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What to see and do in Isla Mayor

What to see and do in Isla Mayor (Comarca Metropolitana de Sevilla, Seville): 4 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

2 Villages · 2 Food and drink

Towns near Isla Mayor

Spain › Andalusia › Seville › Comarca Metropolitana de Sevilla › Isla Mayor

What to see and do in Isla Mayor

Isla Mayor
Village
Settled in the early 20th century by marsh cattle ranchers, in the 1930s the English company Islas del Río Guadalquivir introduced rice cultivation. In the 1940s, with the colonization promoted by Queipo de Llano, the settlement was called Villafranco del Guadalquivir; it became independent from La Puebla del Río in 1994 and in 2000 adopted its current name, Isla Mayor.
El arroz y el cangrejo rojo de Isla Mayor
Food and drink
With more than 9,600 hectares of rice paddies, Isla Mayor produces a good part of the rice from the Guadalquivir marshes. The American red swamp crayfish, introduced in 1974, became an economic resource and a local dish, though today it makes up more than half the diet of some twenty bird species in the marshes.
Isla Mayor, el arrozal de las marismas
Village
Municipality of 5,748 inhabitants (2025) and 114.51 km², at just 5 m altitude deep in the Guadalquivir marshes. Alfonso X granted these former river islands to the city of Seville in 1253 for cattle grazing; the British company Islas del Río Guadalquivir introduced rice cultivation in the 1930s, and from the 1940s General Queipo de Llano promoted the colonization of the marshes with families from Andalusia, Extremadura, and Valencia. The American red swamp crayfish arrived in 1974. It split off administratively from La Puebla del Río in 1994 and adopted its current name in 2000.
Feria del Arroz y el Cangrejo
Food and drink
Rice (9,614 ha under cultivation in 2014) and the red crayfish of the marshes are the basis of Isla Mayor's cuisine and economy, celebrated in an annual fair around 24 June.