Casablanca: A Complete City Guide

Last updated: September 2025

Casablanca surprises people. The name carries a Hollywood romanticism that the city itself has never tried very hard to live up to, and that gap between expectation and reality is where it gets interesting. This is Morocco’s economic capital, its largest city, its port, and its commercial engine. It is not a place built for tourists, which is partly why the tourists who do come tend to leave with a more complicated and honest impression of Morocco than those who stick to Marrakech.

The medina here is smaller and less polished than Fes or Marrakech. The seafront is industrial in patches. The traffic is serious. But Casablanca also has the Hassan II Mosque, one of the most extraordinary pieces of architecture in Africa. It has a coastline, a genuine urban restaurant scene, and neighborhoods like Gauthier and Ain Diab that run at a completely different pace to anywhere else in the country.

The Hassan II Mosque

Almost everything written about this mosque reaches for superlatives, and the building earns them. Completed in 1993, it sits on a promontory over the Atlantic, its 210-metre minaret the tallest religious structure in the world. What the numbers do not capture is the effect of standing inside the prayer hall, which holds 25,000 worshippers and opens to the sky via a retractable roof. The craftsmanship, the zellige tilework, the carved plaster and cedarwood, is the work of over 10,000 Moroccan artisans.

Non-Muslim visitors can access the mosque on guided tours. Tours run most mornings except Friday and during prayer times. The price is reasonable and the experience is worth it. Going at opening time means smaller crowds and better light on the exterior from the sea side.

The Corniche and the Seafront

The corniche runs south from the mosque along a stretch of coast that mixes beach clubs, seafood restaurants, and the kind of weekend energy that Casablancans do well. Ain Diab is the residential and leisure district at the southern end. On summer weekends this whole strip fills up. On a quiet Tuesday morning in October it is a perfectly good place to have a coffee and watch the Atlantic.

The beach itself is urban rather than scenic. People come for the scene and the food rather than pristine sand. The seafood is the thing to eat here, and the restaurants along this stretch serve excellent grilled fish and fried calamari at prices that remain sane even in the tourist-facing places.

The Old Medina

Casablanca’s medina is compact and comparatively unhurried. Vendors are less aggressive here than in the more tourist-heavy medinas of Fes or Marrakech. The architecture is a mix of late 19th-century and early 20th-century construction, giving it a different character to the older imperial cities. It is worth a couple of hours of wandering, particularly around the central market area, without needing a whole day.

The Art Deco district just outside the medina is underappreciated. Casablanca was substantially rebuilt by French colonial planners in the 1920s through 1940s, and the downtown area around Place Mohammed V has a concentration of Art Deco and Mauresque buildings that would be a major attraction if they were in Europe. A self-guided walk around this area takes about 90 minutes and costs nothing.

Neighborhoods Worth Knowing

Gauthier is the upscale residential district that most expats and business travelers end up spending time in. Good restaurants, wine bars, patisseries, and the kind of low-key urban life that Casablanca does quietly well. Maarif to the south has a younger, more commercial energy with shopping and a dense restaurant scene. Anfa is old-money residential, quieter and greener.

The Quartier Habous, sometimes called the New Medina, was built in the 1930s as a planned Moroccan quarter. It is tidier and more manageable than the old medina, with good craft shops and one of the city’s better patisseries. Worth an hour if you are in the southern part of the city.

Getting Around

Casablanca has a functional tram network (T1 and T2 lines) that connects the main train stations and several key neighborhoods. Petit taxis are metered and plentiful, though the meter compliance varies. Careem and InDriver both operate here and remove the negotiation issue entirely. Driving in the city center is manageable if you have experience with dense urban traffic but is not necessary for a short visit.

Casa-Port and Casa-Voyageurs are the two main train stations. Casa-Voyageurs handles most intercity services including the Al Boraq high-speed train to Tangier and the regular network south to Marrakech and east to Fes. The airport is connected to Casa-Voyageurs by train, which takes about 45 minutes and costs around 45 MAD.

Where to Eat

Casablanca’s dining scene ranges from street-corner sandwich shops to some of the best restaurants in North Africa. For everyday meals, the rotisseries (poulet rotisseries) found in every neighborhood serve a quarter chicken with fries and bread for 25 to 35 MAD. The central market (Marche Central) has a row of seafood restaurants where you pick fresh fish from the counter and they grill it on the spot, typically 60 to 120 MAD per person.

For more formal dining, the Gauthier and Maarif neighborhoods have French-influenced bistros, Japanese restaurants, and Moroccan fine dining. La Sqala, set in a converted fortified garden near the medina, serves traditional Moroccan breakfast and lunch in a setting that feels removed from the city’s intensity. Rick’s Cafe recreates the film set from Casablanca and is worth a drink for the atmosphere, though the food is secondary to the experience.

Street food in Casablanca is excellent and safe if you follow the crowd. Look for stalls with high turnover. Bocadillos (baguette sandwiches) stuffed with kefta, merguez, or tuna are everywhere and cost 15 to 25 MAD. For a genuinely local experience, find a bissara cart in the morning and eat the thick fava bean soup with bread and olive oil for 5 MAD.

Practical Information

Mohammed V International Airport (CMN) is 30 kilometers south of the city center. The train connection from the airport to Casa Voyageurs station runs every hour and costs approximately 50 MAD, taking about 35 minutes. Taxis from the airport to the city center cost 250 to 350 MAD on the meter, though many drivers will try to negotiate a higher flat fare. Use the meter or agree on a price before getting in.

Rabat is just one hour north by train, and the high-speed Al Boraq line connects Casablanca to Tangier in about two hours. Marrakech is three hours south by regular train or roughly 2.5 hours by highway. Casablanca works well as a base for day trips, though most visitors spend one to two nights before moving on to other cities.

Accuracy note: Travel information, prices, and practical details in Morocco can change. This article reflects conditions at the time of writing. Verify current details before planning your trip.