BY BUS

The company traveling between Fortaleza and Natal is Viação Nordeste. Its site contains schedules and prices. The trip lasts 5 hours and costs from R$69 (basic bus, with no air con).

Careful. There were several hold-ups during the year 2008. The armed robberies on buses travelling between the two cities took place in the western part of the state of Rio Grande do Norte. We do not advice night travel on that route – all the hold-ups happened at night time.

BY PLANE

Brazilian airlines Gol and Tam have direct flights between Natal and Fortaleza. Schedules and prices available at their websites.

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Destination: Fortaleza
Destination: Natal
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The Carnatal is here! That is, Natal’s carnival – Natal is the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Norte. Strictly speaking, we are dealing here with a micareta (a carnival that takes places outside the carnival period). It is the largest of such carnivals in the whole of Brazil, gathering more than one million people during four days of non-stop partying. It is the fourth largest carnival in Brazil (after Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Salvador de Bahia) and the one that brings together the biggest amount of baiano artists (not counting Salvador’s carnival, of course).

If you are keen on experiencing a carnival in Brazil, the Carnatal is an excellent option: not as overcrowded as the most popular carnivals, much safer, and considerably cheaper.

The Carnatal is very much like a smaller version of the Salvador de Bahia carnival. It has nothing to do with Rio and São Paulo carnivals. In Natal the dominant rhythm is axé – from Bahía, although a new fussion of axé baiano and forró nordestino, known as forroaxé, is becoming increasingly popular.

Photograph by Humberto Lopes, reproduced with permission.

WHEN DOES IT TAKE PLACE?

This year the Carnatal will take place between 29 November and 2 December. Its dates usually coincide with the first weekend in December and the Thursday and Friday previous to that.

WHERE DOES IT TAKE PLACE?

The Carnatal parades along a 3.5 km circuit that begins and ends in the Avenida Prudente de Morais. The artists perform on top of gigantic juggernauts [trucks], with larger than life loudspeakers on its sides.

HOW CAN I TAKE PART?

There are four different ways you can take part in the Carnatal: the bloco, the camarotes, the arquibancada and the pipoca. For the first three you need to buy a sleeveless t-shirt (abadá) in advance. It’s your passport to the Carnatal.

1. bloco: to be able to parade along a bloco you need an abadá. A bloco is a group of people with the same shirt parading along the same trio elétrico. The price of the abadás for the best blocos is expensive. All blocos have their own security staff. The trio elétrico is followed by a support truck with bars from where drinks are served (drinks are usually free for the members of the bloco), toilets and medical assistance. You need to be physically fit to take part in a bloco, after all, it’s a minimum of 10.5 km of non-stop jumping and dancing. There will be 9 blocos this year: bloco Nana Babana, bloco Cerveja & Coco, bloco Eva, bloco Bicho, bloco Cajú, bloco Me Leva, bloco Burro Elétrico, bloco Aviões Elétrico y bloco Cidadão Nota 10.
2. camarotes (= boxes). Though there are small boxes, usually hired by companies or private individuals for a minimum of 20 people, there are large boxes open to those who have bought a ticket for them. This year there will be three large camarotes: SkolBeat, Donna Donna y Cabo Fox. They have bands playing between the passage of one trio elétrico and the following one, a closed space with a DJ where you can dance electronic music, several bars with free drinks, and a few food stands (in some camarotes food is free). One side of each box faces the circuit; from there you can watch the trios elétricos and the blocos parading. The camarote is where more foreigners are seen.
3. arquibancada (= stands): stands found along the circuit. Family atmosphere and very few foreigners. The t-shirts that give access to the stands are affordable, approximately 30 Brazilian reais per day. The stands are usually crowded. Chemical toilets are found.
4. pipoca: it’s the Carnatal on the street, outside the boundaries of the official parade; for that reason, it is free. Not recommended for foreigners, as the big crowds draw a few bad characters along.

Prices are approximate and tend to increase as the dates of the Carnatal approach.

The following artists have had their presence at the Carnatal confirmed: Ivete Sangalo, Chiclete com Banana, Asa de Águia, Babado Novo, Margareth Menezes, Timbalada, Araketu, Jammil e Uma Noites, Ricardo Chaves, Thábata, Lane Cardoso, Banda Eva, Netinho, Capilé and the forró groups Aviões do Forró and Cavaleiros do Forró.

ADVICE:

• wear comfortable clothing, Bermuda shorts or jeans, and tennis shoes (no flip-flops/thongs or shoes)
• leave your ID at the safe of your hotel; just take a photocopy along with you
• bring only the amount of money you reckon you will need for the day, and keep it in a safe place. Be discreet when you handle your money
• don’t let alcohol ruin the party for you.

The official website of the Carnatal ocassionally broadcasts the event life. What follows here is a promotional video of the Carnatal.

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P.S.: the merit of this entry belongs to Ke_rule, a blog reader who fell in love with Natal.

Most of those who holiday in Natal will eventually visit Pipa. Here’s how to get there.

