Logbook · 6 places

What to see and do in Ivars d'Urgell

What to see and do in Ivars d'Urgell (Pla d'Urgell, Lleida): 6 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 1 Nature · 2 Activities · 1 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Ivars d'Urgell

Church of Ivars d'Urgell 50 m
Pond of Ivars i Vila-sana 3.1 km

Towns near Ivars d'Urgell

What to see in Barbens 2.7 km · 6 places
What to see in Castellnou de Seana 3.7 km · 4 places
What to see in la Fuliola 4.7 km · 3 places
What to see in Vila-sana 5 km · 6 places
What to see in Tornabous 6.3 km · 4 places
What to see in Bellpuig 6.4 km · 8 places
What to see in Golmés 6.7 km · 6 places
What to see in Vilanova de Bellpuig 7.5 km · 4 places

Spain › Catalonia › Lleida › Pla d'Urgell › Ivars d'Urgell

What to see and do in Ivars d'Urgell

Ivars d'Urgell
Village
Ivars d'Urgell is a municipality in the Pla d'Urgell, in the province of Lleida, which shares with Vila-sana the estany d'Ivars i Vila-sana, one of the great wetlands of Catalonia. It has 1,578 inhabitants (INE 2025) and groups together, besides the town of Ivars — a title granted by King Alfonso XIII — the settlements of Vallverd, la Cendrosa and Montalé. It lives off agriculture, livestock farming and related industries, with a broad services sector. It preserves the 18th-century hermitage of the Virgen de la Huerta, the baroque parish church of San Andrés, and several farmhouses, among them the large Montalé manor house, documented since the 12th century. Each settlement holds its own patron saint's festival, and in February Vallverd holds its pig slaughter festival, which in Ivars coincides with carnival.
Pond of Ivars i Vila-sana
Nature
The Estany d'Ivars i Vila-sana, located between these two municipal terms of the Pla d'Urgell, is together with that of Banyoles one of the largest inland wetlands in Catalonia, with a surface area of nearly 157 hectares. Its origin is ancient, from the accumulation of water over an impermeable bed with no lateral outlet, but the construction of the Canal d'Urgell in 1861 multiplied its size to 135 hectares, turning it into a centre of social and economic life for the neighbouring villages, with much-prized duck hunting and eel fishing. After a first failed attempt in 1914, the lake was finally drained in 1951 to gain farmland, against the popular will; it remained alive in the memory of the comarca until its recovery, which began in 2005.
Church of Ivars d'Urgell
Monument
The parish church of Ivars d'Urgell, next to the restored lake of Ivars i Vila-sana, is dedicated to Sant Andreu (Saint Andrew), a dedication that gives the temple its official name: Sant Andreu d'Ivars d'Urgell.
Ivars d'Urgell Main Festival
Activity
Ivars d'Urgell has its parish church dedicated to Sant Andreu, patron of the municipality, whose feast day (30 November) sets the date for the village's winter feast, next to the estany d'Ivars i Vila-sana.
Festivities of invierno d'Ivars d'Urgell
Activity
Ivars d'Urgell's winter festival is held in a municipality whose lagoon, drained in 1951 despite local opposition to gain farmland, has been restored since 2005 as one of the largest inland wetlands in Catalonia.
Draining of the Ivars lagoon
Historical milestone
The estany d'Ivars, the largest lagoon in Catalonia along with that of Banyoles, occupied an endorheic basin of millennial origin which, shallow and brackish, would dry up completely in some summers. The construction of the Canal d'Urgell in 1861 brought in waters from the Segre that turned it into a much larger wetland -135 hectares, up to 2,500 metres long and 3.8 deep- and into a centre of the social and economic life of the neighbouring villages, with duck hunting and highly prized eel fishing. A first attempt at draining it in 1914 failed due to the opposition of irrigators, but in 1951, as part of the Sanitation Project and with the aim of gaining farmland, the lagoon was drained against popular will.