Best time to visit : October to June (Moderate temperature, low humidity)
Yercaud, also known as the ‘Jewel of the South’, is a picturesque hill station situated on the Shevaroy Hills of the Eastern Ghats in Tamil Nadu. Due to the presence of a beautiful lake situated in the heart of the city surrounded by thick forest, Yercaud got its name which literally means the ‘Lake Forest’ in Tamil language. Since the temperature at this place never falls to extremes, it is an ideal tourist place to visit anytime of the year. With the growing popularity of Yercaud, it is now regarded as one of the best tourist destinations in South India where you can enjoy a peaceful vacation away from the hustle bustle of today’s crowded cities.
Facts
Though Yercaud is a small hill town, it provides ample opportunities to its tourists to enjoy its scenic beauty. Beautiful landscapes, lakes and waterfalls attract a lot of tourists every year to this place. As it is not much commercialized yet and is comparatively cheaper to Ooty and Kodaikanal, it is also regarded as ‘Poor Man’s Ooty’.
As Yercaud is a small town situated in the Southern part of India, all the restaurants and hotels here serve lip-smacking vegetarian and non-vegetarian South Indian food. The Sri Sarvana Bhavan Restaurant at Yercaud offers excellent authentic vegetarian South Indian food.
The Orange Restaurant at the Hotel Grand Palace offers excellent North Indian, Chinese and Continental food options. To enjoy drinks and snacks, you can visit the Cloud 9 restaurant of the Grand Palace hotel which offers drinks with free snacks accompanied with excellent ambience and music.
When in Yercaud, do give a try to the capsicum fries and the egg bondas sold by the streetside vendors near the lake.
Yercaud itself is not a town where you can indulge into exclusive shopping but you can stop by for textile and handloom fabrics at Salem Markets on your way to Yercaud. You can also buy fresh spices such as cloves and pepper here. Since Yercaud is famous for its coffee plantations, getting some coffee beans from Yercaud would be a good shopping option. Taking some natural and herbal oils, Sandalwood and Teakwood gift items for friends and relatives from here would be a great gifting idea.
Nearby Places:
- Arappaleeswarar Temple dedicated to lord Shiva, located on top of the Kolli Hills in Eastern Ghats. This temple is around 1400 years old and is a famous pilgrimage site.
- Salem, located a distance of around 30 km. from Yercaud is an industrial town famous for its steel industry and hosts many tourist attractions.
- Rock Fort at Namakkal, a town situated at a distance of around 80 km from Yercaud. The fort is situated on top of a hillock covering 1.5 acres of flat land surface. This is the fort where Tipu Sultan hid himself from Britishers. Also, there are two rock cut cave temples in Namakkal which tourists can visit. The town of Namakkal is also famous for building bodies of trucks, trailers, tankers and other heavy vehicles.
- Sangameswarar temple in Erode district is considered to be a very sacred pilgrimage site in South India. This temple is situated at the confluence of River Bhavani and Kaveri.