Genipabu

Genipabu Review

Massive dunes have made this one of the best-known beaches in the country. The area is most commonly explored on thrilling, hour-long dune-buggy rides. You have two choices: com emocão (literally, "with emotion"), which rivals any roller-coaster, or sem emocão (without emotion), a little calmer but still fairly hair-raising. Buggy operators, who usually find you before you find them, charge around R$150 for five people. You can also explore the dunes on camels imported from southern Spain. Other activities include half-hour boat rides and sky-boarding (also called sky-surfing)—which is basically snowboarding down the dunes. The beach is attractive, although it gets very crowded during high season. Because Genipabu is close to Natal, it's primarily a day-trip destination. There are a few small pousadas and restaurants near the beach, but the town shuts down at night. Buses leave from the Rodoviário Velho every half hour or so for the half-hour trip, also the city bus costs R$1.75. Depending on where you are in the city, you might have to take two buses to get there.