The Rio Grande do Norte starts to open the fan of its tourist potential, beyond the traditional coast between Touros and Baia Formosa. The beaches of the Costa Branca, that make coast ending with the neighbor state Ceará, are starting to show their respective faces. It is in this Costa Branca that the tourist finds the enchanting meeting between the hills and sea, exuberant and white, very saline dunes and a vegetation of caatinga mixed with coconut palms and cajueiros. In this scene is the beach of Ponta do Mel, in Areia Branca, or simply, affectionately and poetic known as Mel, as it is called by the natives.

To a few it is the idea of leaving a place primitive and not devastated by man, but still preserving the wild beauty of the entire coast. Infrastructure for tourism is arriving now, with tarred highway, hotels and restaurants. It is tourism of the future that starts to be present in Ponta do Mel, contrasting with the natives of the region of the decades of 70’s and 80’s, when it was part of the alternative roteiros of mochileiros (back packers) and hippies.

Also in that time, between the houses of the fishermen, was the presence of families from neighboring cities, during the summer. Today, the beach is sought by people who value the nature and the ecological conscience, a mixture of ecological tourism, cultural tourism and tourism of adventure

Ponta do Mel is the most important beach in the consolidation of tourism and the development of the region. It has a characteristic landscape for falésias, dunes, oasis of coconut palms and fishing boats. It is a colorful town, for the fact that the agricultural zone arrives at the side-sea, where the fisherman mixes as a cattle tender (cowboy) and agriculturist. By the way, the farms that start in the Serra do Mel also arrive at the beach. Beyond the main village, which is at the beach front, in Ponta do Mel there are the communities of Mel de Cima, Mel de Baixo and Novo Mel or Serra da Ponta do Mel, that has approximately a total of about three thousand inhabitants.

Besides fishing, Ponta do Mel has a developed agriculture and subsistence cattle raising, finished with predominance for the creation of goats. In the Vila de Mel de Baixo, the spectacle is the thousands of needle fish drying in beaches before shipping them. Another attraction is the lighthouse, at the tip of the mountain range, indicating the advance from the sea for dozens of boats that daily operate from the terminal of Areia Branca, with its shipments of marine salt.

To arrive in Ponta do Mel, from Mossoró you can follow the main road until Areia Branca and from there go for asphalt road until the beach. Or else, if following the coast, in automobile with traction of four wheel drive.