15 Popular Places in Casablanca Tours and Travels

Many travel lovers are fond of Casablanca tours and travels and desire to visit this historic city in life. Casablanca is a port metropolis and business hub in western Morocco, fronting the Atlantic Ocean. The town’s French colonial legacy is seen in its downtown Mauresque structure, a mix of Moorish fashion and European artwork deco.

Casablanca Tours and Travels

This article will give an overview of Casablanca tour travels one should see while visiting the historic city.

Standing partly over the water, the large Hassan II Mosque, accomplished in 1993, has a 210m minaret topped with lasers directed toward Mecca.

1. Hassan II Mosque

Morocco is thought for its crafts, and this beautiful mosque is a show of that craftsmanship at its most interesting — on a staggering scale.

Hassan II is among the largest mosques in Africa, and one of many solely mosques in Morocco open to non-Muslims, which is a popular place in Casablanca tour travels.

(Be aware that you simply should be appropriately dressed for entry.) Constructed on a platform jutting into the water, the stone construction and its 210-foot minaret make it the town’s most iconic landmark.

2. The Medina

Berber markets are the primary vacationer sights in Fez and Marrakesh, the place guests can load up on rugs, silks, spices, argan oil, and leather-based items, which is a popular place in Casablanca tours travels.

In Casablanca, the traditional Berber market as an alternative overflow with dwell chickens, fish, greens, bootleg soccer jerseys, and native garb.

Right here, haggling with shopkeepers over the value of babouches is friendlier, lower-pressure expertise than in different cities the place distributors dwell and die by vacationer {dollars}.

3. Casablanca Cathedral

Casablanca Cathedra is a former Roman Catholic church situated in Casablanca, Morocco, which is a popular place in Casablanca tour travels.

The Casablanca church was constructed in 1930. The cathedral ceased its religious performance in 1956, after the independence of Morocco.

It subsequently grew to become a cultural center that is open to guests. It has hosted quite a few artwork exhibitions.

The Institut Français in Casablanca even organized a digital music nighttime inside the nave of the previous church on October 10, 2015. The church was designed by French architect Paul Tournon, utilizing the Artwork Deco model.

It’s generally known as a cathedral, though in actuality it has by no means technically been one because it was by no means the seat of a bishop.

4. Notre-Dame de Lourdes Church

Notre Dame de Lourdes Church is a modernist Catholic church in Casablanca, Morocco.

It was inbuilt in 1954 by architect Achille Dangleterre and engineer Gaston Zimmer, which is a popular place in Casablanca tour travels.

The primary attraction of Notre Dame de Lourdes church is the glasswork of world-famous stained glass artist Gabriel Loire. Its additionally lengthy concrete entrance can also be noteworthy.

5. Port of Casablanca

The Port of Casablanca refers back to the collective amenities and terminals that conduct maritime commerce dealing with capabilities in Casablanca’s harbors and which deal with Casablanca’s delivery.

The port is situated close to Hassan II Mosque, which is a popular place in Casablanca tours and travels.

The Port of Casablanca is likely one of the largest synthetic ports in Morocco and on the planet, although it was eclipsed when Tangiers-Med—a cargo port 40 km east of Tangiers and the biggest on the Mediterranean coast of Africa by way of capability—went into service in 2007.

The Port of Casablanca’s preliminary capability was 3.5 million cargo containers. Casablanca’s port handles greater than 21, Three million tons of visitors yearly, which is to say 38% of Moroccan visitors, and carries out a gross sales turnover of greater than 894 Million Moroccan Dirhams.

With an extent of 605 hectares and lengthening to greater than eight kilometers in size. It will probably accommodate and deal with greater than 35 ships at a similar time.

The port is managed by Marsa Maroc, the successor of ODEP, a publicly owned institution that has the principal function of guaranteeing the administration of passengers, items, and ships passing by way of the Moroccan ports.

6. Abderrahman Slaoui Museum

The Abderrahman Slaoui Museum is a museum in Casablanca, Morocco, which is a popular place in Casablanca tours and travels.

It’s named after Abderrahman Slaoui, a Moroccan businessman and artwork collector who died in 2001.

The museum was based on the Abderrahman Slaoui Basis and has been open since Might 2012.

The museum shows the gathering of its namesake: previous posters, Moroccan jewelry, figurative work by Muhammad Ben Ali Rabati, panorama work by Jacques Majorelle, crystal objects, and so on.

The museum hosts short-term exhibitions that include modern Moroccan artists on a quarterly foundation and gives creative workshops for guests who wish to be taught the crafts.

7. Royal Palace

The Royal Palace of Casablanca has a stupendous Arabic facade, however, we weren’t in a position to go inside, which is a popular place in Casablanca tours and travels.

