Casablanca tours

Here are a few things to see and do when you visit Casablanca on our Morocco tours. 

• Enjoy seeing coastal views, people-watching, and eating at restaurants along the Corniche, Casablanca’s seaside boulevard.
• Wander among the Old Medina’s whitewashed lanes, and break for tea at one of its buzzy cafes.
• Marvel at impeccable craftsmanship inside the opulent, oceanfront Hassan II Mosque, the largest in Morocco. It’s the only mosque in the city that non-Muslims are permitted to visit.
• Peruse the shops and market stalls at Quartier Habous—a marketplace designed in the 1930s by Morocco’s French rulers—for souvenirs, and have a cup of mint tea at one of its many cafes.
• Browse the tiny Abderrahman Slaoui Museum’s collection of Moroccan jewelry, Kohl flasks, and colorful ceramics from Fes.
• Sip cocktails at Rick’s Café, which opened in 2004 and was inspired by Rick’s Café Américain, the bar made famous by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in the classic film Casablanca.

Learn more about Rick’s Café—and get a behind-the-scenes look at film director Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca—here →

For the best weather, consider traveling to Casablanca in June, July, and August—warm, sunny months that see little rain. Bonus: Many of Casablanca’s best festivals take place in summer, too—even more reason to consider visiting at that time.

Because travelers tend to gravitate more toward the iconic cities of Fes, Marrakesh, Meknes, and Rabat, travelers visiting Casablanca don’t often have to contend with heavy crowds no matter when they visit this city on the Atlantic coast. Still, some periods are busier in the city than others, so consider tours of Casablanca accordingly. Busy times in Casablanca include late-January and late-March to early April, when school kids are on vacation, as well as during the Eid al-Fitr holiday in the spring, which marks the end of the month-long Ramadan fast.

Casablanca highlights to check out while on our Morocco tours include:

• The Hassan II Mosque, the second-largest mosque in the world and the only mosque in Casablanca that non-Muslims are permitted to enter

• Mohammed V Square, Casablanca’s central plaza and home to dozens of public buildings designed in the neo-Moorish, or Mauresque, style

• Casablanca’s Old Medina, with its maze of alleyways

• The Casablanca Cathedral, which was built in the 1930s

• The modernist-style Notre Dame de Lourdes church

• The Corniche, Casablanca’s oceanfront promenade

• Quartier Habous, the 1930s-built marketplace that’s filled with commercial stalls and cafes

Here are a few essentials travelers should pack for their guided tour of Casablanca:

• Comfortable walking shoes. Casablanca tours often include a good bit of walking around the city. Comfy shoes equal happy feet. 

• Sun protection. The Moroccan sun can be quite strong, so bring a brimmed hat, sunglasses, SPF, and even a light wrap to shield your shoulders, neck, and arms from UV rays.

• A light scarf or wrap. That same wrap that’ll protect your shoulders from the sun will come in handy for covering your head and shoulders if you decide to enter a mosque or other religious monument.

• Long pants or skirts, as well as full-coverage tops and shirts. When visiting mosques and other religious sites, visitors of all genders should cover their legs, shoulders, and chests.

• Loose, flowy clothing. Loose, light clothing will help keep you cool in the heat, and it aligns with Morocco’s more conservative style of dress.  

• A small backpack or cross-body bag. Exploring Casablanca can mean lots of walking, time outdoors, and visits to local markets, so keep essentials, like a bottle of water and some local currency handy in an easy-to-carry bag.

A highlight of our Casablanca tours is the food you’ll try alongside expert local guides. Order these dishes wherever you spot them:

• Tagine. Cooked in a cone-shaped, earthenware pot of the same name, this aromatic stew—often made with chicken or lamb—is arguably Morocco’s most famous dish. Casablanca’s coastal location makes for some truly excellent fish tagines.

• Couscous. This fluffy staple of Moroccan cooking—it’s made by steaming tiny granules of semolina or ground durum wheat—has a neutral flavor, which makes it equally suitable as a side dish for meat and veggies, or as a base for salads and stews.

• Seafood. Casablanca sits along the Atlantic coast. That means the city’s restaurants serve up some excellent, fresh seafood—line fish, prawns, oysters, and lobster—which you can try on our guided tours of Casablanca. (Head to the city’s port to watch fishermen unloading their daily catch.) Fish chermoula is a classic, can’t-miss dish and features fish marinated in a blend of herbs and spices.

• Harira. Another classic dish for travelers on guided tours of Casablanca to try is this traditional soup. It often consists of lentils, fava beans, and chickpeas stewed in a tomato and harissa broth, but versions could vary depending on where you try it.

• Sfenj. Think of this sweet treat as Morocco’s answer to the donut. The ring-shaped, fried pastry is often dusted with powdered or granulated sugar, sprinkled with cinnamon, or soaked in honey. Order them from one of Casablanca’s many street stalls.

Although modern, Western-style clothing is increasingly common among younger generations of Moroccans, you’ll need to cover your knees and shoulders to enter mosques and other religious sites that are included on trips like our Highlights of Morocco: Marrakech, the Sahara & Fes tour.

Be sure to keep some Moroccan dirham­—the country’s official currency—on hand for visits to souks and medinas, where paying with cash is common. Keep in mind that one Moroccan dirham is subdivided into 100 centimes, or cents.

For more, check out 9 helpful tips for traveling to Morocco →