Búðardalur

Búðardalur
Village
Búðardalur Búðardalur
Location of the Municipality of Dalabyggð Location of the Municipality of Dalabyggð
Búðardalur Location in Iceland
Coordinates:
Country	Iceland
Constituency	Northwest Constituency
Region	Western Region
Municipality	Dalabyggð
Population (2014)
• Total	266
Time zone	GMT (UTC+0)
Post Code	371

Búðardalur is a village situated on the Hvammsfjörður in the north-west of Iceland.

The village also lies at the north-eastern end of the Snæfellsnes peninsula and is part of the municipality of Dalabyggð. Búðardalur has about 270 inhabitants in 2014 and it is a service center for the area. There are 650 inhabitants in the whole county. In the traditional system of counties of Iceland that existed until the late 1980s, it was part of Dalasýsla, a name that is still used for the region.

Overview

Búðardalur contains a supermarket and a petrol station, flower shop, hair salons, pub/restaurant, information center/coffee shop, health care centre, off licence, garage and a lovely little craft shop, where women in the county sell their handmade craft items. Campsite, which is open during the summer, offers basic facilities.

The village has a long history, dating from the time of the first settlements in Iceland. The name means "Camp Valley", or more directly dale of booths, this is where settlers had temporary camp when coming to this area. In 1899, Búðardalur was officially granted the right of commerce. An old house from this time is still existing.

At a short distance from the village lies the site of the former siege of Erik the Red (Eiríksstaðir), who went from there to discover Greenland. He was the father of Leifur "Heppni" Eiríksson (Leif Erikson, Leif the Lucky) who discovered America ahead of Columbus.

Búðardalur is the birthplace of contemporary painter Helgi Fríðjónsson