The ville nouvelle — the French-built quarter laid out in the 1920s — centres on Place Mohammed V, a large square ringed by cafés, a couple of patisseries, and a row of small hotels. It is the social heart of the town, busy in the early evening when families come out to walk and eat ice cream.
The architecture is modest French colonial: arcaded shopfronts, pitched green-tiled roofs that have become the local signature, and broad streets that contrast with the tangled medina above. A turn around the square with a coffee on the terrace at Café Chems is the easiest introduction to small-town life in the Middle Atlas.