Best things to do in Casablanca, including free and rainy-day options

Casablanca is a working port city, not a medina town. Its one unmissable sight is the Hassan II Mosque, which sits over the Atlantic and is the reason most travellers stop here at all. Around it you can build a solid day: the old medina next door, the whitewashed Habous quarter, the French-built Art Deco centre, and the Corniche for sunset.

If you have three or more nights in Morocco, treat Casablanca as a half-day or one-day stop on the train line between Rabat and Marrakech. If you have only two nights in the country, skip it and put the time into Marrakech or Fes.

Prices are 2026 estimates; confirm at the gate or ticket office. The mosque interior runs on fixed guided slots, so check times the day before.

The Hassan II Mosque is the city's anchor: a vast modern building on a platform above the water, with a tall minaret visible from much of the city. Non-Muslim visitors can go inside only on a guided tour at set times; outside those slots you can still walk the esplanade and the seafront below it, which is free and often the better experience. Dress modestly for the interior, cover shoulders and knees, and expect a shoe-off section.

The old medina, a short walk inland, is small and rough-edged compared with Marrakech or Fes. It is worth an hour for the market lanes, the produce and the low-pressure shopping. Next to it, the Central Market is a good lunch stop if you want grilled fish cooked to order.

The Habous quarter, south-east of the centre, was laid out in the 20th century in a neo-Moorish style: arcades, white walls, a royal palace frontage and a busy bakery street. It is calm, photogenic and free, and it works well in light rain because much of it is covered.

Downtown, the French protectorate left a dense run of 1920s and 1930s buildings — balconies, arcades, corner clocks — around Boulevard Mohammed V and Place Mohammed V. You can walk it yourself in a couple of hours; a licensed guide adds the history. Finish at the Corniche and Ain Diab, where the city goes at sunset for the promenade, the beach clubs and the seafood grills.

Casablanca is cheaper than Marrakech for the same standard of food and bed, and most of the best things to do here are free. Budget for taxis rather than entrance fees: the sights are spread along several kilometres, and a petit taxi hop across the centre is a small amount in dirhams (a few dollars). The tram is cheaper still if your route matches the line.

The mosque interior is the one ticket most visitors buy; treat the price as check and pay at the ticket office rather than through a reseller. A sit-down fish lunch at the Central Market or on the Corniche, a couple of taxis, coffee and a museum entry come to a modest day by Western European standards — well under USD 50 for one person, excluding alcohol, which is limited and expensive.

Do the mosque first thing or late afternoon: the light on the stone is best then, and the esplanade is cooler. Interior slots fill, so check times the day before and arrive early.

Dress for a port city: wind off the Atlantic makes the Corniche cool even in summer, and winter rain is real. Carry a light rain jacket between November and March.

Use the tram or a petit taxi rather than walking long stretches of the centre; pavements are uneven and crossings are informal. For fares and routes, see the transport page.

If you are here on a Friday, expect the mosque area to be busy around prayer times and some shops to open late. During Ramadan, daytime cafés and restaurants are quieter; plan around it.