Village
Deltebre, formerly Deltebro, is a town at the centre of the Ebro Delta, north of the river, in Baix Ebre, Tarragona, and is the settlement closest to the river mouth. It has 12,041 inhabitants (INE 2025) and was created in 1977 from the union of the districts of Jesús i María and La Cava, formerly part of Tortosa, around the church of San Miguel de la Cava, dating from 1818. Since the late 19th century, following the Ebro Canal, rice growing became its almost exclusive activity, with a rice cooperative since 1955. Its municipality includes three natural areas: the Fangar spit, with a harbour and beach; the Canal Viejo lagoon, and the Garchal, with its small islands, as well as an ecomuseum for visitors to the Ebro Delta Natural Park. It celebrates its main festival in August.
Nature
The Ebro Delta Natural Park extends over the mouth of the river Ebro, between the Baix Ebre and Montsià counties, and was declared a natural park in August 1983, with an extension in 1986 that brought its area to the current 7,736 hectares, divided almost equally between the two half-deltas. It is a Special Protection Area for Birds (ZEPA) and forms part of the Ramsar Convention. The Ebro, the river with the greatest flow in Spain, is responsible for this landscape: its sediments have created an area of more than 320 km² shaped like an arrowhead that reaches about 22 kilometres into the sea, the third-largest delta in the Mediterranean after the Nile's and the Rhône's. It is the largest wetland in Catalonia and a refuge for more than 300 bird species.
Activity
Festivals of the traditional rice harvest in the Ebro delta, with traditional carts and tools.
Curiosity
Rice grown on the irrigated lands of the Ebro estuary, with a Protected Designation of Origin granted by the Generalitat de Catalunya and a Specific Designation recognised by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and by the European Commission. The production area is concentrated in the municipalities of Deltebre and Sant Jaume, and partly in l'Aldea, l'Ampolla, Amposta, Camarles and Sant Carles de la Ràpita, whose characteristics typical of the delta give it a special quality. Quality control covers everything from seed selection to packaging, overseen by two certifying bodies. The main variety is bahia, along with others such as Tebre, Sénia, Fonsa, Bomba and Montsianell, and it is marketed in the extra category, under the Q quality mark.
Activity
The Festa Major of Deltebre is held in August (from 7 to 17 in 2026) with about a hundred events spread between the former settlements of Jesús i Maria and la Cava.
Activity
Deltebre's Festa Major d'Hivern is held in the municipality established on 20 May 1977 on separating from Tortosa, uniting the former hamlets of Jesús i Maria and la Cava; the opening of the Canal de l'Esquerra in 1912 had earlier completed the rice-growing irrigation of this side of the delta.
Monument
Hermitage in the municipal district of Deltebre, in the largest protected wetland in Catalonia, with 7,736 hectares of rice fields, lagoons and beaches, a refuge for more than 300 bird species.
Nature
The island of Buda is a maritime-fluvial island located at the eastern end of the Ebro delta, within the Ebro Delta Natural Park. It covers about 1100 hectares, of which 250 are rice fields and the rest is well-preserved natural habitat — reed beds, rush beds, salt marshes and coastal lagoons known as calaixos —, making it one of the areas of greatest natural interest in the whole delta and a refuge for numerous populations of waterbirds, both breeding and wintering. The island formed in the 18th century and reached its maximum extent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; since then it has undergone considerable regression, especially in the area of Cape Tortosa.
Activity
The Fira de l'Arròs is held in Deltebre, a municipality established in 1977 on separating from Tortosa, whose round-grain rice has a protected designation of origin and has been grown in the delta for centuries.
Historical milestone
The opening of the left-bank canal in 1912 completed the irrigation of the delta and made rice the main economic resource of the northern bank. In 1955 the Cambra Arrossera de la Cava was created and afterwards the rice cooperative of Jesús i Maria.
Historical milestone
The municipality was constituted on 20 May 1977 on being segregated from Tortosa, uniting the former outlying villages of Jesús i Maria and La Cava. Thus was born the council that administers the left bank of the delta, with its economy given over to rice.
Food and drink
The eel of the canals and lagoons of the delta is one of the historic fish of the comarca. It is prepared over embers or in suquet and it goes into the traditional rice dishes of the delta along with duck and freshwater snails.