We stayed in this guesthouse for 4 days. We booked the loft flat which is highly recommended, as you have your own flat to a very reasonable rate.It is very close to the sea, good restaurants, night clubs with salsa etc.

I was there to see, where my flat will be situated. An amazing experience. I remember I asked the agent:" Do you think that they wil finish 340 apartments till the summer of 2008? We are still waiting. Better late than never. The deadline is now September 2009, hopefully:):)

I was looking for information about car hire companies in Natal when I found this web site that altough there is no review of anything, it provides addresses and contact details for many business in Natal.

I went there for my honey moon, so we were looking for a calm place to stay. Natal on May is perfect, not too busy, not too warm (max 30 C), and everything is cheaper, from hotels to tours. This hotel is situated at Via Costeira area and has its own beach, we've got a great time and an astonishing front view to the see, all the apartments have it! The personnel is kind and very friendly. I'd definitely would be back.

Very expensive. But it´s wonderful

Capoeira is typically Brazil. It's a combination between dancing and fighting, incredibly athletic. Boa Vontade is a foundation which teaches the children of the street capoeira, and therefor pull them out of the streets and into a save environment. They also learn to make clothes, build music instruments and speak and write english. Going to Boa Vontade gives you mixed feelings. On one side you have an incredible evening with an amazing show from children of all ages. On the other side you also get to see the other side of Brazil. Behind the show there are just poor children. Who, fortunately, get the chance of making something of their lives. Situated in the poorest area of Natal, it is very unadvisable to go to Boa Vontade yourself. Most likely you won't even get in. However, tour operators do have organised trips to the school which also garantee you the incredible show. Besides the ability to buy clothes (capoeira training suits, sweaters etc.) to support them, which I would definitely recommend, they need one thing very much: love. When you go: participate. Dance, laugh, hug. Give them attention. The smile you get in return is priceless.

    We dashed a bit from Fortaleza to spend Danilo´s birthday in Natal, which we had heard is a nice city. We arrived there a little bit late and we were greeted at the bus station by some drug addicts, one of whom tought that she was a chicken, with one foot up on the air, two wing-like arms, and the head abruptly moving from side to side : cluck! cluck! Kind of sad actually, but if we have ever seen a place of contrasts, Brazil is up there. Thus we waited for an egg to be laid and ran to the polar opposite of Natal to the shore where nice hotels and beach are the rule. We found a nice hotel to relax, recharge, and celebrate at the beach of Ponta Negra where we got a cozy room with a view.
Unluckily Danilo came down with a sinus infection so we spent much of our time here laying in bed and getting better. Luckily Emily was sick as well and it was raining, so it worked well to just lay down and look at the rain come down onto the vast ocean in front of us. Quite pretty in fact. Things got serious enough however that we went to see a doctor at a hospital near our beach. Surprisingly and after struggling a bit with our Portuguese on the front desk we were greeted by an English speaking doctor who had worked in North Dakota. He was quite funny and a welcome presence in our Portuguese filled lives. The rest of the bday was spent walking around a bit and capped off with a shrimp fest at a restaurant. Good times!
The next day, the rain stopped falling for most of the day and we walked around the beach and enjoyed ourselves a bit. The last day the sun came out and shone and before we left to go south to we took another stroll to soak in the sun and calling it a day before going off to the bus station and trying to stop those persistent diseases.

This Hostel is really great value for money and is really cheap in comparison to the other pousadas in the area. A double room with en suite and ceiling fan cost 50 R a night

The staff are really helpful and friendly, and the breakfast is really great - bread rolls, ham and cheese , crackers and cake as well as a selection of fruit to die for!!

The other HI hostel that is really famous in Natal and is set in a castle costs 80r for a double room, but Verdes Mares is a great cheaper alternative

KERRY - So after our colonial and cultural experiences in Salvador we decided that we needed some more sea and sand so we headed to Natal for a few days. The bus journey was a long 20 hours or so, and once we got to Natal we had to then find our way on the local buses to the area called Ponta Negra where the nicest beach in the area were and where we wanted to stay. After a few broken conversations and lots of hand gestures with the locals and the bus driver who had driven us from Salvador, we got on the correct bus, and were then told by the conductor where to get off. All was well and we arrived at a really nice Hostelling International hostel and unpacked our things before heading out for some food.

Natal is named the Sun city in Brazil as it is so close to the sea and the sun seems to shine a lot! It was also very hot. We had a enjoyable few days here. We spent a couple of days sorting out housekeeping issues such as sending a parcel home and getting money and laundry done (these things do take a long time in Brazil, well finding the right places to go is what takes the time) but we also went on 2 days trips.

The first was to a  beach about 80 km south of Ponta Negra called Pipa. We had read in our guide book that this was a really nice place and was the hippy beach. It took a good hour and a half to get there, but was a really nice place and worth the trip. Once we were there we mainly relaxed on the beach. As we sat on the beach the tide went further and further out so that by the time we left we could have walked all around the coast line. We spent the day on Praia de Amor, but there was another beach where you were able to see dolphins up close. We did not unfortunatley have time to find this beach, but if you end up going it would be worth investigating.

The second day trip we made was to the beaches north of Ponta Negra. We went in a dune buggy with another couple Conor (Irish) and Esme (Scottish), who we found out were going to be taking the same flight as us to Belem in a weeks time! We spent the day driving along beaches and sand dunes, with 2 stops to sandboard and another stop to do a Zip line into a lake at Jacuma. All good fun. The dunes of Genipabu were pretty nice, but not as thrilling or spectacular as those that we had seen in Huacaccina Peru. It was still a really fun day out though and well worth it, and we also made new friends who we will see in Belem and hopefully share the amazon boat trip with!

A nondescript beach town with a touristy fort, loads of pizza restaurants, and a blah feel to it.  Just a resting place to break up the journey.