Yelagiri Travelogue - A Weekend Trip from Chennai
We traveled to Yelagiri from Chennai during one of the weekends in July. During my research about the places to visit in Yelagiri and things to do, I came to the conclusion that there is not much to do in Yelagiri. So, as many colleagues suggested we first booked a good resort to stay and decided to have quality family time.
We stayed in Treebo Trend Laa Gardenia Resort and were surprised to find that it was actually a two-bedroom villa. The main thing for booking the resort was to have access to the swimming pool. So after taking a break, we hit the swimming pool. Since the other guests were yet to arrive we had the pool all to ourselves.
After the swim with growling tummies, we went exploring for food options in Yelagiri. Our resort didn't have an in - house restaurant and we had to inform them beforehand if we wanted food. Now getting good food in Yelagiri is a task in itself. We had lunch in Peter's Park - not very great but just fine.
Fundera Bird Park, Yelagiri
After lunch, we headed straight to Fundera Bird Park. Now a little about the park - It is one of the main attractions in Yelagiri. They offer you two packages - the first package includes Petting, Aviary, and 7D for Rs. 250/ person and the second package includes Petting, Aviary, 7D, Fish Spa, Mini Golf and a Pony ride for Rs. 450/ person.We took the first package and went inside. Now if your kids are used to farm and farm animals, then it might not be very exciting to them. But still, you get to see different varieties of cocks, birds, guinea pigs, colorful chicks, goats, rabbits, cows, etc. They also allow you to put them under their watchful eyes. And yes they had donkeys also (This was the first time my kids saw donkeys).
Next is the Aviary - the most exciting part of the park. We were allowed inside a bird enclosure where the birds fly freely. You have a lot of exotic varieties of Macaws, parrots, etc. They will give you seeds and the birds come near you to eat the seeds. Now a word of caution here, if you are going with kids, it would be better if they don't open their palms and feed the Macaws. Those birds are huge and heavy and their claws can injure your kids. As you go through the Aviary you do find small varieties of birds which the kids can feed. This Aviary experience was the best we had and was completely new to us.
After this, we went to the 7D show. We were the only four people there for the show and to add some drama, we shouted and screamed during the show. Not a great one but kind of ok.
From Fundera Bird park we headed to our next stop - Punganoor Lake Park
Punganoor Lake Park
This lake cum park is another popular attraction of Yelagiri. It is an artificial lake that offers boating facilities. So after playing in the park (which was not in very good shape), we went for boating as a most tourist coming to Yelagiri do. There are rowboats which they will row for us or we can choose the pedal boats. We took the pedal boat and thankfully the weather was good, so could enjoy the beautiful Yelagiri lake. Once out of the boat, the kids again went to the park for another round of play.
From the park, we headed straight to our resort. On the way was Murugan Temple, but we skipped it. (If you plan to visit the temple, you can easily squeeze it in your itinerary, the view from the top is very beautiful it seems). Once back at the resort, it was again swimming (my kids know how to make the most out of the resort). After a round of football, it was dinner time (our resort arranged the dinner as we had informed them earlier). The night in Yelagiri was a little cooler when compared to the sizzling Chennai, so we took a small stroll and then called it a day.
Day 2
Even though Yelagiri is considered to be a hill station, it's not very cold. So the first thing my kids did was to hit the pool AGAIN. So after the last swimming session, we had our breakfast ( breakfast was on the house and was a typical South Indian breakfast- absolutely delicious) and packed our bags. After checking out, we went to one last place, an adventure park (Yelagiri is filled with adventure parks and you can't miss it). When we enquired about the adventure park, the resort manager suggested Thrill Valley.
Thrill Valley
Now this Thrill Valley adventure park is a bit far from the Yelagiri town. Also, the last stretch of the road is in a bad condition and is an adventure of its own. The highlight of this park is that it has a parallel zip - line activity and also the zip- line is very long and high. In my understanding, most of the adventure parks offer the same activities for more or less the same price. We took the package that included the Zipline, Obstacle course, Zorbing, Kids ATV, Trampoline and some free games(most of the free games were completely useless so that is why it is called Free). This package was for Rs 500, but you can mix and match, add or subtract activities to it.
This took up more than 2 hours to finish and we wanted to start our return journey as soon as possible. So after a quick lunch, we were on our way back home ( since the kids had school the next day we didn't want to get late).
All in all a great weekend and another place ticked off from our bucket list.
Few things to note if you are planning to go to Yeagiri.
Do not go with very high expectation. It's not great as Ooty or Kodaikanal but a peaceful place to spend a weekend. There are not many places to see in Yelagri, so I would suggest you take a good resort to stay in. Most of the resorts in Yelagiri has a pool and facilities for outdoor activities. Yelagiri also is filled with Adventure parks, so you can surely try that. We did miss Trekking to Swami Malai Hills as we were not very sure if our kids could do up and down the hills(also they prefer water to mountains). You can also plan a trip to Jalagampari waterfalls, but do enquire if there is water or else it will be a complete waste.
So here is a list of places that you could consider visiting if you plan to go to Yelagiri:
1. Punganoor Lake
2. Nature Park
3. Fundera Bird Park
4. Adventure Park (plenty to choose from)
5. Murugan Temple
6. Swamimalai Hills (for trekking enthusiasts)
7. Jalagamparai Waterfalls (do enquire about the water situation before going)
8.Telescope Observatory (we totally missed this place)
