Drive to Yelagiri Hills

It was end of June but not typical summer for Bangalore. Despite a cool weather in Bangalore, we thought of going to Yelagiri hills just for a nice drive and family outing. Yelagiri is a very small hill station but due to short distance from Bangalore it is a good drive for outing. Most of the drive is on Chennai highway which has great road except considerable wait on toll plazas. There are number of good eateries on this road. The restaurant where we stopped was full of tourists and so we could have coffee only. From Krishnagiri we took left and drove on AH45 for next twenty kilometers. This road was again good. Then we left highway and drove on village side roads for next ten kilometers to reach a small town Ponneri which is at foothill for Yelagiri. From here drive of next ten kilometers which has fourteen hairpin bends is scenic and eye catching. Traffic on this road was not high but there were tourists vehicles stopped at haipin bends to capture the lush green beauty in their cameras. Each hairpin bend offers a different view of green valley down under it. After three hours of drive for one hundred and fifty kilometers, we reached on top of Yelagiri hills. It was ten o'clock by now and first thing we had is, a great breakfast just near to the lake entrance.

After a satisfying breakfast we went to lake. Lake was not so big but well maintained. There were number of boats and a long queue. Boating was little costly but this is the main attraction of the place. I guess lake was not so deep. We spent half an hour in lake and then we roamed around. There are some rides and well maintained park in lake premises. Kids had fun in park whereas parents went for a refreshing walk. From lake we moved towards Nature park. On road from lake to Nature park, there were numbers of  road side shops selling jack fruits and fried fishes. Nature park has good landscaping and well made scenery but still there is a miss of Midas touch in the park. Yelagiri hills is not very big but worth visiting due to its cool ambiance and less exploited as it is less popular. There are number of resorts and homestay. I knew about the good track to Swamimalai peak and Murugan temple on top but we happily skipped these as we had senior citizens in our group. After staying in Yelagiri for four hours we started our journey back for Bangalore. This time we changed our route and drove via Jolarpettai. After crossing Krishnagiri toll, we stopped at an eatery for late lunch. In next two hours we were back to home with happy moments of Yelagiri hills trip.