Casablanca-Settat
Casablanca
Morocco's largest city, its port, and a mosque built out over the Atlantic.
- Best time to visit
- Year round; the Atlantic keeps summers milder than inland.
- Ideal for
- Arrivals and departures, architecture, seafood, city life
Introduction
Casablanca is Morocco's economic capital and its largest city by some distance. It is not a tourist town, and it does not pretend to be — it is a working port, a business centre and the place most international flights land.
It does, however, have the Hassan II Mosque, completed in 1993 and built partly over the water, with a minaret 210 metres high. It is one of the largest mosques in the world, and one of the very few in Morocco that non-Muslims may enter on a guided tour.
Why visit
- 01
The Hassan II Mosque is genuinely extraordinary, and open to non-Muslim visitors.
- 02
The 1920s–30s Art Deco and Mauresque architecture downtown is a serious and under-visited collection.
- 03
It is the main international gateway — a natural first or last night in Morocco.
Things to see
- The Hassan II Mosque, inside and out
- The corniche at Ain Diab
- The Art Deco quarter around Boulevard Mohammed V
- The old medina, small but genuine
- The Habous quarter, a 1920s reinterpretation of a medina
Things to do
- Take the guided tour inside the Hassan II Mosque
- Walk the Art Deco downtown with someone who can read the facades
- Eat seafood at the port or along the corniche
- Browse the Habous quarter for books and pastries
- Watch the Atlantic break against the mosque platform
Local experiences
- The scale of the mosque interior, which photographs cannot convey
- Atlantic spray on the mosque esplanade in winter
- Coffee in a 1930s café downtown
- Grilled sardines straight off the boats
Food
Food
Casablanca eats Atlantic: grilled sardines, sea bream, calamari and the freshest fish in the country, either at the port market or on the corniche. It also has Morocco's widest range of international restaurants, a legacy of being the business capital.
Culture
Culture
Casablanca grew from a modest port into a metropolis in barely a century, largely under the French protectorate, which is why its centre is a laboratory of early twentieth-century architecture. It is the most cosmopolitan and fastest-moving city in Morocco, and where much of the country's contemporary art and music comes from.
Best highlights
- 01
The Hassan II Mosque
- 02
The Art Deco downtown
- 03
The Ain Diab corniche
- 04
Atlantic seafood
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