Cycling and Birdwatching in the Ebro Delta

Delta Natural Park

The Ebro Delta, covering an area of 320 km2, is the largest aquatic habitat in Catalonia and a wetland internationaly recognized for its importance and for the sustainable tourism that has developed. It's been Natural Park since 1983. 

The protection of nature coexists with traditional agriculture and fishing activities, mainly rice and mussels.

Typical villages in the area are Deltebre, Sant Jaume d'Enveja, Els Muntells, Poble nou del Delta, L'Aldea and Camarles.

A good option to visit the Delta is to go to the information center named La Casa de Fusta,  in the Encanyissada lagoon, the bigger one in the Delta.

From La Casa de Fusta you can go around the lagoon by a 12-18 km route.

Cycling and Birdwatching

As a delta is plain terrain, cycling is available for everybody. Traffic is low and calm, and there are paths adapted for bikes. Neither you don't have to take your bike, because you will find rentals near your lodgement. It is a real pleasure ride in the middle of nature!

Birdwatching is also easy (it is a special protected area for birds), although depending on the time of year there are more or fewer birds; there are some places where you will not miss them, like the observatories in La Tancada i L'Encanyissada.

Summer wildlife:
Purple Heron, Squacco Heron, Little Bittern, Black-winged Stilt, Pratincole, Mallard, Common Tern, Whiskered Tern, Bearded Tit, Reed Warbler

Winter wildlife: 
Cormorant, Grey Heron, Great Creste Grebe, Marsh Harrier, Cernícalo Vulgar, Lapwing, Snipe, Red-crested Pochard, Reed Bunting, Kingfisher

Accomodation and gastronomy

Fortunately, the building of big hotels and appartment buildings is not allowed, as the Delta is a protected area. The amazing landscape invites tourists to lodge in little hotels, campings or country houses. The latter is the option I prefer, here or here you can find entire houses or individual rooms to rent.

Since it is a rice area, it is highly recommended to stop at one of the many restaurants in the little villages inside the park and order one of their rice specialities: paella, arrossejat, rice with duck, rice with lobster, black rice or caldereta. Remember to book in advance!

Special dates 

The extensive rice fields change the landscape with the seasons: earthy in winter, water flooded in spring and green in summer. 

Summertime is a great time to enjoy dunes and wild beaches, gastronomy and birdwatching (you should take mosquito repellent). 

Every year there is a popular fiesta to celebrate the beginning of the harvest rice, where you can see the traditional work of mowing. This year is scheduled on 13th September (2015). 

How to get there

 By car: Main N-340 road through Amposta and Sant Carles de la Ràpita along the Ebro Delta.

By train: Amposta, Camarles and l´Ampolla stations on the Barcelona-Valencia line.

GPS coordinates X: 0.7230895243530724, Y: 40.72263451312286

The surroundings

Delta Ebro area can be a destiny of a several week vacation:

- Besides Delta Natural Park there is Els Ports Natural Park, a limestone massif located between Catalonia, Valencia and Aragon. 

- Tortosa, Amposta and Miravet Castle

- River ebro activities: boat travel or canoeing. 

- Cycling in the Greenway Terres de l'Ebre

Cosmocaixa, indoor activities for families in Barcelona

Barcelona is a city that's worth to walk, specially in a sunny spring day: Plaça Catalunya, la Rambla, Port Vell, Barceloneta beach...

But if you are not so lucky and you have a bad weather day, the Cosmocaixa Science Museum is a good option for children over five years old.

In this video (available in English version) you can see what offers this museum so unique.

An overview of Cosmocaixa

Cosmocaixa is located at the foot of Collserola mountain, in the wealthy neighborohood called Sant Gervasi – la Bonanova.

Museum admission is by the Modernist building (1904 - 1909), but most of the activity is on the new glass building. The exhibition area covers 30.000 m2, to which must be added an outdoor plaza and a picnic area. Don't miss the views of the city from the plaza!


The circuit takes visitors down to the sixth basement floor, where a Foucault pendulum demonstrates the earth rotation.

Just behind the pendulum begins the area of science. Lots of interactive experiments and learnings are waiting for you to touch, pull or press. Older kids will be able to understand why different things happen, but the younger ones will also have fun pressing the buttons and being surprised by the events.

One of the walls is called the Geological Wall, seven giant blocks of real stone to show the developing of rock formations and the phenomena involved.

Walking through the permanent exhibition about the History of Matter,  from Big Bang to actuality, the Museum shows the fundamental laws of nature,
life and how intelligence emerges from neurons and develops until our civilisation.

At the end of the enormous room, in an especially heated area, there is the Flooded Forest, a reproduction of a Brazilian Amazonian forest (1.000 m2) with more than 100 living species that are possible to watch both from underwater vision and from earth paths. Find the little door that leads to the inside.

























Next to the flooded forest there are some aquariums and terrariums that will captivate kids with their colours.

Through a large ramp that explains the timing of evolution of life on Earth, you get to the upper floors, which house specific workshops, a planetarium and conference rooms. Almost at the end, there is a small hallway with the indication "meteorological station" that leads you to the outside plaza and lets you play and understand the performance of an Arquímedes screw.

Besides, just at the entrance next to the Foucault Pendulum, there use to be temporary exhibitions, you can find updated information at the web of Cosmocaixa.

Schedules and prices

Cosmocaixa opens from Tuesday to Sunday 10-20h. On summer and school holidays it also opens on Mondays. 

The entry ticket that includes the museum and the temporary exhibition costs 4 € and it's free for children under 16 years old. 

Special activities like workshops and Planetarium costs 4 € each one.

How to get there

Address: Isaac Newton, 26, Barcelona
Phone number:  93 212 60 50

Bus: 17, 22, 58, 73, 75, 60 y 196

Train: FGC - Station: Avinguda del Tibidabo

Best route with public transportation here.