Any search of this sort involves answering 3 questions
1. Where to go ?
2. How to reach ?
3. Where to stay ?
The impending long weekend meant that most touristy places would have absolutely no accommodation available. Dipti and I went through the above list of questions for 3 places and found no accommodation.
1. Shimoga and jog falls
2. Waynad
3. Kemmangundi
We finally settled for a road trip on NH7.
We started from Bangalore on Saturday morning and headed to Hogenakkal falls. The safest route is to take Hosur Road towards electronic city, go past Attibele, Hosur, Krishnagiri and reach Dharmapuri. At Dharmapuri, you have to go under the fly over and take a right. You then continue straight on this road for about 43 Kms to reach the falls.
The best way to enjoy this place is to first walk around for a while and then take a boat ride to the main water falls. You would have to haggle with the boatmen to stike a deal. Something like Rs 500 for a coracle for a group of 6 should be reasonable. However, even if you are just 2-3 people, it might be hard to strike any better deal than this.
We spent time at the waterfall till 3 PM and then started towards Yercaud through Salem. We hadn't managed to find any accommodation in Yercaud because of the long weekend. So, we had decided to stay in Salem for the night and start early next morning to Yercaud. It was good to roam around in a new city and enjoy some good food at Saravana Bhavan. However, I would suggest the best option would be to look for accommodation in Yercaud so that you can enjoy the hill station early morning.
We started from Salem towards Yercaud around 7:30 AM the next day. Its a distance of 30KM and an hours drive. The drive was pretty scenic going through coffee plantations and we got glimpses of fog even though it was late.
Yercaud is a typical hill station in the Ooty model with some view points (Ladys seat, Gents seat, Childrens park, Pagoda point etc.), a lake with boating and a water fall (Kiliyur falls).
We spent some time at the view points, did boating and then went to the water fall.
The water fall was interesting. It is apparently formed by the Yercaud lake overflowing. To get to the falls, you need to climb down a few hundred steps into a valley. The water is extremely cold and refreshing.
After the visit to the falls, we headed back to Bangalore, stopping only for a late lunch at Salem. We covered the 200 KM from Salem to Bangalore in about 3 and half hours and reached bangalore around half past 7. The road is great but it comes at a price. The one way toll fee was Rs 228 :(
All in all, I think this route is a good option for a weekend getaway, especially during monsoons when hogenakkal falls is full.
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