The Top 2 Hill Stations to Visit in Salem

Salem is one of the major cities in Tamilnadu. The city has the population of 8,29,267 and has been growing for last three years. It is also the capital of Salem district. The city has the major bus stand which connects 5 top cities Bangalore, Coimbatore, Chennai, Madurai and Trichy. The bus stand is 24*7 active and always available with full of buses to all major routes in Tamilnadu.

The three nearest cities of Salem are Coimbatore, Bangalore and Trichy. All these cities lie within 200 KM distance. The Salem has a main railway junction and has connected Tamil Nadu with major cities in all over India. If you want to come to Tamilnadu anywhere from India, you can reach here anywhere from India.

Once Salem had an airport but as of now it is closed due to less response and another famous airport located within 200 KM(Coimbatore Airport). But people are expecting the airport to be get opened by the Govt soon.

1. Yercaud.

There are two options for yercaud visit. One is your own vehicle travel and the other is secondary vehicle travels. The elevation of yercaud is 1515 Meter and slightly various place to place on the hill. The hill actually comes under eastern gates.

You can reach Salem within 2 hours of travel from Salem. The distance you have to cross will be below 35KM. It will be easy for everyone to reach Yercaud. The hill spreads across the roadway of Salem Bangalore highway. When you travel to the place, you will get to see the hill on your way.

The town name has come from the lake located near the town. The name yercaud represent the Yeri+Kadu=Yercaud. In Tamil Yeri Means lake and Kadu means Forest. Once the pronunciation was differ and people were calling it as yerikadu, later the name was twisted and became yercaud.

As I told before, the elevation varies place to place. The highest peak of Yercaud is Servarayan temple having 1623M of elevation.

As usual, the hill station was found and established by British people as they need a cool place for summer vacation. The Salem collector David Cockburn helped a lot to establish a town in yercaud. He also helped people to establish tea estates in the hill. The people had started to work there, stayed there and formed a small town, and after a long time it became a famous tourist destination.

The important place here to see is National Orchidarium and botanical garden located in Yercaud. The garden has the variety of trees and plants. There are more than 3000 trees and 1500 shrubs in the garden.  

There is one speciality in mountain view of Yercaud. That is you can view the Salem town's night view from yercaud hill. It will picturesque and magnificent to see. People always get entertainment when they view something from top view.

You will get a chance to see another nature play from the hill. In monsoon, you will see a wonderful scenery of rain falling from clouds down towards earth. We have all seen rain falling from the valley but when you see that from the hill, it will look like entirely different. In not all hill stations you can get a clear view but in yercaud you can see the Salem town from the height of 1500M and also the rainfall.

The sunset in yercaud also beautiful scenery as it is different from viewing from the valley. The clouds are always embracing the mountain and sometimes you will get the chance to go through cloud. The clouds will come up from the downside of the mountain.

You might have heard a sentence “Coimbatorians go to Ooty for coffee. The same dialogue can be applied here. The yercaud is the nearest hill station to Salem.

2. Kolli Hills

This is an another interesting place in Tamilnadu near to Salem. Though it does not come under Salem district, it is yet another nearby hill station of Salem. The Kolli Hills also known as Kollimalai in Tamil. All people in Tamilnadu pronounce like this.

The hills actually come under Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu and almost very much near to Sendamangalam Taluk of Namakkal district. The hill station has an ancient history for people living there. All people are there categorised to schedule caste and given more priority.

The people have been living there for more than a many decades are now started to get the good education due to the govt effort. There are a lot of stories around there for ghost and priest who explore the place.

A lot of people have told that they have seen the ghost, priest and Kolli Hill Lady during their days in Kollimalai. Though it can be believed as rumour or something else, still people who like to travel kolli hills avoid the night travel.

Kolli Malai is famous for its Ayurvedic medicines and the food natural food cereals produced without pesticide. You know one thing, you cannot carry or sell any pesticide in Kolli hills and people living there only can buy lands there. You cannot buy anything from there.

The name Kolli Malai comes from the goddess eight hand amman who is rude in nature. That resembles killing bad souls. The Kill Tamil words are Kollu and Kollu+malai became kollimalai.  The Kolli Malai pavai has referred in Sangam Literatures. The hill was once ruled by the King Valvil Ori who was a great donor.

The elevation of the hill station is about 1000M to 1300 Meter. The road towards the top of the hill has 72 hairpin bends, and it is said to be one of dangerous hill roads in Tamil Nadu. The famous sky Ganga Falls is situated in Kolli Hills.

You can reach Salem from various cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Trichy. All these cities have international airports. After reaching those cities, bus booking is the best option for you to reach Salem. You can select a luxury bus and travel on that. Having a pleasant journey makes your tour more enjoyable.