Búðardalur () is a village situated on the Hvammsfjörður in the north-west of

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. The village also lies at the north-eastern end of the

Snæfellsnes The Snæfellsnes () is a peninsula situated to the west of Borgarfjörður, in western Iceland. The peninsula has a volcanic origin having the Snæfellsnes volcanic belt down its centre, and the Snæfellsjökull volcano A volcano is com ...

peninsula and is part of the municipality of

Dalabyggð Dalabyggð () is a municipality located in Dalasýsla, western Iceland. Its main settlement is Búðardalur. Dalabyggð is an agricultural area in the municipality which encompasses, the farm of Hvammur í Dölum where the poet, historian, an ...

. Búðardalur had about 270 inhabitants in 2014 and is a service center for the area, including the regional tourist information centre.Frank Jacobs
"The Map as Address: Cryptic Letter Reaches Icelandic Destination"
''The Big Think'', 4 September 2016.Andrew Evans, ''Iceland'', 2nd ed. Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, England: Bradt Travel Guides, 2011,
p. 276
In the traditional system of counties of Iceland that existed until the late 1980s, it was part of

Dalasýsla Dalasýsla (, ) was one of the pre-1988 traditional counties of Iceland, located in the Western Region of the country. Its only town is Búðardalur. The county had a rich history dating back to the first settlers of Iceland Iceland i ...

, a name that is still used for the region.

Overview

Búðardalur contains a supermarket and a petrol station, hair salons, a pub/restaurant, a coffee shop, a health-care centre, an off-licence, a garage and a craft shop; the information centre is in the same building as a cafe and a museum on the Vínland expeditions.Carolyn Bain and Alexis Averbuck
"Búðardalur"
9th ed. Footscray, Victoria, Australia / Oakland, California: Lonely Planet, 2015, . The village has a long history, dating from the time of the first settlements in Iceland. The name means "Camp Valley", or more etymologically straightforward "Boothdale"; it is where settlers had temporary camps when coming to the area. In 1899, Búðardalur was officially granted the right of commerce. An old house from this time still exists. At a short distance from the village is

Eiríksstaðir Eiríksstaðir () is the former homestead of Eiríkr Þorvaldsson, known as Erik the Red, at Haukadalur (Dalabyggð), Haukadalur Valley in the Dalasýsla region of Iceland. It was likely the birthplace of his son Leif Erikson, Leif Eiríksson, the ...

, the homestead of

Erik the Red Erik Thorvaldsson (), known as Erik the Red, was a Norse explorer, described in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first European settlement in Greenland. Erik most likely earned the epithet "the Red" due to the color o ...

, who was the first European to discover

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

and whose son

Leif Erikson Leif Erikson, also known as Leif the Lucky (), was a Norsemen, Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to set foot on continental Americas, America, approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus. According ...

, born at Eiríksstaðir, was the first European to discover America ahead of Columbus.

Climate

Depending on the isotherm used ( or ), Búðardalur has either the rare dry-summer

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Dsc'') or the extremely rare cold-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csc) with cold but not severe winters and cool summers.

References

Populated places in Western Region (Iceland) {{Iceland-geo-stub