Casablanca
Casablanca is where non-Muslims can walk inside a Moroccan mosque. The Hassan II stands out over the Atlantic, the art deco centre is free to wander, and one night covers both.
Casablanca in a nutshell
Casablanca: what to expect
The numbers here are drawn from 55,000+ planned stops across Morocco on Stippl.
Casablanca earns one night, and that is how most travellers use it. Morocco's largest city is a modern, French-planned place of boulevards and trams rather than alleys, and it has two reasons to stop: the Hassan II Mosque, the only one in Morocco non-Muslims may enter, and one of the largest collections of art deco buildings anywhere. Most Casablanca stops get 1 night on Stippl.
The largest city in Morocco has its shortest stay. More than half of all Casablanca stops are a single night, and the city opens 33.0% of the multi-stop trips that include it on Stippl, straight off the airport train. Casablanca is a door into the country, and the desert circuit barely touches it; the southern stops belong to Marrakesh.
Arrive by train, see the mosque, walk the deco, eat fish. Take the tour at the Hassan II in the morning, walk Boulevard Mohammed V and the Marché Central, and have dinner on the Corniche at Ain Diab. Add a second night for Rabat, fifty minutes away by train and the city most often paired with Casablanca. Skip it if a medina is what you came for; Fes and Marrakesh do that far better.
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Travellers flying in or out
Mohammed V is Morocco's main airport with a train to the centre, and 31.0% of multi-stop Casablanca trips on Stippl end here.
Architecture lovers
The art deco downtown around Boulevard Mohammed V is the real find in Casablanca, with a whole walking-tour culture built around it.
Seafood eaters
Casablanca is the Atlantic city of Morocco: grilled fish at the Marché Central and on the Corniche, and oysters farmed down the coast at Oualidia.
Anyone after a normal city
Casablanca has pavements, trams and restaurants that take a booking, and far less selling pressure than Marrakesh or Fes.
Summer travellers
Casablanca is the one Moroccan city where summer holds, cooled by the Atlantic while Marrakesh bakes through July and August.
Maybe not for you: anyone looking for a medina, since the old town is small and Fes or Marrakesh do it far better; and travellers wanting a long city break, because one or two nights covers Casablanca.
The best time to visit Casablanca
The shoulders
March to May and October to November
Mild, dry days that suit walking the city, and the best light on the art deco facades. These are the comfortable months for a one-night stop.
Summer
June to September
The Atlantic keeps Casablanca far cooler than the interior, so this is the one Moroccan city where summer works. Mornings often start in coastal fog.
Winter
December to February
Mild, grey and wet by Moroccan standards, and the quietest stretch of the year for the city's hotels.
- Casablanca holds its summer when the rest of Morocco dips. July and August take 20.6% of the city's planned trip starts on Stippl, because the Atlantic keeps it pleasant while Marrakesh runs far hotter. Use it as the cool end of a summer trip.
- September is the busiest month for Casablanca on Stippl, and trips are planned about 47 days ahead. Business travellers fill the hotels from Monday to Thursday, so weekend rates are usually the softer ones.
- Ramadan shifts the mosque tour times. Many restaurants close in daylight and the evening city is busier than usual, so check the tour schedule before building a Casablanca day around the Hassan II.
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Things to do in Casablanca
The Hassan II Mosque tour
Guided tours are the only way in, hourly in the mornings, about €13 (140 MAD) and card only. See the retractable roof, the glass floor over the Atlantic and the hammam below.
The art deco walk
Walk Boulevard Mohammed V, the Cinema Rialto, Place Mohammed V and the streets around the Marché Central. The self-guided version works as well as a tour.
The Habous quarter
A 1930s French-built new medina in Moroccan style, with arcades, antiquarian bookshops, Pâtisserie Bennis and the Mahkama du Pacha with its 64 carved rooms.
The Corniche at Ain Diab
Walk the promenade in the evening, past the beach clubs to the seafood houses, with the mosque lit up at the eastern end.
