Explore the real-world places that appear in L'Étranger by Albert Camus. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Maison de Retraite de Marengo, Appartement de Meursault, Bureau de Meursault, La Plage de Tipaza / Bains de mer, Appartement de Raymond Sintès and 9 more.
Marengo (Hadjout), ~70 km west of Algiers — The opening scene of the novel
The novel opens with one of literature's most famous lines: 'Aujourd'hui, maman est morte. Ou peut-être hier, je ne sais pas.' Meursault travels by bus to this nursing home outside Algiers to attend his mother's vigil and funeral. He drinks café au lait, smokes cigarettes beside the coffin, and famously cannot cry. His emotional detachment here becomes the central evidence against him at his later trial, where the prosecutor will argue this indifference proves he is a moral monster capable of murder.
Marengo was a French colonial settlement in Algeria, known today as Hadjout, located in the Tipaza province west of Algiers. The town was founded in the early 19th century as part of French colonial expansion into Algeria. Retirement homes and charitable institutions were established in such provincial towns to house elderly Europeans far from the city.
Hadjout is a modest Algerian town of roughly 30,000 people. The colonial-era buildings from Camus's time have largely been repurposed or fallen into disrepair. The town is not a literary tourist destination, though scholars and devoted Camus readers occasionally make the journey.
Belcourt Quarter, Algiers — Meursault's working-class neighborhood
Meursault lives in a modest apartment in the Belcourt district of Algiers, the working-class neighborhood where Camus himself grew up. From his balcony, Meursault spends his Sunday afternoons watching the street below — the families, the young men, the sky changing color — in a kind of passive, sensory contentment. It is here that he encounters his neighbor Raymond Sintès, who draws Meursault into the violent conflict with the Arabs that will lead to the murder on the beach.
Belcourt (now Belouizdad) was a dense, working-class European quarter of Algiers during the French colonial period. Albert Camus was born in Mondovi but raised in Belcourt, and the neighborhood deeply shaped his understanding of the pied-noir working class. It was a neighborhood of small apartments, modest cafés, and mixed European communities.
The neighborhood, renamed Belouizdad after independence, remains a densely populated urban district of Algiers. Many colonial-era apartment buildings still stand, though the demographic and cultural character has transformed entirely since French Algeria. Camus enthusiasts sometimes visit to see the building where he himself grew up on Rue de Lyon.
Algiers Port District — Meursault's shipping company office
Meursault works as a clerk at a shipping company near the Algiers port. After his mother's funeral, he returns to work without ceremony. It is here that he meets Marie Cardona, a former typist colleague, the day after the funeral — they go swimming together, then to see a Fernandel comedy, then spend the night together. His boss later offers him a promotion to Paris, which Meursault declines with characteristic indifference, saying one life is as good as another.
Algiers was one of the most important Mediterranean ports during the French colonial era. The port district housed numerous shipping companies, trading houses, and commercial offices that were the economic lifeblood of French Algeria. The Algiers waterfront was a hub of commerce connecting North Africa to metropolitan France.
The Port of Algiers remains one of the busiest ports in the Mediterranean and a major hub for Algerian imports and exports. The waterfront has been modernized significantly. The historic colonial commercial buildings near the port have been repurposed for Algerian state enterprises.
Algiers shoreline — Sunday swimming with Marie
Meursault and Marie go swimming at the beach near Algiers the morning after his mother's funeral. This scene establishes the novel's sensory, Mediterranean lyricism: Meursault describes the cool water, the warmth of the sun on his skin, and Marie's laughter. These beach scenes represent the only moments of genuine pleasure and presence in his life. Later, Marie asks if he loves her — he says probably not, but they could marry if she liked. His physical joy at the sea contrasts sharply with his emotional vacancy.
The beaches along the Bay of Algiers were popular leisure destinations for the European pied-noir population throughout the French colonial period. The Mediterranean coast near Algiers features stretches of sandy beach accessible from the city, and sea-bathing was a central part of colonial leisure culture in Algeria.
The beaches along the Bay of Algiers, including those at Sidi Fredj and the western suburbs, remain popular with Algerian families, particularly in summer. The coastline retains much of the natural beauty Camus described, with the clear Mediterranean waters and the intensely blue Algerian sky.
Visit: Plage de Sidi Fredj (park)
Belcourt Quarter — Meursault's neighbor and accomplice
Raymond Sintès, a pimp and warehouse worker, lives in the same building as Meursault. He asks Meursault to write a letter for him — designed to lure back his Arab mistress so he can punish her. Meursault agrees without moral hesitation. When Raymond beats the woman and is summoned by police, he asks Meursault to testify on his behalf; again Meursault complies. This casual moral complicity sets in motion the chain of events leading to the confrontation on the beach and the murder.
In French Algerian society, buildings in working-class districts like Belcourt housed a mix of European settlers — Spanish, Maltese, French, Italian — in close proximity. The social world Camus depicts, of petty criminals, warehouse workers, and small clerks, was very much the reality of Belcourt tenement life in the 1930s.
