See the real Morocco: Casablanca's modern vibes or Marrakech's historic buzz?

Casablanca is a modern metropolis forever tied to a film classic, while Marrakech is an unbroken link to a long-ago past. Both are dazzlingly seductive, but which will you visit first? Our experts help you decide.

By Amy Cooper

Casablanca really should have a disclaimer for first-time visitors: any resemblance to Casablanca the movie is purely coincidental - and also highly unlikely. For those hoping to retrace the steps of Bogie and Bergman, real-life Casablanca won't amount to a hill of tagines. The 1942 classic was shot entirely in a Californian studio, Rick and his bar were fictitious and, while we're raining on the romance, he didn't even say: "Play it again, Sam."

But ditch the Hollywood baggage and you'll discover that Morocco's largest and most modern city beats any movie. In fact, being real is Casablanca's secret chermoula. Unlike tourist-magnet Marrakech, a sort of Morocco theme park where everyone's a snake charmer or slipper salesman, Casablanca is where real Moroccans live. It's the economic capital, and young people flock there for top jobs, bringing dynamism, creativity and a progressive urban vibe.

This is the city of the dazzling annual WeCasablanca Festival, where techno and indie artists line up beside Morocco's traditional Gnawa musicians. Casablanca's art scene mixes old-school mosaics with big, bold street murals by local artists, painting the White City in rainbow colours. Mers Sultan, where emerging filmmakers and artists cluster among fetchingly scruffy hole-in-the-wall snack bars and bookshops, was just deemed the world's second-coolest neighbourhood by Time Out.

Cool, refreshing Casablanca has a climate to match, thanks to its perch on the Atlantic coast. While Mal's melting in Marrakech, I'll be chilling in summer highs of 25 degrees - comfortable conditions for strolling along the oceanfront Boulevard de la Corniche, windsurfing in the big blue or basking on the golden sands of Ain Diab beach, fringed by buzzy bars and restaurants.

Neither Hollywood nor Marrakech can match the cinematic spectacle of Casa's Hassan II Mosque, Africa's largest mosque and the world's tallest religious building. Right on the seafront and with a 200-metre minaret and 34-tonne titanium gate, the architectural marvel is one of the few Moroccan mosques open to non-Muslims.

While Marrakech has overcrowded alleyways, Casa has wide, palm-lined boulevards with beautiful art nouveau and French modernist buildings framing those ubiquitous sea views. There's happy haggle-free shopping at the new medina and an excellent tramway network to speed you effortlessly from riad to souk to Michelin restaurants and designer stores. And Casa is not too cool to oblige fans with Rick's Cafe, a meticulous re-creation of the movie's famed bar complete with waiters in fezzes and a piano man crooning As Time Goes By.

If you want authentic Morocco plus a sprinkle of tinseltown minus the mayhem, Casablanca's your city. You should go - maybe not tomorrow, but soon.

By Mal Chenu

The heady atmosphere and endless din erupting from Djemaa El Fna, Marrakech's main city square in the medina (old city) quarter, is seriously seductive. Even the snakes are entranced, charmed from their baskets by the archetypal screeching drone of pungi flutes.

Djemaa El Fna is a reverberating chorus of musicians, acrobats, haggling and the clacking of backgammon tiles. Every so often, the lead singer (aka muezzin) overdubs the backing track, bursting forth his call to prayer from the 77-metre-high minaret atop the nearby Koutoubia Mosque.

You won't know where to look. Or listen. Or sniff, as the scented sizzle of roasting lamb is everywhere. The intoxicating sensory overload will have you as spellbound as a hypnotised cobra.

Built in the 12th century, the ramparts (or city walls) of Marrakech stretch 19 kilometres around the medina. Made of red-orange clay and up to six metres high in places, the ramparts have 20 gates allowing access, each a fascinating portal into the city and into history. Bab Agnaou, to pick one at random, is the main public entrance to the royal kasbah, which houses El Mansouria Mosque, the Saadian Tombs and El Badi Palace. The numerous souks set among wildly winding roads offer further thrills. Souk Semmarine is typical, overflowing with spices, jewellery, leather goods, colourful rugs, sumptuous textiles and traditional handicrafts.

Marrakech also boasts sumptuous gardens, including those within luxe hotels inside enclosed riads - oases from the bustling, thrilling, aromatic delights of the day. Frenzied and serene at once, Marrakech could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Casablanca is okay but it doesn't "amount to a hill of beans" by comparison. In any event, we've heard enough about the white house lately - be it in Spanish, English or Trumpese - to last a lifetime.