Lunch at the Marché Central
The covered market from 1917 has fish stalls that cook what you pick, and oysters from Oualidia shucked at the counter.
A day trip to Rabat
The capital is fifty minutes away by train, with the Kasbah des Oudayas and the Hassan Tower, and it is the easiest day out from Casablanca.
The neighbourhoods of Casablanca
Ville Nouvelle
Art deco, markets, trams
The downtown around Boulevard Mohammed V, the Marché Central and the Cinema Rialto, walkable and on the tram. For first-timers and architecture lovers on a one-night stop.
The deco and the tram on your doorstep, and a taxi to the mosque.
Habous
Arcades, bookshops, patisseries
A calm 1930s quarter built in Moroccan style, with arcades, patisseries and the best shopping in Casablanca. For first-timers who want order and quiet.
The calmest streets in the city, and a ride to the sea and the bars.
Ain Diab
Sea air, beach clubs
The Corniche strip of beach clubs, seafood restaurants and bars, with the mosque at its eastern end. For nightlife and for anyone who wants to wake up by the sea.
The sea and the evening scene, and twenty minutes into town for the rest.
Maarif
Shops, cafés, everyday city
A commercial and residential district of shopping streets and working restaurants, the everyday side of Casablanca. For food lovers and longer stays.
Real local restaurants, and nothing to see on the doorstep.
Anfa
Hilltop villas, green, quiet
Affluent hilltop streets of villas, embassies and restored 1930s houses, where the design hotels are. For couples and luxury stays.
Quiet and green, and a taxi to everything you came for.
Old Medina
Small, gritty, busy
The small pre-Protectorate old town between downtown and the port, a short walk from the mosque. For budget travellers and anyone curious about raw city life.
Cheap beds beside the mosque, and nothing like the medinas of Fes.
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Where to stay in Casablanca
Stay in the Ville Nouvelle for a first visit: the art deco streets, the Marché Central and the tram are on foot, and the mosque is a short taxi ride. Most travellers give Casablanca 1 night on Stippl, so choose for the evening you want, and pick Ain Diab if that means the sea. Weekend rates are often the softer ones, since business travellers fill hotels midweek.
Ville Nouvelle
€35–120
Deco-district hotels and doubles a short walk from the tram, €35 to €120 a night.
Habous
€30–90
Small hotels and guesthouses in a quiet quarter, €30 to €90 a night.
Ain Diab
€50–180
Seafront hotels beside the beach clubs and the promenade, €50 to €180 a night.
Maarif
€35–110
Business and mid-range hotels among the shops, €35 to €110 a night.
Anfa
€80–300
Design hotels in restored 1930s villas on the hill, €80 to €300 a night.
Old Medina
€20–60
The cheapest beds in Casablanca, basic rooms near the port, €20 to €60 a night.
What to eat in Casablanca
Whatever came in that morning, salted and grilled whole
Farmed 180 km down the coast and served all over the city
The conical-lid stew; the coastal version is fish with chermoula
Layered griddle bread and the thousand-hole pancake
Gazelle-horn almond pastry, the Habous speciality
Gunpowder green, spearmint, sugar
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Casablanca customs and what not to do
Dress for the mosque tour
Cover shoulders and knees and take your shoes off inside, because the Hassan II is a working religious building rather than a museum.
No photos during prayer
The Hassan II tours are timed around the prayers, and photography stops while people are praying inside the mosque.
French comes first here
Casablanca is the most French-speaking city in Morocco, and English is thinner outside the hotels than the hotels suggest.
Rick's Café is a recreation
It opened in 2004 and the film was shot in Hollywood, so go to Rick's for the pianist and the cocktails, not the history.
Alcohol is easier here
The Corniche bars, the hotel bars and Rick's serve openly in Casablanca, which is not true in Fes or the Marrakesh medina.
