It's party week in Paris - but don't wake the neighbours!

This week sees the second edition of the Nuits Capitales festival, an event that was set up last year to counter the reports stating that nightlife in Paris was dead.

Over 200 events are promised, the largest of all being the launch party that took place at the 104 centre on Monday evening.

A slightly bizarre feature of the event is the fact that several of the concerts take place during the day, suggesting that the event is less about getting people to stay up all night and more about getting them outside in the first place, to discover new venues and artists.

As the official website says, "You should consider Les Nuits Capitales as an invitation to stroll and discover artists, but also - and perhaps primarily - as a journey off the beaten tracks of the city, to discover the many places (music bars, cafés-concerts, concert halls and clubs) which are, after dark, the cultural heart of Paris".

The event HQ has been set up for the week in the Gaîté Lyrique, and this is probably the best place to go both to get an idea of what is on and to profit from the special offers that you will be able to find here (free tickets and drinks, reductions...). This being France, it will also be the site for a series of debates and conferences on the theme of nocturnal life in the capital, from both a political and economic perspective.

For more information, see http://nuitscapitales.com