Banwol is a half-moon shaped island in Sinan County, South Jeolla Province, South Korea. It is known as the Purple Island after the locals painted the roofs of nearly 400 buildings lilac.
Since 2018, more than 490,000 visitors have visited 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 County government has invested 4.8 billion won ($4.25 million) to turn the island purple, including painting more than 28,000 square meters.2The campaign attracted more than 490,000 tourists, including Koreans and international visitors, to the island in 2018, according to the agency. Tourists wearing purple were even allowed to enter the island for free.
The purple bridge was repaired and repainted in early 2020.
Previously, Banwol Island, located off the west coast of southern South Korea, was just a very ordinary small island, not much known to the outside world. Banwol Island had less than 150 residents, mainly elderly people because young people tended to go to the city to work and make a living. All that changed when the local government came up with a bold idea to “dye” the whole island purple.
Banwol is now known by its new name, Purple Island. Thanks to this exciting regeneration project, the peaceful little island has been “revived” and become a popular tourist attraction.
It is known that this beautiful island in Korea became more famous in 2019 - when the local government came up with the idea of "dying" the whole island purple. Up to now, Banwold-do has almost completed all the main items, turning this place into a dreamland attracting 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 been roofed in a uniform purple color. People have built giant lavender fields and many new buildings are also purple. Coming here, you will be extremely excited because everything is a dreamy purple land, where telephone booths, houses, bridges... are all purple.
To cater to the new wave of tourists, the island has added a number of amenities, including a cafe, two full-service restaurants (one each in Bakji and Banwol), bicycle rentals and a small hotel.
Banwol and its neighboring island have fewer than 150 permanent residents.
To reach the purple island, visitors spend about 6 hours traveling from the capital Seoul by bus or private car. Starting from a risky and rare plan, Banwol has successfully transformed itself into a famous tourist destination. In just a short time, the small island has transformed and brought a new and much better source of income to the farmers here. When welcoming visitors, the local guides even wear purple from head to toe.
To get to Purple Island, it takes 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 to tourists such as the blue city of Chefchaouen in Morocco, the golden city of Izamal in Mexico...
