Barra de Tabatinga beach, Natal, State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
“Natal” means Christmas in Portuguese. The city was baptized as such given that is was founded on December 25, 1599 by the Portuguese. Since then, the city has also been occupied by the French and the Dutch. Today, over four centuries later, the capital city of the State of Rio Grande do Norte has a population of close to 800,000 inhabitants.
Located 31 meters (102 ft) above sea level, Natal boasts many beautiful beaches, is surrounded by sand dunes, and is blessed with 300 sunshine days a year. For these reasons, the city has been nicknamed both the “City of the Sun” and the “City of Dunes”.
The city’s water is among the purest in Brazil and, according to NASA, Natal has the purest air in the Americas. Natal is one of the most visited tourist poles in Brazil.
Here, the sun shines close to 10 hours a day and soft sea breezes offset the extreme heat, thus offering a steady climate, ranging between 22ºC (71ºF) and 35ºC (95ºF) year-round. Additionally, the city is blessed with soft sea breezes Natal is also known as the “City of the Dunes” for hosting the Dunes Park, an 8 kilometers long and 1,8 kilometer wide stretch of preserved Atlantic Forest.
During World War II, Natal served as a rocket launch base for Americans. For this reason, Natal has also been called the “Space Capital of Brazil”.
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