Azul Conecta runs turboprop flights to Fortaleza and Natal, and Azul Brazilian Airlines connects to Recife, so arriving by air is possible if not particularly efficient. The bus is where most travelers end up. Guanabara and Nordeste both run the Natal route hourly - about four hours on a good day - and the same companies handle the Fortaleza leg, which also takes four hours and costs around R$40. Five buses a day run to Aracati, a ninety-minute trip that opens up the gorgeous beach town of Canoa Quebrada as a connecting destination. One overnight bus runs south to João Pessoa for travelers making their way down the coast. Shared taxis to Tibau beach cost about R$10 per person and leave when they fill up.

Local buses exist but the routes and schedules are opaque enough that most travelers skip them entirely. Taxis are easy to find at hotels and in the center. Moto-taxis - where you ride pillion on the back of the driver's motorcycle - are cheaper and faster, and you will see them everywhere, but be aware that the helmets tend to be communal and somewhat worn, and the rides themselves can feel brisk. For short hops in daylight they work well. For longer trips or at night, a proper taxi cab is the safer choice. The city is walkable in its central core, with most of the downtown sights within a few blocks of the Public Market and the Santa Luzia Cathedral.

The Resistance Memorial (*Memorial da Resistência*) is the one essential stop. It tells the story of Mossoró's 1927 confrontation with the *cangaceiro* outlaw Lampião and his gang, who attacked the city and were - uniquely in Lampião's long career - beaten back by the townspeople. Photographs of Lampião, his partner Maria Bonita, and the civic militia that defended Mossoró fill the walls. The Petroleum Museum, housed in the old Elizeu Ventania Arts Station railway building, lays out the city's other story: onshore oil, 47,000 barrels a day, 3,500 wells across the backlands. Downtown churches - the Santa Luzia Cathedral, built between 1772 and 1773, and the smaller São Vicente Chapel where the 1927 battle actually took place - are all within a ten-minute walk of each other.

The Praça de Convivência is an open-air mall near the center with bars, restaurants, snack bars, and fast food together in one place. Weekend nights bring live music and a crowd. It is generally considered safe. Trattoria serves a mixed menu - Japanese, Italian, and regional dishes - at reasonable prices, and also has live music on weekends. Sebosão (the name translates roughly as "big greasy") is a local standard for sandwiches and drinks, not pristine but cheap and cheerful. Kobal sells regional food in a street-market setting. For drinks later, Cândidos, Trattoria, and Acapulcos all keep late hours, and the local bar scene runs well into the morning in the neighborhoods around the center.

A cluster of hotels lines the highway near the bus station, which is convenient if you are arriving late or leaving early. Sabinos, near the UFERSA university campus, is a reasonable mid-range option slightly out of the center but well connected. If you are coming specifically for Mossoró Cidade Junina - the massive June festival that draws over a million people to the city each year - book early. The Arts Station becomes festival ground for the entire month, with quadrilha dance performances, forró concerts, food stalls, and the theatrical performance *Chuva de Bala no País de Mossoró* (Bullet Rain in the Land of Mossoró), which reenacts the 1927 battle with Lampião in front of the São Vicente Chapel where it actually happened. Accommodation in June is the most expensive of the year and sells out weeks in advance.