BY CAR

Leaving Natal, head south on the BR-101. At Goianinha, turn left and take the RN-003 direction Tibau do Sul. When reaching Tibau, turn right until you get to Pipa. Depending on traffic conditions, the trip can take between 1 1/2 hours and 2 hours. Careful with the final stretch, plenty of bends. Up until recently there were no gas stations in Tibau or Pipa. If you need to refill, Goianinha is the place.

You could drive along the beach as well, for as long as you were on a buggy or a 4-wheel drive.

The following map illustrates the route to be followed:

View Larger Map

BY BUS

Buses leave from Natal bus station. The company operating the service is Oceano. There are 10 buses during the week and just four during the weekend. No website I’ve heard of. I’ve seen timetables in several sites on the Internet but they do not match. I’m sure wherever you are staying in Natal you will be able to get the timetables for the Pipa service.

The cost of the ticket last year was R$8,50 each way.

SEE ALSO:
- Destination: Pipa
- Hotels and pousadas in Pipa

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Camarões restaurant is the star of Natal. As it name indicates, the strength of the establishment are prawns/shrimps: huge, meaty, succulent. They are sourced from the restaurant’s own prawn farm, and are prepared in different ways. The restaurant is frequented by locals. Friday and Saturday night are critical days, long queues form at the door. You always have the chance to enjoy a delicious caipirinha while you wait.

We visited the restaurant a couple of years ago, and prices were quite reasonable (around R$35 for a dish of prawns for two).

The restaurant Tábua de Carne is a classic of the Northeast cooking scene. With branches in João Pessoa and Campina Grande, its main base is in Natal, on the way to the Ponta Negra (there is also a smaller restaurant closer to the center of Natal).

Its plates are a homage to meat, served in gargantuant quantities that will satisfy even the heartiest of appetites (locals take the left-overs back home in special boxes provided by the restaurant). The restaurant satisfies both in quantity and in quality. We recommend a local specialty, the Carne de Sol à moda da casa. A dish is enough for three. Unbeatable value for money.

Pipa is a very popular destination south of Natal, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. Different groups come to Pipa, the party animals, the surfers, but also couples that want a bit of piece and quiet.

WE LIKE THE MOST: walk along the empty beaches during the low season; swimming with the dolphins; watching the turtles; those prawn crepes!

WE LIKE THE LEAST: the chaos during the high season, the precarious infraestructures

HOW TO GET THERE: by bus or by car from Natal

CAREFUL WITH: the tides, you won’t be able to walk to some beaches during the high tide; the pousadas in the centre of the village, incredibly noisy day and night during the high season

FAVOURITE PLACES: the baia dos Golfinhos (Dolphin’s bay), the praia do Amor (love beach)

PIECE OF ADVICE:

• if you get up early and walk to the Dolphin’s bay (you can walk from Pipa during the low tide) you will sea the dolphins swimming and running after fish really really close to the shore
• take water and a hat, in most beaches there isn’t a single shade

ACCOMMODATION: full listing of hotels and pousadas in Pipa

LINKS: Pipa com.br, Pipa Online, Praia da Pipa com.br

WEATHER FORECAST: The weather in Pipa (Tibau do Sul) for the next 10 days

GOOGLE MAPS: Pipa

PHOTOS: Natal y Pipa

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Along with Fortaleza, Natal is one of the main tourist destinations in Brazil, both for the national and the foreign market. The city in itself is not fascinating, and can be visited in one day. The fun is located north, in the dunes of Genipabu.

WE LIKE THE MOST: the sea, the food, the dunes

WE LIKE THE LEAST: the exploitation of the reefs in Maracajau; the seedy nightlife of the Ponta Negra

HOW TO GET THERE: Natal is well connected by plane to the main Brazilian airports. By road, you can arrive from João Pessoa in the south, or Fortaleza in the north. Natal is the nearest city in the continent to Fernando de Noronha.

CAREFUL WITH: the sun; as the wind blows all year round in Natal, one has the feeling that your skin is not getting burnt – nowhere else in Brazil we saw so many tourists with sunburns; careful at night time in Ponta Negra and the city centre; the trip to Maracajau and the snorkelling there is a total rip-off

FAVOURITE PLACES: the castle of the Three Kings, the Morro do Careca, the Genipabú dunes, Camurupim, the barra do Punaú

PIECE OF ADVICE:

• the big hotels are scattered along the Vía Costeira, an endless road far from the rest of the city
• in spite of Natal being one of the safest capitals in Brazil, don’t be caught off guard
• you can buy cheap and good crafts at the local shopping do artesanato
• food is excellent in Natal. Two unmissable restaurants: Camarões and Tábua de Carne.

ACCOMMODATION: full listing of hotels and pousadas in Natal.

LINKS: RNtur.com, Portal de Turismo, Natal online

WEATHER FORECAST: The weather in Natal for the next 10 days

GOOGLE MAPS: Natal

PHOTOS: Natal

ACCOMMODATION IN NATAL: search for Natal hotels on our search engine (results open on a new window)

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