standards.
There are a couple of good places in Yercaud
Lake Forest- V nice place
Shevaroys- Decent, not that great
GRT Nature Trails- Sky Rocca- THE BEST and the most expensive

Not sure about recent experiences on the following
Sterling Resort
Grange Resort

Would like to know if someone has experience on budget accomodation, which are good enough? Something like Rs 2-2.5K per day with buffet breakfast?

[ampere]

My stay was decent (2009 Jan 1). The new year food was good
(Not sure how was the non-veg ones).

But OK for a decent experience over all. No complaints though.

[Peets]

On request of Kannan666 here are some more details or my opinion of Grand Palace.

I found the room at Grand Palace pretty clean and decent. If i were to get really picky, the only two problems with the room were that the power fails quite often at Yercaud and so it takes a minute before their generator gets switched on and takes over. The other point is that you find some beetles and other creatures creeping into the room in the late evening and night through the closed windows. but these two points are something you can expect in a place like Yercaud. The quality of the food was very good. A couple of points on the food that you need to be aware, the food is extremely spicy and so you will need to specifically mention LOW SPICE for each dish that you order and that sets it right. Secondly dont commit the mistake of ordering fish out here. I ordered a Fish tikka and it wasnt good so didnt eat much of it. What i really appreciated was that when the guy cleaning the table noticed that we hadnt eaten the fish, the steward brought me a feed back form with the bill and asked me to mention why we had returned the fish tikka. That shows that they are making consious efforts to maintain consistent food quality.

On the stay options, i spoke to a few of my friends and colleagues and the top two hotels would be Sky Roca and Grand Palace. But you have to book well in advance. I booked almost a month and a half in advance and managed to get Grand Palace for 2.5 K per night. Sky Roca was already costing 5-6K per night at that time!

Cheers.
Peets.

[deepakhon]

I was there, at this very same hotel during Ganesha festival holidays. The stay was quite good. It was quite misty during evenings, and I loved that. My daughter enjoyed it a lot.