The Best Resorts to Book in Natal, Brazil

This gleaming white apartment hotel has been cleverly designed with three sections that tier down towards the beach, meaning every room has at least a partial ocean view. Top rooms boast big terraces with cinematic seascapes spied through the windows. Sip on caipirinhas in the freeform pool’s swim-up bar, or hit the hot tub for some jet-aided relaxation. With indoor and outdoor play areas, there’s loads for the little ones if you’re looking for a family-friendly vacation, too. Plus, you have direct access to the sands of Ponta Negra Beach.

With its palm-frond palapas and bamboo touches, they’ve got the tropical vibe nailed at this Natal resort. Broad views along Ponta Negra Beach and the Atlantic beyond certainly add to the paradise-island mood. Three pools feature the likes of waterfalls, a swim-up bar and a splash pool for the kids. Spend a little more on your room and you’ll be treated to ocean views, too.

This vast beach resort in Natal towers over an unspoilt stretch of Ponta Negra Beach 1mi (1.6km) north of the restaurant- and bar-crowded center of the suburb. With a suite of big pools and a long menu of activities for kids and adults, it’s immensely popular among Brazilian families on package holidays. Rooms come in a palette of pale yellows and oranges, with light woods and taupe floor tiles. Bathrooms have walk-in showers, and almost all rooms are fronted with balconies featuring breakfast tables and ocean views.

This sprawling oceanfront Natal resort is a 30-minute walk from the Ponta Negra restaurant and bar scene, so most guests stay in, and for good reason – the beach is right in front, and there’s a shady garden with acres of pool space, waterslides, artificial waterfalls and toddler-friendly paddling areas. And if that’s not enough, the hotel organizes fitness classes, live music, kids’ clubs and barbecues. Accommodation comes in all shapes and sizes, from simple boxy rooms with beds to plusher granite-floored suites with luxuries such as quality linens. Top tip: ask for a room with an ocean view.

Wish is a big old package hotel, with rooms in concrete pyramids overlooking a huge, snaking, palm-shaded pool next to a stretch of golden beach. The resort has its own suite of restaurants (together with bars, live-music venues and kids’ clubs), but you’ll find a good alternative selection a 10-minute cab ride away in Ponta Negra. Standard rooms have simple appeal, all contemporary creams with taupe tiles and work desks. The best face the rising sun and have floor-to-ceiling windows and balconies.

The best thing about D Beach is the beach – it’s the best stretch of sand in Ponta Negra, right at the foot of the giant Morro do Careca dune, and it’s just outside the lobby. Dozens of restaurants and bars lie within a few minutes’ walk. Rooms are in a cluster of identikit cottages, shaded by palms, with balconies and blue-shuttered windows. Interiors are uncluttered spaces in grey tile and white, with IKEA-style furnishings. Walls are bright and breezy, hung with flea market paintings of nautical scenes.

Resorts in Natal don’t come with better locations than Kristie Resort, right at the foot of the Morro do Careca dune, in the thick of the bar, restaurant and nightlife action. The hotel has an impressively big pool (with a swim-up bar serving all-day cocktails) and organizes all manner of tours and activities. Standard rooms are plain and modern, in light beiges and whites, offset with laminate woods and with plenty of luggage storage areas and closets. Superior rooms are marginally larger, with balconies.

Relaxation is the name of the game in the simple rooms of this appealing Natal option. It’s technically a beach hotel, but it offers many of the same amenities as a resort; expect the ubiquitous whites and beiges, patent leather sofas and tranquil wall art. That said, you won’t be spending very much time indoors – outside the lobby, Ponta Negra Beach stretches long and wide, backed by towering dunes. You can windsurf or paddleboard right off the sand; or if you prefer to laze or sunbathe, the hotel has a large pool, beachside jacuzzis and an all-day cocktail bar.