Casablanca is Morocco’s largest city and its main commercial and financial center, as well as the primary international gateway for most visitors arriving by air. Unlike Marrakech or Fes, its appeal is not a historic Medina — Casablanca is a largely modern, Atlantic-facing city shaped by 20th-century growth — but it has one landmark that draws visitors on its own merit: the Hassan II Mosque, completed in 1993 on a promontory over the ocean and one of the very few mosques in Morocco open to non-Muslim visitors.
Beyond the mosque, Casablanca’s interest lies in its Art Deco and Mauresque architecture from the French Protectorate period, the Corniche and Ain Diab beachfront, and the Habous Quarter, a planned “new Medina” built in the 1930s in a traditional style. The city’s connection to the 1942 film Casablanca is mostly a tourist curiosity — the film was shot entirely in Hollywood — but Rick’s Café, opened in 2004, recreates its setting.
For most itineraries, Casablanca functions as an arrival and departure point rather than a primary destination. Its airport is Morocco’s busiest, and high-speed rail links it efficiently to Rabat and Tangier to the north. Heading south, Casablanca is a practical starting point for a private tour that continues to Marrakech and on to the Sahara Desert.
