The long name of the small village of Kirkjubaejarklaustur is the Icelandic word for 'church farm cloister'. This village may only have 160 permanent residents, but it attracts a lot of visitors because it is the only settlement between the larger towns of Hofn and Vik i Myrdal on Iceland's Ring Road. Many residents of Reykjavik, 258kms away, own weekend huts by nearby Systravatn Lake, but Kirkjubaejarklaustur hotels are also available to anyone wishing to temporarily stay in this green and picturesque village in southern Iceland. Irish monks are said to have been the village's first settlers, and a Benedictine convent was active here from 1186 to 1550. Most nearby natural landmarks are named after nuns, including the steep-sided Sister's Rock, Sister's Lake and Sister's Falls. The current village church was constructed during the year 1974 in memory of a minister named Jon Steingrimsson, who was said to have delivered a sermon which stopped a flow of lava from a nearby volcano from reaching the village in 1783.

other spellings: kirkjubaejarklaustur otel, kikjubajarklauster hotell, kerkjubejaklastur hote