Purple Islands

Banwoldo and Bakjido are small islands in Sinan county with an ageing, shrinking population, and in the mid-2010s the county tried something unusual: it painted them purple. Roofs, bridges, road surfaces, bus shelters, fences - all violet - and planted lavender, purple aster and other flowers to match, taking the cue from the native balloon flower that grows there. Two footbridges, themselves purple, link the islands to each other and to the mainland side, and walking between them is the point. It drew hundreds of thousands of visitors, was picked up internationally, and in 2021 the UN tourism body named it among its best tourism villages - a genuine reversal for a place that was emptying. Visitors wearing purple get discounts, which is played straight. Whether it is charming or absurd is entirely a matter of taste, and it is unusually honest about being an economic strategy.

What you actually see

• The violet villages - roofs, roads, fences and shelters painted.
• The purple footbridges - the walk between the islands.
• The flower planting - lavender and aster, best in early summer.
• The strategy in the open - a shrinking island that repainted itself.

When to go

June to July, when the lavender and aster are out, is when it looks intended. Getting there takes a bus and a ferry - check schedules and allow a full day.

Honest expectations

It is paint, and some visitors find it kitsch rather than beautiful. Facilities on the islands are limited. Transport is slow and the last ferry matters.

Nearby

Mokpo and its cable car are on the mainland; the wider Sinan islands are reachable by ferry.