That is considered one of 4 royal palaces in Morocco—others are situated in Rabat (the capital), Fez, and Marrakesh.

The king comes right here for enterprise however actually lives in a way more fashionable and sumptuous villa. Apparently, this palace is very similar to the Spanish Alhambra inside with courtyards, gardens, palm and orange groves, and elaborate water features–all closed to the general public.

All we might see had been the excessive partitions and elaborate doorways, set in a keyhole arch and framed by elaborate mosaics—stunning, however very disappointing.

8. Rick’s Café

Rick’s Café Casablanca is a restaurant, bar, and café situated within the metropolis of Casablanca, Morocco, which is a popular place in Casablanca tour travels.

Opened March 1, 2004, the place was designed to recreate the bar made well-known by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in the film Basic Casablanca.

Set in a previous courtyard-style mansion constructed in opposition to the partitions of the Outdated Medina of Casablanca, the restaurant–the piano bar is stuffed with architectural and ornamental particulars paying homage to the movie:

curved arches, a sculpted bar, balconies, and balustrades in addition to beaded and stenciled brass lighting and crops that forged luminous shadows on white partitions.

There’s a genuine 1930s Pleyel piano and As Time Goes By is a standard request to the in-house pianist. Owned by The Regular Suspects firm, this Casablanca landmark is normally described as the actual Rick’s Café, lastly bringing the legendary “Gin Joint” of cinema fame to life in present-day’s Casablanca.

9. Arab League Park

Arab League Park is a city park in Casablanca, Morocco. It’s situated within the heart of town, west of Hassan II Boulevard, east of Roudani Boulevard and Algiers Road, and southeast of the Church of the Sacred Coronary Heart, which is a popular place in Casablanca tour travels.

The park covers 30 acres of land and is bisected by Moulay Youssef Boulevard. As of 2019, it stays formally closed to the general public after renovations began in March 2016, although it was anticipated to open in September 2018.

The French architect and concrete planner Albert Laprade was appointed to revamp the central part of the town under the supervision of Henri Prost in 1913.

It was named Parc Lyautey in honor of Hubert Lyautey, the primary French résident général in Morocco.

Lyautey moved some arches from the previous Portuguese jail, also called the Jail of Anfa, east towards what’s now Hassan II Boulevard, to brighten the park, serving as an assistant for a pergola.

Parc Yasmina, an amusement park, was established on Moulay Youssef Boulevard in the 1950s, but it surely had fallen into disrepair and abandoned by the point renovations began.

10. Mohammed V Square

Situated within the South of United Nations Square, Mohammed V Square consists of a load of buildings from the 20s.

Most of its buildings are designed with Hispanic-Muslim structures and Artwork Deco, which is a popular place in Casablanca tour travels.

Historical Past and Significance. It was constructed beneath the French protectorate by architect Joseph Marrast, and it represents an instance of the structure of the 1920s, mingling custom and modernity.

The square is taken into as account the executive center of town because it brings collectively loads of buildings erected after the First World Battle together with the Consulate of France, the courthouse, the prefecture, the central put-up workplace, and the financial institution of Morocco.

One of the crucial noticeable buildings is the Prefecture (Wilaya), which was initiated in 1930 by Mohammed V, the Sultan then. It encompasses a breathtaking tropical backyard and work by Louis Majorelle, the French decorator.

Then in 1976, the Sultan added a spectacular fountain that gave a stupendous contact to the construction, entertaining the guests with music and water reveals.

11. Central Market

The Central Market in Casablanca, Morocco is a market with historic and cultural significance, which is a popular place in Casablanca tour travels.

It’s situated on Muhammad V Boulevard, among the many colonial structures of the 20th century, going through the Central Market Tramway Station.

The Central Market was designed by Pierre Bousquet, and the building was accomplished in 1917, on the positioning of the Casablanca Honest of 1915.

The Central Market was an important market in Casablanca’s European Ville nouvelle.

The Moroccan nationalist resistance fighter Muhammad Zarqtuni bombed the Central Market on December 24, 1953, after French forces pressured Sultan Muhammad VI into exile on August 20, 1953—which was Eid al-Adha.

The market is characterized by its Neo-Mauresque architectural model. Amongst its most distinguished options is its giant gateway, imitating kinds of gates in Morocco’s imperial cities: Marrakesh, Fes, Rabat, and Meknes.

One other characteristic of the market is the octagonal heart cupola, beneath which completely different sorts of contemporary seafood are bought, equivalent to fish from the Atlantic Ocean, shark meat, oysters, and so on.

The daily catch is displayed around a round walkway, as nicely in a central island, the place oysters from Dakhla are shucked on the spot for one-by-one consumption.

