Yercaud and around Salem

The first point we visited was the Pagoda point. It gave a very good view from a cliff. The clouds were just coming out of the valley beneath and was excellent to see. One can spend around 20 minutes in this location and enjoy the view. There is a small view tower as well here.

Next, we went to Yercaud lake - boat house. The lake is quite small when compared to other hill stations in Tamilnadu. However, the water was clean and no great rush for the boating. There are motor boats, pedal boats and row boats for rentals. We took a row boat - charging Rs.120 for a 15 minutes ride. The pedal boats are self pedalled; whereas the row boat and motor boat are driven by boatman. The ride was quite peaceful and enjoyable.

There is a park nearby the lake - Deer park and an aquarium. We visited the deer park - there is an entry fee of Rs.10 for adults and Rs.5 for children. The small park had couple of deers, peacocks and white rats. Nothing great but a good walk on a perfect weather day. Kids would like it.

Our next stop was the Servarayan temple (Shevaroy Temple). This is a small cave temple for Lord Rama near a view point. The temple is quite auspicious and the cave is believed to lead for many kms. Elder people may find it difficult to get to the temple. The view point was very nice. There is a relay station here - the highest point of Yercaud. The view point was quite picturesque too.

There is a Sri Chakra Mahameru Temple - around 7 kms from this view point. The temple closes by 12 noon. We were the last to visit this temple. The temple is quite divine and heard that special poojas are carried out on special days and there would be crowd on those days. The Sri Chakra Mahameru Temple hosts gopuram in the shape of Sri Chakra and Mahameru with the Goddess Lalitha Tripurasundari being the primary Goddess of the temple.

It was lunch time and the driver guided us to Hotel Malar - part of the Shevaroys. This is a pure vegetarian restaurant. We had meals, chapathis and fried rice. They were okay and pricing was like a budget hotel for chapthis and fried rice; however quite costly for the meals served. There are no great restaurants in Yercaud. This one is a okay restaurant.

We had booked rooms in Golden Nest. The place is closer to the lake however, the road connecting is very very bad to drive. The facility is situated on a slope and might be difficult for elder people to access. The rooms are very spacious; a front room is available with a sofa set cum bed and chairs-table setup. It also has microwave oven, electric kettle, TV and few bowls, plates and spoons. The bedroom is spacious too with a queen sized bed, TV and dressing table. The cleanliness is good; the only issue being access for elder people.

The rooms also have a great view all around from the balconies. The restaurant is on the edge of a cliff, giving a grand view for the valley beneath. The view from the cliff in late evenings and early mornings are mesmerizing. There is an open gym for play area. The food was good.

After refreshing in the rooms, we visited Ladies seat. This view point is one of the best to see in Yercaud. One gets to see the roads leading to Yercaud across the hills from this view point. The location is quite scenic and one can spend around 20-30 minutes here. There are small shops selling green pepper, the special 'kilangu' of Yercaud for knee pains and local fruits.

There is a rose garden at a distance of 200m from this point and it is quite beautiful and well maintained. The entry tickets and camera fees is quite on the higher side; however, given that it is maintained well; acceptable. They have a huge collection of roses and a treat for photographers. One can spend easily an hour at this place. It was getting dark and raining around 4:30 PM and the chillness was setting in.

Now, to wrap up the day, one of the important places to see - Kiliyur waterfalls. This is located around 4 kms from the Yercaud lake. The walk to this waterfalls requires a 200m start on a steep road (very bad road), then quite steep steel rails and steps followed by concrete steps. Though they are supported by side ways, it would be difficult for elder people to walk down and then climb up. The waterfalls is quite small but scenic. It is not a place to take bath, unless if you are particular about. Other than that, its a good place to go and be prepared for a difficult climb down and a climb-up !

The evenings were cold and required proper dressing to resist the chill breeze.

Day-2:

We checked out around 9 AM and started climbing down to Salem. We had planned few temples and Mettur dam for Day-2.

The first temple we visited was the Skandasramam. It is around 19 kms from the Salem junction near Udayapatti. This is one the five Skandasramams in the state. The temple is maintained well and quite clean. However, it is located far away from the town. We spent around 30 minutes there and moved to the next temple.

Uthumalai Balasubramanya Swamy(Murugan) Temple was the next stop, This is situated around 17 kms from Salem junction on top of a hill. The drive to the top is on quite bad roads; however it is only few minutes - a walk is very much possible. This is a small temple and quite special for the localites. This hill gives a grand view of the whole city of Salem. Given that we went on rainy day, the view was quite interesting too.

We then went to 1008 Linga temple near Vinayaka mission institutions. This temple hosts a giant Linga surrounded by 1008 lingas and few other sanithaanams of Lord Rama and Vishnu. We then visited the Kanchamalai Siddhar temple and the Lord Muruga temple on top a small hill. The Muruga temple is small and quite famous. The Kanchamalai Siddhar temple is one of the most famous temples for the city and has special poojas during no-moon days.

We had lunch at Hotel Salem Saravana Bavan and started the journey towards Mettur Dam. The dam is around 40+ kms from Salem and takes close to 1:30 hours to reach, The approach road is a single road and mostly under moving traffic. The dam was around 60 feet filled when we went. We had to take detour through the Mettur Thermal power plant to reach the park area of the dam. The view of the dam is facilitated through the Pavala Vizha Building. This building was built to commemorate 75 years of dam usage in 2005 and is 75 feet tall. There is a lift for a cost of Rs.20 per person to reach to the top of the building and have a view of the dam.

There are parks near the dam and will be closed by 5PM in evenings. We spent close to 1 hour in the dam on various views and returned back to Salem around 7 PM.

Yercaud definitely beckons one more visit.