VI
EN
Banwol is a crescent-shaped island located in Sinan County, South Jeolla Province, South Korea. It is known as the "Purple Island" after local residents painted the roofs of nearly 400 buildings a lilac purple.
Since 2018, more than 490,000 visitors have come to the islands.
The project was planned in 2015 as part of South Jeolla Province's branding initiative to "create attractive island destinations" and was inspired by the purple bellflowers (also known as campanula) native to the area.
Since 2015, the Shinan district government has invested 4.8 billion won (US$4.25 million) to transform the island into purple, including painting over 28,000 square meters.2The campaign featured purple roofs. According to the agency's statistics, the campaign attracted more than 490,000 visitors, including both Koreans and international tourists, to the island in 2018. Visitors wearing purple were even allowed free entry to the island.
The purple bridge was repaired and repainted in early 2020.
Previously, Banwol Island, located off the western coast of southern South Korea, was just an ordinary, small island little known to the outside world. Banwol had fewer than 150 permanent residents, mostly elderly people, as the younger generation tended to move to the cities for work and careers. All of that changed when the local government came up with a bold idea: to "dye" the entire island purple.
Banwol is now also known by its new name, Purple Island. Thanks to this exciting restoration project, the peaceful little island has been "revived" and become a popular tourist attraction.
This beautiful island in South Korea became even more famous in 2019 when the local government came up with the idea of "dying" the entire island purple. To date, Banwol-do has almost completed all the main projects, transforming it into a dreamy land that attracts tourists from near and far to check in and explore.
Banwol has 21,500 square meters of lavender fields.
All 400 houses and buildings on Banwol have uniformly purple roofs. Huge lavender fields have been built, and many new structures are also purple. Visiting here, you'll be delighted by the dreamy purple landscape, where telephone booths, houses, bridges... everything is purple.
To accommodate the new wave of tourists, the island has added several amenities, including a cafe, two full-service restaurants (one in Bakji and one in Banwol), bicycle rentals, and a small hotel.
Banwol and its neighboring island have fewer than 150 permanent residents.
To reach the purple island, tourists need to travel about 6 hours from the capital Seoul by bus or private car. Starting from a daring and unusual plan, Banwol has successfully transformed itself into a popular tourist destination. In a short time, the small island has undergone a dramatic change and brought a much better source of income to the local farmers. When welcoming visitors, the local guides even dress in purple from head to toe.
To reach Purple Island, visitors need about 6 hours to travel from the capital Seoul by bus or private car.
Towns with distinctive colors are not a new idea in the world. Before Banwol, there were many familiar destinations famous among tourists, such as the blue city of Chefchaouen in Morocco, the golden city of Izamal in Mexico, and so on.
