It is a coastal village bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean and on the south by Andimunai sand dunes a noted tourist attraction.

[1][3] Due to the continuing effects of the Sri Lankan civil war, there are also a number of Tamil refugees from rest of the country living in the village, specifically from the eastern Trincomalee district.

In the Tamil month of Avani which corresponds to late July to early August, an 18-day festival commences with the flag-hoisting ceremony and ending with fire-walking in front of Udappu's Draupati Amman Temple.

The 18-day period is spent in prayer and fasting, with a priest reciting the Mahabharata epic to remind everyone of the story of Draupadi, the five Pandava brothers' common wife, whose chaste and virtuous ways enabled her to recover the kingdom they been deprived of by King Duryodhana.

The Draupadi festival comes to a conclusion on the final evening when the entire male population of Udappu walk barefoot over a bed of red-hot coals without injury in a ceremony called Tee Mithi in Tamil language.