Do
- Take the tram, which is clean, cheap and how the city actually moves
- Take the train from the airport rather than a taxi
- Pay for the mosque tour by card, since the desk does not take cash
Don't
- Expect a medina; the old town is small and nothing like Fes or Marrakesh
- Take a petit taxi without the meter running
- Walk the far ends of the Corniche late at night, where the crowds thin out
What a Casablanca trip costs
Backpacker
€25–40
A downtown bed, market food and the mosque ticket.
Hotel and a restaurant
€70–130
A double in the deco district, a proper seafood dinner and taxis.
Comfortable
€200+
A design hotel in Anfa, a top seafood table and a driver.
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Fun facts about Casablanca
The Hassan II Mosque's minaret rises 210 metres, the tallest in the world. A laser at the top of the minaret points the way to Mecca.
The Hassan II Mosque holds 25,000 people in its prayer hall. The courtyard takes another 80,000, and part of the building stands out over the Atlantic.
Casablanca the film was shot entirely in Hollywood. Rick's Café in the city opened in 2004 as a homage, with a pianist and cocktails and no link to 1942.
The Habous quarter is a new medina built by the French in the 1930s. It was designed from scratch in Moroccan style, arcades, patisseries and all.
Casablanca produces around half of Morocco's industrial output. It is a working city first, home to close to four million people, and a visited one second.
The Museum of Moroccan Judaism is the only Jewish museum in the Arab world. It occupies a former orphanage in the Oasis district of Casablanca.
Pâtisserie Bennis in Habous has been baking since 1938. Its gazelle-horn almond pastries, kaab el ghzal, are the quarter's speciality, and the queue outside is the sign.
Local tips for Casablanca
Take the airport train
The train from Mohammed V reaches Casa Voyageurs in about forty minutes for around €4 (45 MAD), a fraction of what a taxi asks.
Voyageurs, not Casa Port
Al Boraq and the long-distance trains leave from Casa Voyageurs, so check which station your ticket names before you head out.
Ride the tram
Four tram lines cover most of what a visitor wants in Casablanca, at a flat €0.75 (8 MAD) with two hours of free transfers.
One night is the norm
Most travellers give Casablanca 1 night on Stippl: the mosque, the deco walk and dinner by the sea, then on by train.
Keep to the busy Corniche
The middle of the Corniche is busy and policed after dark, while the far ends empty out, so stay on the stretch with the bars.
Insist on the meter
The red petits taxis should run a meter; if the driver will not switch it on, agree the fare before you get in.
Casablanca questions, answered
Yes, and one night is how most people do it. Most Casablanca stops in the Morocco trips planned on Stippl are 1 night, which fits the Hassan II Mosque tour, an art deco walk and a seafood dinner on the Corniche. Add a second night only if you want a day in Rabat.
Often it is. Casablanca opens 33.0% of the multi-stop trips that include it, of everyone who plans the city on Stippl, straight off the airport train from Mohammed V. From Casa Voyageurs the rail runs on to Rabat, Fes and Marrakesh, so a first night here leaves the next morning free for the journey.
Put Casablanca at the start or the end, where the airport is, and pair it with Rabat rather than the desert. Lay the route out in Stippl to check the train times, then show it to people who have been, in communities like r/Morocco. Travellers who plan Casablanca on Stippl do it about 47 days ahead.
Yes. The Hassan II in Casablanca is the only mosque in Morocco non-Muslims may enter, on a guided tour that runs hourly in the mornings with one afternoon slot. Tickets are paid by card only. Cover shoulders and knees, and expect to take your shoes off inside.
No, and that is the most useful thing to know before arriving. Casablanca is a modern, French-planned city of boulevards, trams and office towers, with only a small old medina. Come for the mosque, the art deco and the Atlantic, and go to Fes or Marrakesh for alleys and souks.
No. Rick's Café in Casablanca opened as a recreation, and the film was shot entirely in Hollywood. It is a well-made homage in a restored house, with a pianist and good cocktails, and worth a drink as long as you know what it is.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Casablanca in Stippl
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