Once was a bustling trade centre with waterways as the main thoroughfare, it is now more a tourist spot than a trade centre, having shifted the foreign trade to the nearby Cochin, which has modern sea and airports. The trades remaining in its roots, despite shifting of the venue of trade and still flourishing are Marine products, Coir and Ayurveda, the Indian system of medicine and treatment.
Added attractions around - Kuttanad
The sprawling paddy fields in the periphery of Alleppy, extending to several thousand acres is known collectively as "Kuttanad". It is fertile and cultivated land lying below the sea level, which is the unique characteristic of its kind in the world. Adjacent to the sea, like a bowl, it is befittingly called "Kerala's rice bowl". Temple festivals and snake boat races have come to the fore, as tourist attractions, pushing the trade to the second place. The famous Snake boat race for the prestigious "Nehru Trophy" is a great annual event, conducted every second Saturday of the month of August with lot of funfare, in the presence of hundreds of national and international tourists.