Casablanca in 3 days: the largest city in the Maghreb and Morocco's economic engine — not the romantic film set (that was Hollywood). The Hassan II Mosque extends over the Atlantic Ocean with a glass floor showing the sea below. The Art Deco downtown (1920s French Protectorate) is the finest in Africa. The pastilla pie (pigeon, almonds, cinnamon, icing sugar) is the most complex dish in the Moroccan repertoire.
Built 1987–1993 on a promontory over the Atlantic: the world's tallest minaret (210m), the retractable roof that opens to the sky, the heated floors, and the glass ablutions hall floor through which the ocean is visible (Quranic justification: "His throne was on the water"). 25,000 inside + 80,000 on the esplanade.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe most important leisure zone of the city: the private beach clubs, the Atlantic seafood restaurants (Morocco is the world's largest sardine exporter), and the evening promenade of the Casablanca middle class. The Atlantic surf at Ain Diab beach.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideHenri Prost's 1914 urban plan: Boulevard Mohammed V (the main Art Deco axis), Place Mohammed V (the 1928 Prost fountain, the 1930 Art Deco Prefecture, the Beaux-Arts Palais de Justice). The "Mauresque" style (Art Deco + Moroccan decorative elements) is unique to Morocco.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideKathy Kriger's cheerfully self-aware 2004 reconstruction of the fictional bar (the actual 1942 film has zero Morocco footage). The beautiful Moroccan riad interior, the live jazz pianist, the cocktails named for film characters. The food is actually good.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe pre-French city: a small (50 ha) genuine working medina. Never a major imperial capital (unlike Fes, Marrakech or Meknès), so no grand monuments — instead: the everyday Moroccan commercial life, the djellaba tailors (made to order in 24 hours), the freshest fish market in Casablanca.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe French colonial administration built a new medina in traditional Moroccan style (with French infrastructure) to house rural migrants: the result is charming and authentic-feeling. The best quality djellabas, Fes zellige tiles, cedar woodwork and ghoriba butter-sesame biscuits.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Moroccan court dish brought from Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain) after the 1492 expulsion: pigeon braised with saffron, onion, ginger and lemon, scrambled eggs in the broth, crushed almonds with cinnamon and sugar — layered in warka pastry and dusted with icing sugar. The triumph of sweet-savoury Moroccan culinary art.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe central administrative square of French colonial Casablanca: the Wilaya (1930, Art Deco with Moorish upper level), the Banque du Maroc, the Beaux-Arts courthouse and the original 1928 fountain. The most complete French colonial civic ensemble in Morocco.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe 18th-century gun platform on the old medina walls converted to the most atmospheric restaurant in Casablanca: the garden within the bastion walls, the lamb tagine with prunes and almonds, the chicken tagine with preserved lemon and olives, and the harira (the Ramadan soup: tomato, lentils, chickpeas, lamb, coriander, thickened with flour and lemon).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe most important food market in Casablanca: the Atlantic fish (Morocco exports more sardines than any other country), and the spice stalls with ras el hanout ("head of the shop" — the merchant's finest blend: up to 30+ spices including cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, rose petals and saffron from Taliouine (the finest Moroccan saffron, protected by Geographical Indication)).
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