Our buggy driver, Tyson, was aptly named for his physique: a real heavyweight black Brazilian. But in temperament, he was a cuddly bear of a man, full of smiles and laughter. As we hit the top of the giant sand dunes, he asked: “Com emoção?” Did we want him to drive us “with emotion”? Yes, we cried, and he embarked on the most fantastic series of skids and turns in this enormous bowl of sand until we were screaming and giggling like kids at Thorpe Park.

We agreed, in fact, that the fun you can have in the sand dunes of Natal was far better than any theme park. “It’s because you know it’s more dangerous,” explained Rosa, my 12-year-old. “It’s way more exciting.” If you’re not too hung up on health and safety, which we are not, you can have a whale of a time.

Indeed, if you’re really daring, you can head for Aero-Bunda, a contraption set up by some enterprising locals at the top of a high sandy slope in the middle of the dunes. You sit in a webbing harness (with no clips to secure you) and hurtle down a zipwire until you eventually splash into a freshwater lagoon about 50m below. You then swim to a barge that takes you back to shore. A cannibalised VW Beetle at the top of the slope pulls you back up on a monorail. If you ask for the “ com emoção” option, the boys will make sure that you bounce up and down as you go for no extra cost. It was such fun that we had three turns each.

The buggy drivers hired by tour operator Thomson aren’t supposed to take you to Aero-Bunda, so you may have to make your own arrangements. But the great thing about Natal is that it is very easy to have an independent holiday once you are there if you don’t want simply to bask in the security of the package.

Natal itself is an undistinguished coastal city, with few colonial buildings, but its miles-long beach is magnificent, and the Atlantic there is warmer even than the Caribbean. All the hotels are right on the beach, so your only big decision each morning is whether to lie by the pool or walk a few steps farther on to the sand.

The beach feels more Brazilian. Hawkers walk up and down with bikinis or sunglasses or CDs (and the inevitable football shirts) for sale. But they are friendly and happy to take no for an answer. And you are more likely to be sunning yourself next to a local or a Brazilian on holiday from Rio than a foreign tourist.

Americans haven’t discovered Natal at all and nor, it seems, have Germans. Most of the tourists are Brazilian, Portuguese or Scandinavian with a smattering of Brits now that Thomson has started flying there. One result is that not much English is spoken, though it’s remarkably easy to get by with a sprinkling of phrase-book Portuguese and a smile. Another is that the area still feels very Brazilian and not at all spoilt.

Brazil is a great destination if you want to go somewhere more exotic than Europe but less dirty and poverty-stricken than, say, India. It reminds me of Portugal about 20 years ago. If you travel down the coast, you will still see men on horseback and the odd primitive shack. But the city is well maintained, the taxi drivers all turn on their meters without being asked and there are good shops and restaurants.

Natal’s hotels are either enormous concrete boxes plonked at intervals along the northern end of the beach with sand dunes behind, or smaller, more characterful inns at the southern end, in the suburb of Ponta Negra. The advantage of the latter is that you can easily walk to bars, restaurants and shops. The disadvantage can be noise.

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Our hotel, the Manary Praia, had promised to be the nicest in Natal. With just 24 rooms, lovely antiques and delicious food, the Manary officially ranks as one of the 38 most charming hotels in Brazil. Unfortunately the management had chosen the week we were there to build a charming new wall and doorway by the pool, which meant constant drilling, hammering and banging from 7.30am until night-time, just below our balconies and easily audible from our rooms. What with the added noise from the huge building site next door, it was a choice between inserting ear-plugs or escaping each day.

Our best escape was to Pipa, a hippy surfing hangout two-and-a-half hours down the coast. You can take a Thomson excursion but it’s cheaper, more fun and more flexible to go on a local bus. We paid just £2.50 each for seats on a comfortable coach.

Pipa is gorgeous. The town is full of stylish little boutiques, bars, restaurants and surf shops. There are three beaches: one with its own school of dolphins, one with cafés and fishing boats and one where the cool surfers hang out.

At the end of the fishermen’s beach, just before the headland, we stumbled across the Coconut Bar, run by Marcus, a Brazilian former IT consultant who lived in London and Brussels for many years before finally deciding to pack it in, wear nothing but surfer shorts, and open a palm-fringed gastro-bar. His food was fabulous and very cheap. We paid £25 for a delicious lunch for four, including beers. Had we decided to stay the night in Pipa, we would have returned for sunset and supper. It was that good.

Once you are there, Brazil is incredibly cheap and delightfully cheerful. The nine-hour direct flight and four-hour time difference make it just about practicable for a week’s holiday. Break out of your hotel and you can have great fun exploring.

Just one word of warning: check before you go that a new hotel (or pool wall) is not springing up next door.

Need to know

Getting there: Mary Ann Sieghart and her family travelled with Thomson Faraway Shores (0870 1604529, www.thomson.co.uk). One week’s B&B at the Manary Praia hotel in Punta Negra costs from £794 per person, based on two sharing, for departures between November 22 and December 17. The price includes return flights from Gatwick and transfers.

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