24 Hours in Casablanca
Casablanca is a super cool and modern city. It doesn’t feel at all like what you would think of as “archetypal Morocco”. If you want to see sandy deserts and Aladdin-esque medinas, you’re better off in Fez or Marrakesh. Casablanca is more sea-side swankiness. It’s a great place to go out, dine at schmancy restaurants, and experience some neo-Moorish architecture. It’s best known for its gorgeous white mosque on the water, the Hassan II Mosque. It is also home to an international airport, so if you happen to find yourself in Casablanca for 24 hours, here’s what we would recommend!
Start with Brunch at La Sqala
This is a traditional Moroccan restaurant in a fun open courtyard setting. They have great staff, live music, and tasty dishes. Good daytime meal and is considered a classic in Casablanca.
If you’re a movie buff, you can visit the famous Rick’s cafe nearby from the film Casablanca.
Stroll the Old Medina
A medina in Morocco is the ancient old city, usually walled off from the rest of town. The Casablanca medina is much less expansive than Fez or Marrakesh, but a fun experience for the senses nevertheless. Handicrafts, street food, and lots of mint tea.
Visit the Hassan II Mosque
The centerpiece and main attraction of Casablanca is the Hassan II Mosque, a super beautiful piece of Neo-Moorish architecture built on both land and sea. It is one of the largest mosques in all of Africa and can hold more than 100,000 people! Not only is the mosque gorgeous (both inside and out) but it also seems to be the city’s playground and beating heart. Will get busy during prayer times, which you will definitely hear called out via speakerphones across town. To enter inside the mosque, wear conservative clothing covering your arms and legs + a headscarf for women.
Take a sunset walk along La Corniche
What’s really nice about the Casablanca seaside is the ocean breeze cools down the entire area, making temperatures very pleasant and perfect for a sunset walk. The mosque also looks amazing as it transitions to its lit-up nighttime form. Start from the mosque and follow the seaside La Corniche walkway west as it transforms into a lively night bazaar with escargot, fresh pomegranate juice, lights, and tons of energy. You can follow this five-mile ocean-side pathway for a pleasant sunset walk.
Grab dinner at the oceanfront restaurant Le Cabestan
You can walk all the way to this super trendy seafood restaurant located beneath a lighthouse. Reserve a table in advance if you can, this place is super popular and seems to transform into a lounge as the night goes on. Dinner was on the pricier end, but super delicious seafood with creative dishes. Lively, swanky atmosphere right on the water. Some of the bathrooms even have epic ocean views!
Relax on your balcony at one of the many Oceanfront AirBnBs:
There are a ton of AirBnBs with amazing ocean views for reasonable prices. We stayed at this one but there are many options available, most of which are super modern and luxurious. Staying in this area also allowed us to walk to all the main attractions and back home for the night (if you like walking).
Image: Airbnb
Grab a Flight or Train
We thought 24 hours was plenty of time to get a nice sense of Casablanca. For transiting to Marrakesh or Fes, you can take a short domestic flight or opt for an easy train ride, which is what we did. There are plenty of trains between the major cities throughout the day and you can either buy a ticket directly at the train station or purchase in advance on RailNinja.com. The train ride from Casablanca to Marrakesh is 2.5 hours while to Fez is 4-5.
Image: Hans Jürgen-Weinhardt
More Information:
For more information on traveling to Morocco in general, check out our Destination: Morocco page. On our trip, we flew into Casablanca and traveled via train to Fez for a few days, did a luxury glamping trip through the Sahara to Marrakesh, and took a train from Marrakesh back to Casablanca over 10 days. You can definitely do a shorter version of our Morocco loop as well. Here are our guides on Fez and Marrakesh too.
Map:
Check out our free Google Map with all of our recommendations from above!