The specific building where the fictional Raymond lived cannot be identified, but the dense apartment blocks of Belouizdad still present much the same architectural character as Camus's era. The neighborhood remains a lively, working-class urban district.
Algiers coastline, near Pointe Pescade — The murder of the Arab
This is the climactic scene of the novel's first half. Meursault, Raymond, and their friend Masson spend the day at a beach bungalow with their women. After a violent altercation with Arabs who have been following Raymond, Meursault takes Raymond's revolver and walks alone back to the beach. There, under the brutal, blinding Algerian sun, he encounters one of the Arab men sheltering by a rock near a spring. Meursault fires five shots — one, then four more. He will later explain it only as the fault of the sun. It is the novel's pivotal, absurd act.
The beaches west of Algiers, toward Pointe Pescade (now Raïs Hamidou), were dotted with private bungalows and cabins rented by working-class Algiers families for weekend escapes. The rocky coastline mixed with sandy stretches is consistent with Camus's detailed, sensory description of the murder scene.
The coastal area near Raïs Hamidou and the western suburbs of Algiers remains a stretch of Mediterranean coastline. Some beach facilities exist in the area, though the specific location of Camus's fictional beach cannot be pinpointed. The landscape — rocky outcroppings, springs, intense summer heat — is unchanged.
Visit: Plage de Raïs Hamidou (park)
Bab el-Oued, Algiers — Meursault's imprisonment awaiting trial
After his arrest, Meursault is held in the Algiers prison for over a year while awaiting trial. His account of prison life is matter-of-fact and unsentimental. He adjusts to the cell, learns to sleep away the hours, thinks of Marie less and less. The examining magistrate visits him repeatedly, brandishing a crucifix and demanding that Meursault acknowledge God — Meursault refuses. His lawyer urges him to express remorse; Meursault finds the whole performance pointless. He discovers that a man can get used to anything.
The Barberousse Prison (also called Serkadji Prison) was the main civil detention facility in Algiers during the French colonial period. Built in the 19th century, it became notorious during the Algerian War of Independence as the site of executions of Algerian FLN militants. It was one of the most significant penal institutions in French Algeria.
The Serkadji Prison (its post-independence name) still functions as a prison in Algiers, located in the Bab el-Oued district near the Casbah. It is not open to the public. The prison became notorious again in 1995 for a violent inmate uprising. It remains a sensitive and operational penal institution.
Place Addis-Abeba, Algiers — Meursault's trial
The second half of the novel culminates in Meursault's trial at the Algiers courthouse. The trial becomes a grotesque theater: the prosecution focuses not on the murder itself but on Meursault's behavior at his mother's funeral — that he didn't cry, that he drank coffee, that he went swimming the next day. The prosecutor calls him a moral monster with no place in a civilized society. Meursault observes the proceedings with detached curiosity, as if watching someone else's trial. He is condemned to death by guillotine, which the judge declares will be carried out in a public square.
The Palais de Justice of Algiers was a grand colonial building constructed in the late 19th century, reflecting the imposing architectural ambitions of French Algeria. It served as the seat of the French colonial judicial system and was the site of countless trials involving both European settlers and Algerian subjects throughout the colonial period.
The Palais de Justice remains the functioning courthouse of Algiers, located near the harbor in the heart of the city. The building retains much of its colonial-era architecture. It is an active judicial institution and not open to general visitors, though its exterior is a notable landmark in Algiers.
Barberousse Prison, Algiers — Meursault's final hours
In the novel's final pages, Meursault awaits execution in his death-row cell. A prison chaplain visits repeatedly, urging him to turn to God; Meursault explodes in a rare burst of anger, seizing the chaplain and shouting that God is not worth his time, that his life, exactly as it was lived, was the only truth. After the chaplain leaves, Meursault achieves a kind of peace: he opens himself to the 'gentle indifference of the world,' feels a bond with his dead mother, and hopes on the day of his execution that there will be a large, hostile crowd to greet him with cries of hatred.
Death row in colonial Algerian prisons was a grim reality. Condemned prisoners awaited guillotine execution, which was carried out within the prison grounds or in public spaces. The guillotine was used in Algeria well into the 20th century, and the psychological experience Camus describes draws on the philosophical literature of condemned men, including accounts Camus studied for his essay 'Réflexions sur la guillotine.'
Serkadji Prison continues to operate as an active penal institution. The death penalty exists in Algerian law but has been under a de facto moratorium since 1993. The prison is closed to the public.
Historic old city, Algiers — Background presence of Arab Algiers
Though Meursault never enters the Casbah, the Arab population who live there form an unseen, unnamed presence throughout the novel. The Arab men who follow Raymond and eventually confront Meursault on the beach come from this world — a world Meursault and his European circle barely perceive. Camus's critics, most notably postcolonial scholar Edward Said, have noted the Arabs in the novel are never named, never individualized, existing only as threats or shadows. The Casbah represents the silenced colonial subject at the heart of the novel's moral universe.
