Casablanca is Morocco's economic capital and largest city — a modern, cosmopolitan metropolis built on Atlantic trade rather than imperial history. Its centrepiece, the Hassan II Mosque, is one of the most extraordinary buildings on earth, and its restaurants, Corniche and Art Deco streetscape reward anyone who lingers. For many it is the gateway into the country before the high-speed line carries them south toward Marrakech.
Planning · Updated June 2026 · 6 min read
What are the must-see sights in Casablanca?
The Hassan II Mosque is the reason most travellers pause in Casablanca rather than transferring straight on to Marrakech or Fes — and it earns the stop on its own. Completed in 1993 on a headland over the Atlantic, it is the third-largest mosque in the world (after Mecca and Medina) and the largest in Morocco open to non-Muslim visitors. Its minaret reaches 210 m — among the tallest anywhere — and at night a laser from the tip points toward Mecca, visible up to 50 km out. Guided interior tours (ticketed, outside prayer times) reveal a prayer hall of staggering craftsmanship: hand-carved cedar ceilings, zellij floors, onyx columns and a retractable roof.
The Corniche d'Ain Diab — the Atlantic seafront boulevard running west from the mosque — is where Casablancans spend their weekends, strung with beach clubs, fish restaurants and café terraces. The Morocco Mall and the financial-district towers signal the modern city's scale, but the Habous quarter (the Nouvelle Médina), laid out by French planners in the 1930s in a deliberately Moroccan idiom, is its most architecturally coherent pedestrian zone: a planned medina with a central souk of patisseries, bookshops and leather goods at gentler prices, and far less hustle, than the Marrakech souks.
- Hassan II Mosque — third-largest mosque in the world; open to non-Muslims on guided tours; minaret 210 m.
- Corniche d'Ain Diab — Atlantic seafront boulevard; beach clubs, fish restaurants, evening promenade.
- Habous quarter — 1930s planned 'new medina'; patisseries, bookshops, calmer crafts shopping.
- Old Medina and Central Market — Casablanca's historic core; smaller and far less intense than the Marrakech medina.
- Villa des Arts — contemporary art space in a 1934 colonial villa; rotating exhibitions.
- Place Mohammed V — central Beaux-Arts square ringed by French Protectorate administrative buildings.
What Art Deco architecture can you see in Casablanca?
Casablanca holds one of the world's largest and best-preserved concentrations of Art Deco architecture, raised during the French Protectorate (1912–1956). The buildings clustered around the Centre-Ville — especially along Boulevard Mohammed V and around Place des Nations Unies — show a hybrid sometimes called Mauresque or Moroccan Art Deco: European Deco massing dressed in Moroccan ornament, with carved plasterwork, zellij tiles, keyhole arches and cedar screens.
A self-guided loop taking in the Central Post Office (a 1918 Mauresque landmark), the former Hôtel Lincoln, the Cathédrale du Sacré-Cœur (now a cultural centre) and the apartment blocks along Rue du Prince Moulay Abdallah runs about 90 minutes and exposes a layer of the city the airport-transit traveller never sees. The association Casa-Mémoire runs guided Art Deco walks in French and Arabic on selected weekends.
What is the food scene like in Casablanca?
Casablanca's restaurant scene is the most sophisticated in Morocco: a large resident business and diplomatic crowd, plus the heaviest diaspora return traffic of any city, sustains everything from street tagine to contemporary Moroccan fine dining. The Corniche has the densest run of good fish restaurants; La Sqala, set within the old city walls near the medina, is a beloved traditional kitchen in a historic fort. Chez El Bab in the Habous quarter leans into pastilla and Fassi cooking.
For the freshest seafood, the Central Market (Marché Central) on Rue Chaouia has a fish hall where the Atlantic catch is laid out each morning, and the attached grills will cook whatever you pick from the stalls next door — one of the best-value fish lunches in the country. Agree the price of the fish and the cooking before you sit down.
How long should you spend in Casablanca and how do you get there?
One night and a full day covers the Hassan II Mosque, the Corniche, the Habous quarter and an Art Deco walk. Two nights buys a slower pace and an evening on the Corniche, which is at its best around sunset. Casablanca does not ask for the medina-deep investment that Fes or Marrakech reward, but it is far more than a place to change planes.
Mohammed V International Airport (CMN), 30 km south-east, is Morocco's main international hub and, for many, the front door to a Marrakech trip. The airport train into Casa Voyageurs (every 30 minutes, about 45 minutes) is the easiest link; taxis to the centre take 30–45 minutes in traffic. Al Boraq high-speed trains run to Rabat (45 minutes) and Tangier (2 hours), while the standard ONCF line carries you south to Marrakech in around 3 hours.
- Airport train: CMN to Casa Voyageurs, about 45 minutes, every 30 minutes.
- To Rabat: Al Boraq, 45 minutes.
- To Marrakech: ONCF train, approximately 3 hours direct.
- To Fes: ONCF, approximately 4 hours via Rabat.
- Recommended stay: 1–2 nights, often as the entry point to a wider Marrakech-based itinerary.