28/04/2026
This is our first time travelling to Yercaud — and that too for a resort project. Somehow that makes the journey sit differently.
Over the past three months, I’ve been moving through the hill stations of Tamil Nadu — each one with its own rhythm. But Yercaud feels quieter. Less spoken about. Almost like it doesn’t try too hard to be seen.Yercaud sits in the Shevaroy Hills, part of the Eastern Ghats — but unlike the dramatic, tourist-heavy hill stations, this one feels held back… in a good way. Historically, it grew as a plantation region during the colonial period — coffee, spices, citrus. Not as a spectacle, but as a working landscape. And you can still feel that. It’s not manicured for you. It exists, and you’re just passing through it.
Yercaud is often called the “poor man’s Ooty” — not because it’s lesser, but because it was always more accessible and less commercialised. Interestingly, it’s also one of the few hill stations in South India where coffee dominates over tea — which subtly changes the entire landscape character.
What struck me most was the vegetation. Not lush in the way we typically romanticise hills. But layered. Coffee understorey, tall silver oaks breaking the sky, pepper vines climbing quietly, occasional fruit trees tucked in. It’s productive, but still holds an ecological softness. There’s a certain restraint here — nothing is trying to be ornamental.
And then the drive.
From Salem to Yercaud — that stretch is something else. Hill drives usually come with a bit of tension. Sharpness. But this one… smooth is the word. The hairpins are there, but they flow. The gradients don’t fight you. It almost feels like the hill allows you in gently.
Our site sits on a heavily contoured patch — the kind that immediately tells you what not to do. Right now, it’s a bit dry. You can see the earth more than the green. But that also reveals the bones of the land clearly — the slopes, the runoff paths, the natural pauses. Come June–July, this will shift. Mist rolling in, softer light, cooler nights. The same land, but a completely different mood.
That’s the thing with these places.
You don’t design on them.
You wait… and then you respond!🌿💫🙌🏾
