Ville Nouvelle · Marrakech food guide
Gueliz Food Guide: Cafés, Modern Moroccan & the Central Market
Gueliz is Marrakech's Ville Nouvelle — the new town laid out during the French Protectorate in the 1910s, with wide boulevards, Art Deco frontages and a café on every corner. If the Medina is where you eat tradition, Gueliz is where the city relaxes: espresso and pastries in the morning, a modern tagine or a steak-frites at lunch, ice cream in the evening heat. It is the easiest, most unhurried place in Marrakech to eat.
- Character
- Modern, leafy, relaxed
- Best for
- Cafés, brunch & modern Moroccan
- Typical spend
- Mid-range
- Food heart
- Marché Central & Ave Mohammed V
The food character of Gueliz
Built around the grand axis of Avenue Mohammed V, which runs from the Koutoubia towards the Menara gardens, Gueliz feels like a different city from the Medina: pavements, traffic lights, boutiques and a European café habit that Moroccans have made thoroughly their own. Locals come here to see and be seen over a coffee, and the pavement terraces fill from breakfast to late evening.
The food is broader and more international than in the old city. Alongside classic Moroccan restaurants you find French bistros, Italian trattorias, sushi, brunch spots, ice-cream parlours and glossy patisseries selling both French gateaux and Moroccan almond sweets. It is also where you find licensed restaurants serving wine, which are rarer inside the Medina walls.
For a visitor, Gueliz is the low-stress counterweight to a morning in the souks — no touts, clear prices, table service and air-conditioning. It is also a genuinely good place to eat modern Moroccan cooking, where young chefs reinterpret the tagine and the pastilla for a contemporary table.
What to eat in Gueliz
- Café breakfast & coffee
- The Gueliz ritual: a strong café noir or nous-nous (half coffee, half milk) with msemen, a croissant or a basket of Moroccan breads and jam, taken slowly on a pavement terrace.
- French-Moroccan patisserie
- Glass counters of gazelle horns (kaab el ghzal), almond briouat and French-style tarts and eclairs — Gueliz does the crossover pastry better than anywhere. See Moroccan pastries explained.
- Modern Moroccan tagine
- Contemporary kitchens plate lighter, prettier versions of the classics — chicken with preserved lemon, lamb with prunes — often with a wine list. Learn the originals via our chicken tagine recipe.
- Casse-croûte sandwiches
- Snack counters stuff baguette or batbout with grilled kefta, merguez, chips and salad — the quick, cheap Gueliz lunch that workers eat on the go.
- Ice cream & fresh juice
- In the heat, the parlours and juice bars along Mohammed V are an institution — Moroccan-style ice cream, avocado-and-almond smoothies and pressed seasonal fruit.
- International plates
- When you have had your fill of tagine, Gueliz has the city's best spread of Italian, French, Asian and brunch cooking, much of it licensed to serve alcohol.
Markets & souks nearby
Cooking classes & food tours here
- Cooking classes in Gueliz Bright, modern teaching kitchens in the new town — a good pick if a riad in the souks feels daunting or you are staying on this side of the city.
- Gueliz modern food tour A walk through the new town's cafés, patisseries and snack counters — the contemporary, non-souk side of how Marrakech eats.
- Café culture tour Built around the pavement-café habit: coffee, pastries and people-watching along Mohammed V and the Gueliz side streets.
Local tips for eating in Gueliz
- Lunch is still the big meal. Even in the modern new town, kitchens are proudest at midday; many restaurants do a good-value set lunch (menu du jour).
- Cafés skew male in the old style, but not the modern ones. Traditional pavement cafés can be very male; the newer brunch spots and patisseries are mixed and relaxed for everyone.
- Prices are fixed and clear. Unlike the souks, Gueliz runs on menus and tills — no haggling, and card payment is common in the larger places.
- It is a short taxi from the Medina. A petit taxi between Gueliz and Jemaa el-Fna is quick and cheap; agree the fare or ask for the meter (compteur).
- Ramadan changes the hours. During Ramadan many Gueliz cafés close by day and reopen after sunset — see Ramadan foods in Morocco.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gueliz a good area to eat in Marrakech?
Yes — it is the most relaxed part of the city to eat, with pavement cafés, patisseries, modern Moroccan restaurants and international kitchens, all at fixed prices and without the souk touts. It is ideal for breakfast, brunch and a calmer dinner.
Can you drink alcohol in Gueliz restaurants?
Some Gueliz restaurants are licensed to serve wine, beer and spirits, which is far more common here than inside the Medina walls. Alcohol is still limited to licensed venues rather than being a table default, so check when you book.
What is Gueliz known for food-wise?
Café culture and pastries above all — the pavement-terrace coffee habit, French-Moroccan patisseries, ice-cream parlours and juice bars along Avenue Mohammed V — plus a strong spread of modern Moroccan and international restaurants.
Is Gueliz cheaper or more expensive than the Medina?
Gueliz is more consistently mid-range: fewer rock-bottom cook-shops than the Medina, but also fewer tourist-trap terraces. Snack casse-croûtes here are cheap; sit-down modern restaurants cost more than a Medina cook-shop but prices are transparent.