| Kärdla | |
| Settlement Type: | Town |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Kärdla by the Baltic Sea##Location in Estonia##Location in Europe |
| Pushpin Relief: | 1 |
| Pushpin Map: | Baltic Sea#Estonia#Europe |
| Coordinates: | 58.9981°N 22.7467°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Estonia |
| Subdivision Type1: | County |
| Subdivision Name1: | Hiiu County |
| Subdivision Type2: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name2: | Hiiumaa Parish |
| Established Title: | Town status |
| Established Date: | 1938 |
| Area Total Km2: | 4.5 |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] |
| Population Total: | 3160 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Rank: | 28th |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Demographics Type1: | Ethnicity |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Estonians |
| Demographics1 Info1: | 98.2% |
| Demographics1 Title2: | others |
| Demographics1 Info2: | 1.8% |
| Timezone: | EET |
| Utc Offset: | +2 |
| Timezone Dst: | EEST |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +3 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 92401 to 92420 |
Kärdla (in Estonian pronounced as /ˈkærˑ'dlɑ/; Swedish: {{audio|sv-Kärrdal.ogg|Kärrdal|help=no; German: Kertel) is the only town on the island of Hiiumaa, Estonia. It is the capital of Hiiu County and the administrative center of Hiiumaa Parish.
Kärdla is located on the northeastern coast of Hiiumaa, by the Tareste Bay; to the southeast of the town lies the 455 million year old Kärdla meteorite crater. Several small rivers flow through the town. There are also artesian wells in Kärdla. The Swedish name Kärrdal means "marsh valley"; the town is located in a lowlands valley.
Kärdla was first mentioned in 1564 as a village inhabited by Swedes. Its growth was greatly influenced by the cloth factory founded in 1830. A port was built in 1849. Both the port and the factory were destroyed in World War II.
Kärdla officially became a borough in 1920, and a town in 1938. In 2013 the town was merged with Kõrgessaare Parish to establish Hiiumaa Parish, therefore Kärdla lost its municipality status.
| 1922[2] | 1934[3] | 1941[4] | 1959[5] | 1970[6] | 1979[7] | 1989 | 2000[8] | 2011[9] | 2021[10] | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| amount | % | amount | % | amount | % | amount | % | amount | % | amount | % | amount | % | amount | % | amount | % | amount | % | ||
| Estonians | 1503 | 95.1 | 1390 | 95.6 | 1172 | 98.5 | 2156 | 80.2 | 6766 | 96.7 | 3167 | 92.4 | 3866 | 93.4 | 3684 | 97.6 | 2994 | 98.2 | 2988 | 98.1 | |
| Russians | 10 | 0.63 | 27 | 1.86 | 13 | 1.09 | - | - | 172 | 2.46 | 187 | 5.46 | 184 | 4.45 | 53 | 1.40 | 27 | 0.89 | 24 | 0.79 | |
| Ukrainians | - | - | 1 | 0.07 | - | - | - | - | 25 | 0.36 | 27 | 0.79 | 30 | 0.72 | 7 | 0.19 | 6 | 0.20 | 6 | 0.20 | |
| Belarusians | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 11 | 0.16 | 14 | 0.41 | 16 | 0.39 | 5 | 0.13 | 6 | 0.20 | 3 | 0.10 | |
| Finns | - | - | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0.08 | - | - | 6 | 0.09 | 2 | 0.06 | 3 | 0.07 | 4 | 0.11 | 4 | 0.13 | 7 | 0.23 | |
| Jews | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | - | - | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Latvians | - | - | 1 | 0.07 | 1 | 0.08 | - | - | 3 | 0.04 | 11 | 0.32 | 5 | 0.12 | 5 | 0.13 | 5 | 0.16 | 4 | 0.13 | |
| Germans | 29 | 1.84 | 24 | 1.65 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0.03 | 4 | 0.10 | 2 | 0.05 | 2 | 0.07 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Tatars | - | - | 0 | 0.00 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5 | 0.15 | 5 | 0.12 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Poles | - | - | 1 | 0.07 | 0 | 0.00 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 0.06 | 3 | 0.07 | 2 | 0.05 | 1 | 0.03 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Lithuanians | - | - | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | - | - | 2 | 0.03 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 | 0.05 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| unknown | 1 | 0.06 | 1 | 0.07 | 1 | 0.08 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 7 | 0.19 | 1 | 0.03 | 6 | 0.20 | |
| other | 37 | 2.34 | 9 | 0.62 | 2 | 0.17 | 532 | 19.8 | 13 | 0.19 | 10 | 0.29 | 21 | 0.51 | 4 | 0.11 | 4 | 0.13 | 8 | 0.26 | |
| Total | 1580 | 100 | 1454 | 100 | 1190 | 100 | 2688 | 100 | 6998 | 100 | 3426 | 100 | 4139 | 100 | 3773 | 100 | 3050 | 100 | 3046 | 100 | |
Road transport from Estonian mainland to Hiiumaa involves a 90-minute (28km (17miles)) ferry crossing from Rohuküla to Heltermaa, which is 25abbr=off0abbr=off by road from Kärdla. There are up to 10 ferry departures a day operated by TS Laevad.[11] In the summer weekends, getting car space on the ferry usually requires advance booking. There are about 2 scheduled buses a day between Tallinn (the capital of Estonia) and Kärdla.[12]
There are no scheduled passenger boats directly to Kärdla.
Kärdla is served by Kärdla Airport, with regular flights to Tallinn.
Kärdla town itself is small enough to get around on foot. Bicycle rental is available, and there is a good bicycle path built from Kärdla towards Kõrgessaare.
June's first weekend annual Hiiumaa Children's festival takes place.
In the first week of August, the coffee-loving people of Kärdla expect visitors to Kärdla Cafés' Day celebrated just for one day in their own gardens, serving coffee and home-made pastry.[13]
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Estonia.
The former municipality of Kärdla was twinned with: