OZU /MOROCCO /CASABLANCA /GUIDE
The neighbourhoods of Casablanca
5 h route4 stopsBest: The centre in the morning. The Corniche at sunsetUpdated July 2026
There is no headline old town here: there are layers of a century of strange history stacked on top of each other. The old medina, pre-dating the French, the Art Deco centre they raised, the new medina they built imitating the old one, and the modern coast, where the city goes at weekends.
None is "the pretty quarter" in the usual sense, and that’s what makes it interesting: here you see Morocco working, not Morocco posing. This route walks all four.
The route, stop by stop
4 STOPS- 01
The old medina
The city that pre-dates the protectorate, squeezed between the port and the colonial centre. It has no monuments or palaces, and compared with Marrakech’s or Fez’s it’s tiny and modest. That’s exactly why it’s interesting: nobody touts you, nobody offers you anything, nobody plays guide. It’s a working-class neighbourhood where people live and shop. Half an hour is enough to see it and to grasp the difference between a real medina and a brochure one.
- 02
The art deco centre
The heart of colonial Casablanca: Place Mohammed V, Boulevard Mohammed V and their streets, with the largest concentration of Art Deco in Africa. It’s grimy and half-ruined, and completely lived in. Look up above the ground-floor signage: the curved balconies, the latticework, the old cinemas. Nobody preserves this open-air museum, and it’s the best reason to walk this city.
- 03
Habous, the new medina
In the 1930s the French raised a new quarter imitating a traditional medina: arcaded streets, arches, squares and workshops, but with plans, street widths and drainage. A pastiche, on paper.
In practice it worked and today it’s a living, pleasant neighbourhood: the best Arabic bookshops in Morocco, legendary patisseries, crafts with marked prices and no hassle.
If you want to buy something without haggling for three quarters of an hour, buy it here.
- 04
The Corniche and Aïn Diab
The west of the city, following the Atlantic: beach, pool clubs, restaurants and bars. It’s where young, moneyed Casablanca goes out, and it resembles nothing else in the country. At sunset it fills with families strolling and the mosque is cut out against the water at the far end. It’s the least "Moroccan" neighbourhood in the city and an equally real part: Morocco is also this.
Frequently asked
Does Casablanca have a medina?
Yes, two: the old one, pre-dating the protectorate, small and monument-free but authentic and tourist-free. And Habous, the "new medina" the French built in the 1930s imitating a traditional one, today the city’s best shopping area.
Where to stay in Casablanca?
In the centre if you’re here for the Art Deco and want to walk, on the Corniche or in Aïn Diab if you prefer the sea, a pool and a weekend mood. The city is large, so location matters more than in Marrakech.
Is Casablanca like Marrakech?
Not at all: Casablanca is the economic capital, modern, Atlantic and full of traffic, with no postcard medina or tourist souks. Marrakech is the historic walled city. They’re two very different faces of the same country and they complement each other.