Glamour, music, entertainment, street artists, shopping …
The city dresses up in white... for a special night!

The “White Night” concept began gaining force when it was held with great success in Paris, and other European cities decided to follow suit. Events like this usually have humanitarian or charity aspects associated with them.

In tourist areas in Europe, the urban White Night concept evolved to include a commercial slant also, combining music and street entertainment with shops remaining open for late trading in a new lifestyle concept where glamour and good cheer gain ground and city centre dynamics take on new characteristics.

In Portugal, the only precedents for “Noite Branca” took place in Coimbra, when a group of students at the university there, based on the experience of some of their peers who had spent some time in the Italian city of Turin on the Erasmus exchange programme and had seen how popular the initiative had been with the Italians, decided to organise a similar event. Now Loulé has become the biggest precedent of all.

“Noite Branca - Algarve” (White Night – Algarve) was born in Loulé in 2007. And the outcome could not have been a bigger... surprise. In its first year, thousands flocked to the event that marked the end of summer, enjoying an atmosphere that afforded a surprising blend of good cheer, merrymaking and a magical evening’s entertainment.

As the 2008 edition of “Noite Branca – Algarve” approached, you could feel the expectation in the air. In a square kilometre of the city streets, the white-clad visitors, who flocked in even greater numbers than the previous year, enjoyed unique moments of sheer delight.

The shops stayed open that night and were decked out in white, their window displays done up especially for the event and the assistants dressed for the occasion. Jewellers’ shops, shoe shops, brand name boutiques... all offering discounts to customers wearing white!

The central part of the city is the stage with an idyllic backdrop, making you think of a huge living room where the colour white represents the connecting factor between the various features. The beat is in the street and the street comes alive. In the various squares, streets, nooks and crannies... the unexpected: a pianist gives soul to the façade of a historical building, a saxophonist wanders in and out of the shops searching for a more attentive audience and, on a stage that makes you think of a bed from the era of kings and queens, a jazz band performs a live act that makes all your senses tingle.

Loulé’s Municipal Market, one of the city’s emblematic features, is an integral part of the festivities and while its daily routine consists of commercial exchanges, the night is for brand new musical compositions written especially for the occasion and the venue.

And there’s no shortage of art, either. Street artists and eye-catching paintings. And street art too. Urban art. Black graffiti on a white canvas...

The rhythm in the streets is unstoppable. Jugglers, fire eaters, human statues, clowns, magicians, entertainers... Some fifty street performers – all dressed in white - fill the streets with colour and soul for the thousands of expected visitors!

And there’s music, lots of music. It’s no mere chance that this is considered the biggest chill out event in Portugal. Not only for the concept and atmosphere that it generates but also, and especially, because of the sounds that can be heard in the streets and the bodies swaying in time to the best national and international DJs. The special guest DJ in 2008 was Italian Nicola Conte, a master of chill out music and considered by many to be the great re-inventor of the DJ concept.

The streets are alive with the spirit of white. The decoration is the work of Maria Raposo, a renowned interior designer for whom Loulé represented an unprecedented challenge.

Entrance is free; we only ask that you come dressed – in white – for the occasion.

This is just a general outline of an innovative event that the Algarve and Loulé present as the Algarve’s Official End-of-Summer Party.

Come dressed in white. Feel the spirit of urban life to the full and take the opportunity to have fun with your family and friends!