Visiting Yelagiri - Tamilnadu Tourism - Hill stations

Visit Yelegiri (don't confuse with Yercaud, another popular tourist spot in Tamil Nadu, India) before it becomes too popular! This is the advice I can give you, based on our family’s recent visit (1^st week end of October 2009) to Yelagiri hills which we enjoyed thoroughly. The tourist potential of Yelagiri is being acknowledged now, and more and more sight- seeing and crowd-pulling facilities are getting added every day. About 2 to 3 days of stay will be good enough to visit the regular tourist spots, to relax and unwind at the cozy climate and also do a bit of adventure seeking in the form of trekking.

Where is Yelagiri?

Yelagiri is in Tamil Nadu state (India) near the leather town Vaniambadi (some 27 km), Jolarpettai Railyway station (about 20 km) and from Tiruppattur (about 27 km). If you are coming from Chennai, you have to take the road from Vaniambadi to Tiruppattur and somewhere midway, take the left turn to reach the hill road. The long hill, practically flat at the top, with be prominently visible amidst other hills in the surroundings as you cross Vaniambadi. From Chennai to Yelagiri the distance is 233 km and from Bangalore, it is closer –145 km

Yelagiri is not a popular tourist spot found in the South India Holiday Packages like Ooty, Kodaikanak, Munnar, Yecaud etc. I would say, that's the attraction of Yelagiri and I would definitely recommend newly weds to include Yelagiri in their Honeymoon travel destinations.

The road up the hill is about 13 km long and is very smooth and well maintained. Each hair pin bend is named with popular Tamil poets and names off Tamil literature (Kari, Ori, Kapilar, Pari and so on). Yelagiri hills is situated at a height of 1050 meters (3500 feet) above Mean Sea Level and the temperature there ranges from 31 degree C max to 11 degree C minimum in summer; 28 degree C maximum to 11 degree minimum in winter. So, while you cannot expect a cool climate similar to Ooty or Kodaikanal (the other two popular hill stations in Tamil Nadu), Elagiri is good enough for those from the places like Chennai where the local climate ranges almost within hot-hotter-hottest range right through the year!

Based on the strong recommendations of a relative who had visited Elagiri earlier, we had advance-booked our accommodation at Madhura Resorts (Ph:04179-295451) and it proved to be one of the best things we had done. With lots of free space around, a well maintained lawn studded with a wide variety of flower plants, a mini rose Garden, and extremely cordial staff, the resort was well suited to our temperament to relax and rejuvenate ourselves. For those interested in Ayurvedic therapies, the resort offers the service at Gandhi Nature Cure Centre located in its premises.

This resort is in Athanavur, at a stone throw distance from the Tourist Information Centre of Elagiri. It is also at walkable distance from the Punganur Boat Club and the NaturePark.

Now coming to the “popular” sight seeing spots at Yelagiri Hills.

The Punganur lake

The Punganur lake, spread over about 57000 square meters is a nice place for enjoying boat riding. Both pedaling and rowing boats are available for rent. A not-so-cleanly maintained park surrounds the lake with plenty of trees, children play area and cemented walk way all around for the benefit of walkers and joggers. Do not forget to take the steel ladder to take you atop a massive tree where a 8x8 wooden platform with safe hand rails is there to take a panoramic view of the entire lake and the beautiful surroundings.

If you visit at week ends, you have to have the patience of waiting in the queue to get your turn for boat rides.

The NaturePark

A worth place to visit. The nature park is very well maintained and it is studded with plenty of varieties of trees, well laid out walk ways, many beautifully lighted fountains, flower gardens, artificial water falls, a fish aquarium and so on. An attraction for the evening is the musical fountains (daily show at 7:00 PM) inside the park. For the first timers for music fountains it might be quite impressive, but for those who might have seen it at BrindavanGardens or at new Delhi, there is nothing new.

A statuary warning!: Any correlation between the music and the rhythm played during the show and the myriad plays of the fountain flow and the lighting effects is purely accidental and never intentional!

The park is crowded during week ends; we visited the part a second time on a Monday and the entire sprawling complex of the park was exclusively made available for the enjoyment of the four of our family only!

