The Best Hostels and Cheap Hotels to Book in Natal, Brazil

This affordable pousada is very well located – just four blocks from the best stretch of Ponta Negra beach, with a whole variety of cafes, restaurants and juice bars close by. Simple rooms colored in shades of lemon-yellow and white tile are grouped around a diminutive pool. Some have space for four. Those on the upper floors receive the most natural light. Stays are as good value as any Natal hostel – with rates including a buffet breakfast. There is a modest car parking space outside the hotel.

This cheap Natal hotel can be found just a few blocks from Ponta Negra beach, on a quiet residential street. The food and drink options here leave guests spoilt for choice – there are pizza restaurants and bars within a few minutes’ walk. Rooms, in large brick units, range from simple spaces with unfancy en suites to larger apartments with kitchenettes. Top tip: rooms on the upper floors are airier than those on the ground floor. Ask when you reserve for one of those with a sea view.

This Natal hotel is hard to beat for location: Ponta Negra beach is less than a minute’s walk from the lobby; restaurants, beach bars and cafes are yours for the choosing all around. Rooms include doubles, triples and quadruples – with space a double and two single beds. All are airy – with picture windows and French doors, opening onto balconies. Décor is simple but smart – faced in wood-laminate and with warm white walls decorated with local weave-art. There’s even a small pool.

Here’s a simple, modest Natal hostel, overlooking a café- and restaurant-lined street about a five-minute walk from Ponta Negra beach. Rooms are neat little spaces tricked out in whitewash and plain tile, with soft beds and cute little workstations. The best are the ones at the corners of the building on the upper floors, as they offer partial beach views and allow for cool sea air to circulate. In a group? There are small four-bed dorms, with wooden bunks beds but – take note – no locker space.

Cheap Natal hotels can be bland and backpacker-basic. Not so Safari. This budget boutique property has two fine little swimming pools, for adults and kids – one with a waterfall cascading through jungle vegetation. Expect also a restaurant, a car park and staff on hand to organize activities including kite- and windsurfing. Rooms strut their stuff with gentle designer flourishes – modish, minimalist rough brick and light bamboo, a palette of whites and creams and arty corkscrew-look floor lamps in chunky dark wood. And best of all, the hotel is right on Ponta Negra beach so you can swim first thing daily.

With a pool, games room and a range of simple, well-maintained apartments, this Natal hotel is one of Ponta Negra Beach’s best cheapies. Rooms are airy affairs, flaunting shades of cream and light woods, with clean white floor tiles and plenty of wardrobe space. Some have kitchenettes with gas cookers and large fridges as well as breakfast balconies. Staff can organize tours – from kite- and wind-surfing to walks along the dunes. When you’re hungry, there are restaurants and bars within five minutes from your room.

A ski chalet in tropical Ponta Negra beach? Not exactly, but the villas in this hotel have steep Alpine gables of the kind designed to handle snow. Accommodation ranges from duplex doubles with plush dark-wood interiors to brightly colored family suites with space enough for four. There’s a tiny swimming pool and a massage pavilion in the lush, flower-filled garden. Meanwhile, staff can organize kite- and wind-surfing, as well as tours throughout Rio Grande do Norte state.

Natal hotel locations don’t get better than Brisa do Mar. Staying here you’re right on Ponta Negra beach, surrounded by restaurants and bars. Compact rooms are relaxing spaces, all beige floor tiles, cream walls and smart wood-effect furnishings, lent color by wall paintings in bright tropical greens and reds. The hotel has a pool and sundeck next to the sand whilst rooms on the upper floors are the brightest and airiest, but if you’ve got heavy bags, note that there are no elevators.