Casablanca: A Complete City Guide

Casablanca is Morocco’s economic capital, largest city and a major port. Plan around its seafront, architecture and neighbourhoods; it offers a different city break from 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 at the time of its completion. 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. Checked on 19 October 2026, the foundation’s detailed visitor page lists 16 September to 14 March departures Saturday to Thursday at 9am, 10am, 11am and 2pm, and Friday at 9am, 10am and 2pm. 15 March to 15 September adds a 3pm departure on both schedules. During Ramadan, it lists Saturday to Thursday at 9am, 10am, 11am and 2pm, and Friday at 9am and 2:15pm.

The foundation’s homepage currently displays different morning times from its detailed visitor page. Confirm the day’s departures directly with the foundation before making a special trip.

Admission for foreign adults is 140 MAD. Moroccans, residents and foreign students pay 70 MAD; Moroccan students and children aged 4 to 12 pay 30 MAD; under-4s go free. Going at an early slot 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: many restaurants along this stretch specialise in grilled fish and fried calamari, and prices range from casual to expensive, so check the menu before you sit down.

The Old Medina

Casablanca’s medina is compact and comparatively unhurried. It sees far fewer visitors than the medinas of Fes or Marrakech, so it feels less geared to tourists. 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 where many expats and business travelers spend their time. 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 tram and busway network, tram lines T1 to T4 and busway lines BW1 and BW2, that covers much of the city, including Casa-Port station and the Ain Diab seafront; the operator’s route planner shows which line serves your stop. Petit taxis are plentiful and should use the meter, though compliance varies. Ride-hailing apps also operate here, but coverage and licensing vary by app; see getting around Morocco. 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; journey time and fares are below.

Where to Eat

Casablanca’s dining scene ranges from street-corner sandwich shops to serious restaurants with ambitious kitchens. Prices below are approximate, reviewed in September 2026, and move with menu changes, seasonal produce and the exchange rate. For everyday meals, the rotisseries (poulet rotisseries) found in every neighborhood typically serve a quarter chicken with fries and bread for around 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. For the fuller neighborhood-by-neighborhood picture, use the Casablanca restaurant guide.

Street food in Casablanca is worth exploring. Busy stalls with high turnover and food cooked hot in front of you are a better bet than quiet ones, though popularity is no guarantee of hygiene, so use your judgement if you have a sensitive stomach. Bocadillos (baguette sandwiches) stuffed with kefta, merguez, or tuna are easy to find and typically cost 15 to 25 MAD. For a local experience, find a bissara cart in the morning and eat the thick fava bean soup with bread and olive oil for around 5 MAD. The nationwide street-food guide gives these everyday foods more context beyond Marrakech.

Practical Information

Mohammed V International Airport (CMN) is 30 kilometers south of the city center. The train from the airport to Casa-Voyageurs takes around 30 minutes and costs 50 MAD in 2nd class or 70 MAD in 1st class. Check the day’s timetable with ONCF before building a plan around it. No official source publishes an airport taxi fare, so agree the total before getting in. The Casablanca airport guide covers the terminals, the train and the taxi in full.

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.