Purple Island
A two-island village landscape in Sinan where bridges, roofs, public structures and seasonal planting were coordinated around one purple identity through a county-and-resident regeneration project
Island walks, bridge crossings, seasonal purple flowers, village-scale design, photography and slow coastal exploration
Two small inhabited islands linked to Anjwado and to each other by long pedestrian bridges, with village roads, coastal paths, purple-painted roofs and public structures, flower planting and tidal-flat views
Purple Island is a rare case where a simple visual rule became village-scale infrastructure. The color works because residents, bridges, roofs, planting and public facilities adopted it together, giving two small islands a coherent identity strong enough to attract deliberate travel
Character
On Banwoldo and Bakjido, purple appears on pedestrian bridges, house roofs, public structures and planted landscapes. From 2018, Sinan County and residents coordinated that palette as part of a tourism project responding to population decline, turning a dispersed pair of fishing villages into one immediately recognizable destination
The color was grounded in plants already associated with the islands, including balloon flowers and self-heal, then extended deliberately into infrastructure and private property. Korea Tourism Organization’s regeneration account describes residents participating because population decline and aging had become an urgent local problem. The visual consistency comes from a shared village project spanning infrastructure, private homes and planting
The experience
The bridges make the color scheme spatial. Visitors approach from Anjwado, cross over tidal water to Banwoldo and Bakjido, then continue through small settlements where the same palette appears again on roofs, signs, street furniture and planting. The repeated color links several island villages as one continuous visitor landscape
Walking remains the main way to understand the place. The bridge system, village lanes and coastal paths spread the visit over a larger area than the familiar purple photo spots suggest. Low tide exposes broad tidal flats around the islands, while the planted color changes seasonally as lavender, asters and other flowers come into bloom
The project still leaves ordinary village functions visible. Homes, small fields and fishing-island infrastructure share the same landscape with visitor facilities, so the destination is best read as an inhabited rural place that adopted a strong public design language
History
Population loss set the modern project in motion. Korea Tourism Organization records that residents and Sinan County looked for a tourism identity through the national “Islands People Want to Visit” initiative. Local purple plants offered a visual theme that could connect Banwoldo and Bakjido across different kinds of space
The bridge connection came first. A pedestrian bridge between the islands created a practical and symbolic link, and the later Purple Island project expanded the same color into landscaping, roofs, streetlights and other public features. By 2019, the palette had reached both shared infrastructure and private houses
Resident participation was important because the transformation crossed property boundaries. Korea.net reported that households agreed to the roof-color scheme and residents worked with the county as the project expanded. Purple therefore became a coordination device across public works, private homes and planted landscape
The project gained international recognition when Banwoldo and Bakjido were selected for the UNWTO Best Tourism Villages list in 2021. The program evaluated rural destinations partly on cultural and natural resources, sustainability and public-private cooperation, placing the islands’ design-led regeneration within a broader rural-development framework
Before you go
Give the bridge network and village lanes enough time to unfold as a full island walk. The crossings spread the visit over Anjwado, Banwoldo and Bakjido, and much of the place’s coherence appears after the first bridge as roofs, planting and public structures repeat the purple scheme across the villages
- Access
- Purple Island is reached on foot from Anjwado through the pedestrian bridge system linking Banwoldo and Bakjido; allow time for a multi-island walk