The sleepy, easy-going town of Alleppey sits largely on the water, surrounded by rustling palm trees and green paddy fields. In its time, it was a bustling trading centre on the Malabar Coast, famous for its coir industry producing coconut fibre ropes and mats. Today it is one of the gateways to the Backwaters and host to the spectacular Snake Boat Races every August, when boats with sterns raised like hooded cobras are crewed by hundreds of chanting rowers. Alleppey is a little too faded these days to merit its old nickname "the Venice of the East", but it is threaded with picturesque canals, has a good beach popular with local families, some interesting examples of Keralan architecture, the Mullackal Temple dedicated to the goddess Rajarajeswari (with a music festival each December), and a couple of pleasant colonial churches.