Things to do · Rabat
When France made Rabat the capital of its Moroccan protectorate in 1912, a whole new city rose beside the old medina — wide boulevards, palm-lined avenues and a generation of art deco and Mauresque buildings laid out under Resident-General Lyautey and the planner Henri Prost. Today this Ville Nouvelle is the capital's working heart, and its spine, Avenue Mohammed V, is the best place to read Rabat's modern story. The new town forms part of the UNESCO-listed 'Rabat, Modern Capital and Historic City'. Here is how to explore it on foot.
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The grand central axis of the new town, running from the medina toward the administrative quarter. Its arcaded pavements, palm trees and early 20th-century facades make it the natural promenade for a walk through modern Rabat.
Rabat became the capital in 1912, and architect Henri Prost laid out the Ville Nouvelle on Lyautey's principle of keeping the new city separate from the historic medina — a planned modern layer that completes the city's UNESCO ensemble.
The new town is a showcase of inter-war architecture, blending European art deco with Moroccan-inspired Mauresque detailing — arches, zellij touches and wrought iron — across banks, ministries and apartment blocks.
The white art deco Catholic cathedral on Place du Golan, completed in the 1930s with its twin towers, is one of the new town's landmark buildings and a striking example of the era's modern church design.
The grand central post office on Avenue Mohammed V is a fine protectorate-era public building, its facade typical of the monumental civic architecture that lines the avenue.
The avenue and its side streets gather the institutions of the capital — the central bank, ministries and Parliament nearby — many housed in handsome Mauresque-deco buildings worth slowing down to admire.
The city's main railway station sits on Avenue Mohammed V, rebuilt in a clean modern style and a useful orientation point linking the new town to Casablanca, Tangier and the airport line.
The Ville Nouvelle is where Rabati daily life plays out — pavement cafés, bookshops, patisseries and boutiques along Avenue Mohammed V and the streets around it, busiest in the late afternoon.
Avenue Mohammed V runs straight up to the medina wall, so the modern city and the old one meet at a single point — a short walk takes you from art deco boulevards into the craft lanes of the medina.
The Ville Nouvelle is Rabat's 'new town', built from 1912 after France made the city its protectorate capital. Planned by architect Henri Prost under Resident-General Lyautey, it laid out wide boulevards and art deco buildings beside the historic medina and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing.
Avenue Mohammed V is the spine of the new town, lined with arcaded pavements, palm trees and protectorate-era architecture. Landmarks along or near it include the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre, the main post office, the central bank, Parliament and the Rabat-Ville railway station, with cafés and shops between them.
When Rabat became the capital of the French protectorate in 1912, the new town was built in the architecture of the era — art deco blended with Moroccan-inspired Mauresque detailing. This 20th-century layer is one of the reasons UNESCO inscribed Rabat in 2012.
Yes. Avenue Mohammed V runs from the administrative quarter straight up to the medina wall, so the modern boulevards and the old craft lanes meet at a single point. It is an easy, flat walk between the two.
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