The Casbah of Algiers is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, an ancient medina dating back to the Ottoman period (16th century) and earlier Berber settlements. During French colonialism, it was the densely populated heart of the Muslim Algerian population, largely segregated from the European neighborhoods below. It was also the center of resistance during the Algerian War.
The Casbah is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a living neighborhood of roughly 50,000 residents. It is accessible to visitors and features traditional Ottoman and Moorish architecture, including mosques, fondouks, and palaces. Preservation efforts are ongoing as many structures have deteriorated.
Visit: Casbah d'Alger (historic site)
Belcourt, Algiers — Céleste's restaurant, Meursault's daily ritual
Meursault eats nearly every meal at Céleste's restaurant, a neighborhood café in Belcourt. Céleste is warm, loyal, and fond of Meursault; he appears as a witness at the trial, tearfully defending Meursault as 'a good man.' It is at the restaurant that Meursault observes the odd, mechanical woman who reads through a radio program guide, checks off every item, and leaves precisely — a minor figure who fascinates him as an example of another human being's strange, self-contained existence. These meals form the repetitive texture of Meursault's ordinary life.
Neighborhood restaurants and cafés were central social institutions in working-class Algiers. In Belcourt, small bistros and Algerian cafés served as community gathering points for the European pied-noir working class. The café culture Camus depicts was a real and vital part of daily life in colonial Algiers.
Belouizdad (formerly Belcourt) still has numerous neighborhood cafés and small restaurants serving the local population. No establishment specifically claims to be Céleste's restaurant, as it was a fictional creation, but the café culture of the area persists.
Belcourt / El Madania, Algiers — The funeral procession
After the vigil at Marengo, Meursault's mother is buried in a ceremony that Meursault endures rather than experiences. He notes the blinding sun, the heat, the drone of the priest's words. He cannot remember his mother's age. The old people from the home weep; Meursault does not. Thomas Pérez, his mother's devoted companion at the home, faints from the heat during the procession. This funeral, witnessed without grief, becomes the prosecution's primary weapon: the inability to cry at his mother's funeral will be cited as proof that Meursault lacks a human soul.
European cemeteries in Algiers served the pied-noir Catholic population throughout the French colonial period. The cemetery associated with Belcourt served the working-class European community of that quarter. After Algerian independence in 1962, many of these European cemeteries fell into neglect as the pied-noir population departed en masse.
Several colonial-era European cemeteries remain in Algiers in varying states of preservation. The Catholic cemeteries of Algiers contain the graves of generations of French Algerians, many now overgrown or maintained only sporadically. Some are accessible to visitors, though they are not major tourist sites.
El Hamma, Algiers — Context of Camus's colonial Algiers
While not a location in the novel itself, the Museum of Fine Arts represents the cultural world of French Algiers that formed the backdrop of Camus's imagination. Camus was a regular visitor to Algiers's cultural institutions and wrote for the Théâtre de l'Équipe. The world of colonial Algiers — its Mediterranean light, its heat, its European culture transplanted to North African soil — saturates every page of L'Étranger and is preserved in the collections and colonial-era institutions of the city.
The Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Alger was founded in 1930 to coincide with the centenary of French Algeria. It was conceived as a showcase of European and French art in colonial North Africa and houses significant works including paintings by Delacroix and other orientalist artists who depicted Algeria. It was part of the cultural apparatus of French colonial Algiers.
The Musée National des Beaux-Arts d'Alger remains one of the most important art museums in North Africa, housing over 8,000 works including European masters, Islamic art, and contemporary Algerian art. It is open to the public and remains a central cultural institution of the Algerian capital.
Visit: Musée National des Beaux-Arts d'Alger (museum)
Rue de Lyon (now Rue Belouizdad), Algiers — Camus's childhood home
Though not a location in the novel, this is the apartment in Belcourt where Albert Camus grew up in poverty with his illiterate, half-deaf mother and his grandmother. The experience of growing up poor and European in working-class Algiers — watching the street from a window, feeling the Mediterranean sun, navigating a world of dockworkers and small clerks — is transposed directly onto Meursault's existence. Meursault's apartment, his view from the balcony, his Sunday torpor, are all drawn from Camus's lived memory of this neighborhood.
Albert Camus was born in Mondovi (now Dréan) in 1913 and moved to Belcourt as an infant after his father was killed in World War I. He grew up at 93 Rue de Lyon in extreme poverty. His mother Catherine worked as a cleaning woman; the family had no radio, no books. Camus won a scholarship to the lycée and escaped poverty through education, but Belcourt remained the emotional geography of his imagination.
The building at what is now Rue Belouizdad still stands in the neighborhood. A plaque commemorates Camus's residence there. The apartment itself is privately occupied. Algerian scholars and Camus devotees occasionally visit the street to see the building, though it is not an official museum or public site.
More by Albert Camus: The Stranger locations map · All Albert Camus books
Other nearby maps: The Truth About the Savolta Case by Eduardo Mendoza locations map