Nilavur Lake and Park

It’s too much to call the huge pond at Nilavur a lake! The water was muddy. But as we went on a Monday Morning, the place was virtually deserted and we had the privilege of the entire complex “leased out” to the four in our family!

We took a boat ride, roamed around the part adjacent to it and took plenty of useless photographs. We were told that an Adventure Park is under construction adjacent to the park where facilities for mountaineering and similar thrill-sports are in the offing.

The other tourist spots include (that we did not visit) MuruganTemple (behind Lake), Telescopic House (at the end of Hill Road), etc.

Trekking at Yelagiri Hills – Don’t miss if you are hale and healthy

TouristInformation Center at Yelagiri offers you assistance in undertaking trekking at Yelagiri hills. There are several options available to you and they are:

1) Information Center to Sunset point (Koosi Kuttai) – 2 km

2) Puthur to Perumadu Water Falls – 3 km

3) Mangalam to Swamimalai (Sunrise point) – 4 km

4) Nilavur to Ammankuttai (View point) – 3.5 km

5) Nilavur to Jalagamparai (6 km)

6) Kottaiyoor to Pulichaakuttai (Ponds) – Natural forest – 3 km

7) YMCA to Karadiparai (View point) – 2 km

We had the pleasure of enjoying the first two trekking in the above list, viz the visit to Sunset Point in the evening and the visit to Perumadu falls in the morning.

The former was breezy, without any strain. The sun-set point gave a breathtaking view of the surrounding towns (Vaniambadi etc) and landscape and a serene view of the sun set in the evening. It’s a nice place to take pictures of hilly and green surroundings.

The second one, the visit to the Perumadu falls was more taxing but also more thrilling. I have posted a separate Hub elaborating the trekking experience to the Perumadu falls and photos taken there.

The Jalagamparai Falls at down hills

The same water we saw at Perumadu falls goes further down to reach the bottom of Elagiri Hills and ends up as Jalagamparai falls at the rear side of the hills. For those who cannot undertake trekking, a clean and comfortable motorable road is available at the foott of the hills to visit Jalagamparai.

After bidding good bye to Yelagiri hills, we visited the Jalagamparai falls too in our car. After descending from the hills, you have to take the road to Tiruppathur via Jolarpettai. As you enter Tiruppattur, you have to take a road towards left that takes you via beautiful country side around the Elagiri hills to the back side of the hills (about 20 km). You can park the car very near to the spot and walk up a few steps to reach the Jalagamparai falls.

Due to ease of accessibility, Jalagamparai attracts a lot more visitors and consequently the place is quite dirty, with lots of the inescapable plastic litters all around. As we had visited Perumadu falls and enjoyed bath in a cleaner, naturual and un-crowded atmosphere, we did not find Jalagamparai as attractive as Perumadu falls. But, for the first time visitors to Jalagamparai, the falls may be quite inviting to take bath.

If you can take a couple of days off during week days, a visit to Yelagiri will be quite enjoyable and refreshing, while week ends may be slightly crowded. You may be able to get accommodation in hotels on the spot if you go during week days. But its will be safer if you do advance booking.

A few words of caution in visiting Yelagiri

Since crowds are seasonal, there are not much of restaurants available at Elagiri. There are no exclusive vegetarian restaurants. Quality of food in restaurants is substandard. Hotels and resorts too do not offer anything to outsiders if you visit beyond lunch or dinner time. Fortunately, in Madhura Resorts, only vegetarian food is served, that too based on prior order. After roaming around for exclusive vegetarian lunch on the first day, we learnt a bitter lesson and made sure to order food at our resort itself. The food was very nice, homely and served with courtesy there.

While going for trekking, take your food / breakfast pre-packed and carry with you. You will not be able to get anything en route. Take plenty of drinking water with you wherever you go.

For more information:

Tourist Information center, Yelagiri : 04179-295101 Mobile: 97869 58374

Madhura Resorts : 04179-295451 (Chennai: 28151159, 9840544894)

Hotel Yatri Nivas, Yelagiri – 295100

Hotel Landmark , Yelagiri - 295410

Hotel Yelagiri – 245236