The Ebro Delta

The Ebro spreads into the Mediterranean in a broad flat fan of rice fields, brackish lagoons and long sandspits, and the horizon here sits lower and wider than anywhere else on the Catalan coast. Rice has been grown since the nineteenth century and still sets the calendar: flooded mirrors in spring, deep green through summer, stubble and smoke in autumn. The lagoons hold large numbers of waterbirds including a resident flamingo population, watched from hides at l'Encanyissada and la Tancada. Bicycles suit the delta better than a car, because everything is flat and the tracks between the paddies run for kilometres. The Trabucador bar reaches out to the Banya peninsula. The delta covers about 320 square kilometres, one of the largest wetlands in the western Mediterranean, and has been a Ramsar site since 1993; Amposta, a seaport in the fourth century, now stands well inland.

What's there

• The rice paddies - flooded mirrors in spring, deep green by midsummer.
• The lagoon hides - l'Encanyissada and la Tancada for flamingos and herons.
• The Trabucador bar - a thin sand spit running out to the Banya peninsula.
• The river ferry - a small crossing between the delta's two banks.

When to go

April to June covers the flooding of the paddies and the spring bird passage; September and October bring the harvest and softer light. Midsummer is hot, humid and heavy with mosquitoes after dusk. Mornings are best for both birds and light, and the wind can be strong on the exposed sand bars in any season.

Before you go

Mosquitoes are a real problem from late spring onward and repellent is not optional. The delta is agricultural rather than scenic in the conventional sense, and visitors expecting drama often leave flat. Storms have repeatedly cut the Trabucador bar, so access there varies. Distances between hides are long and public transport is close to useless.

Nearby

Tortosa upriver and the Ports mountains inland.

Key facts