Salem to Yercaud Taxi

Salem to Yercaud Taxi — the 20-Hairpin Climb

Yercaud sits in the Shevaroy Hills at roughly 1,500 metres, and the road up from Salem is short enough to surprise people. It is barely 30 km, but almost half of that is ghat road with twenty numbered hairpin bends, so the drive takes an hour to an hour and a half rather than the forty minutes the distance suggests. That is the single most useful thing to know when planning the day: budget by time, not by kilometres.

What the fare covers on a hill run

This is a hill-station route, so the fare table on this page adds the flat ghat surcharge on top of the per-kilometre rate — one charge for the climb, shown as its own line rather than buried in a higher per-km figure. A hill climb is harder on a vehicle than the same distance of highway: first and second gear most of the way up, brakes working continuously on the way down, and fuel consumption well above the flat-road average. Quoting it openly is how we avoid the surprise-at-the-end conversation.

Starting from Salem

Pickup is anywhere in Salem — Salem Junction railway station, the new bus stand, Fairlands, Hasthampatti, Ammapet, or a home address. Salem is a working city of steel, textiles and sago rather than a tourist town, so most people booking this taxi are either heading up for a weekend or coming off a train and going straight to a resort. Both work; tell us the train number if you are arriving and the driver will wait for the actual arrival, not the scheduled one.

The ghat road itself

The bends are numbered, which makes them a landmark system of their own — a lot of the viewpoints and tea stalls are described by which loop they sit near. There is a well-known stop partway up where the whole Salem plain opens out below, and on a clear morning you can see the city grid from it. If anyone in the car is prone to travel sickness, the front seat and a slow driver make more difference here than anywhere else on our network; say so at booking and we will pass it on.

What people go up for

The lake at the centre of town is the usual first stop, with boating and a walking path around it. Pagoda Point and Lady's Seat are the two viewpoints most visitors reach, both looking out over the plains, and both best in the early morning before the haze builds. Kiliyur Falls is worth the walk after the monsoon and underwhelming in a dry month, which is worth checking before you plan around it. The Shevaroyan temple sits at the highest point of the range and draws a large crowd during its annual festival.

The hills are planted with coffee, oranges, jackfruit and silver oak, and small estates sell their own coffee and orange produce along the road. Yercaud is often called the poor man's Ooty, which undersells it — it is quieter, noticeably less commercial, and mild rather than cold, so it suits a trip where you want hill air without a two-day drive to reach it.

When to go

Yercaud is comfortable most of the year and never gets properly cold, which is why it works as an off-season hill trip when Ooty and Kodaikanal are full. The summer festival in May is the busiest week of the year; rooms and the road both fill up. The monsoon months bring the falls to life but also mist on the ghat, which slows the climb further. February and March are the easy months.

Coming back down, and round trips

Because the climb is short, many bookings on this route are round trips rather than one-way drops — the driver waits while you spend the day up top and brings you back the same evening. That usually costs less than two separate one-way runs and means you are not hunting for a return cab at a hill stand at dusk. If you want a one-way drop instead, that is fine too; just say which at booking so we quote the right one.