About El Jadida: Overview & What to Expect
El Jadida is an Atlantic coastal city known for its Portuguese heritage, historic fortified city, beaches and seafood. Its coastal location makes it a popular destination for visitors looking for a combination of history and seaside life.
Located on Morocco's Atlantic coast south of Casablanca, El Jadida is best known for its Portuguese-built fortified old town, the Cité Portugaise, a UNESCO World Heritage Site dating to the 16th century when the city served as a Portuguese trading outpost. Its most famous landmark is the Portuguese Cistern, a vaulted underground water reservoir whose reflective flooded floor and shafts of light have made it a recurring filming location, including scenes from Orson Welles' Othello. Beyond the old town's ramparts and bastions, the city has a long sweeping beach and a more relaxed, local seaside atmosphere than Morocco's larger resort towns, popular with domestic vacationers in particular. Its proximity to Casablanca also makes it an easy addition to a coastal itinerary along the Atlantic.
