Habous Quarter
A French-built medina that feels more authentically Moroccan than the original.
The Habous Quarter — also called the New Medina — is a planned neighborhood built by French colonial authorities in the 1930s as a model Islamic city, designed to house Moroccans who had been displaced by rapid urban expansion. The French brought in Moroccan architects and craftsmen to do it properly, and the result is something unexpected: a neighborhood that looks and feels like a traditional medina but has wider streets, cleaner sight lines, and a certain quiet order that the old cities of Fez or Marrakech never quite had. It sits just south of the city center, close to the Royal Palace, and it remains one of the few corners of Casablanca where the pace genuinely slows down.
Walking through Habous is a full sensory loop. The covered souks sell pastilla pastry and fresh msemen, argan oil and rose water, leather babouche slippers in every color, and intricate woodwork. The architecture is a distinctive hybrid — Moorish arches and geometric tilework married to French urban planning — and it holds together beautifully. The central square, lined with cafés where older men play cards over mint tea, is one of the most pleasant public spaces in the city. The Royal Palace gardens border the neighborhood on one side, lending it a composed, almost regal atmosphere.
This is not a tourist trap. Habous is a working neighborhood where locals shop for wedding gifts, religious goods, and specialty foods. That said, it's very visitor-friendly — vendors are used to browsers, prices are more fixed than in some souks, and the layout is easier to navigate than a true medina. Go on a weekday morning when it's quieter, pick up a box of Moroccan sweets from one of the pastry shops near the main square, and allow yourself to get slightly lost in the covered sections. Friday afternoons can be crowded and some shops close midday for prayers.