12. Mahkamat al-Pasha

Mahkamat al-Pasha is an administrative construction constructed 1941-1942 within the Hubous neighborhood of Casablanca, Morocco, which is a popular place in Casablanca tour travels.

The complicated serves or has served as a courthouse, residence of the pasha (governor), parliamentary reception corridor, and jail.

In January 1930, the pasha of Casablanca at the time At-Tayyib Al-Moqri, the second son of the Moroccan grand vizier Muhammad al-Muqri, determined to construct a civil courthouse within the Habous.

It was designed by the French architect Auguste Cadet (fr), who was closely concerned with the planning of Casablanca and notably of its Habous neighborhood.

The development of the courthouse was carried out throughout World Battle II, when French authorities usurped the most fashionable constructing supplies of their colonies, equivalent to metal and cement, for the battle effort.

In consequence, despite the fact that the courthouse was constructed within the mid-twentieth century, it was constructed with conventional strategies, brick by brick.

The complicated is characterized by conventional Mauro-Andalusi architectural options: zellij, stucco work, carved cedar wooden, and green-tiled roofs.

13. Temple Beth-El

The Temple Beth-El is a Jewish synagogue in Casablanca, Morocco, which is a popular place in Casablanca tour travels.

Whereas the town boasts greater than 30 synagogues, Beth-El is usually thought about as the middle piece of a as soon as vibrant Jewish group.

Its stained glass home windows and different creative components are what attract vacationers to this synagogue. The temple was fully refurbished in 1997

14. Museum of Moroccan Judaism

The Museum of Moroccan Judaism is a Jewish museum within the Oasis neighborhood of Casablanca, Morocco.

Established in 1997, it’s the sole museum dedicated to Judaism within the Arab world, which is a popular place in Casablanca tour travels.

The museum, whose construction originated in 1948 as a Jewish orphanage that housed as many as 160 Jewish youth, was renovated in 2013. The museum was based on Simon Levy, a former professor at the College of Rabat and founding father of the Basis for the Preservation of Moroccan Jewish Tradition.

Previous to his function in preserving Moroccan Jewish Tradition, Levy was referred to as independent and human rights activist from the time of colonialism by way of the reign of King Hassan II.

Throughout the museum, guests can discover artifacts of Moroccan Jewry, together with the bimah from the Beni-Issakhar Synagogue in Casablanca, mezuzahs, and Hanukiah menorah.

The museum additionally touts a substantial assortment of Berber’s historical past, together with costumes, jewelry, and Fatima pendants. Guests may observe a reconstructed jewelry-making store, which was created utilizing the workbench and instruments of Moroccan Jew, Saul Cohen.

15. El Hank Lighthouse

In-built 1914 and accomplished in 1920, the El Hank gentle home is one historic attraction/landmark you must go to when in Casablanca.

Exuding rustic allure, this well-kept lighthouse remains to be in use in the present day and is open to guests eager to ascend its basic marble spiral staircase and see the gorgeous marble ground accentuated by the Seal of Solomon in an inexperienced pentagram.

Though the spiral staircase is slender and permits individuals to ascend a single file, the view of the town or the Atlantic Ocean from the highest is breathtaking and picturesque. It’s positively definitely worth the go-to – even on weekends.

How to enjoy time

9 a.m. in Casablanca: It’s sizzling, it’s loud, it’s congested. Palm timberline the boulevards; smog and dirt from development websites cloud the air. The Atlantic Ocean gleams blue past.

Searching over the city sprawl, one might simply mistake it for Los Angeles. However, at the road stage, Casablanca is distinctly post-colonial.

European-style sidewalk cafes and French-inspired bakeries sit within the shadow of half-built high-rises, with packs of feral road cats lounging close by.

The sound and odor of motorbikes reducing via the subtropical metropolis middle may recommend a Southeast Asian metropolis like Hanoi, however smaller.

With the solar in your eyes, there’s little to tell apart Casablanca’s half-finished neighborhoods and bustling boulevards from these different cities within the creating world.

This Floating Restaurant Straddles the Borders of four African Nations — and You Can See Elephants and Hippos Whereas You Eat

The Raft is a floating restaurant that sits on stilts on the finish of a non-public jetty jutting out onto the Chobe River.

Casablanca is gritty by all accounts. It may cause intimidation to many. Maybe, for that reason, there’s a preconceived notion amongst many vacationers that the one factor to do in Casablanca is to get out of Casablanca.

Most guides to Morocco avoid Casablanca utterly, treating it solely as a transit hub for those on their method to extra tourist-friendly locations.

However, Casablanca’s refusal to cater to Western vacationers’ tastes is strictly what makes it attention-grabbing.

Right here, within the nation’s largest metropolis, the present and subsequent generations of Moroccans can have professional paths outdoors of the service trade and lives that don’t revolve around serving rich guests.

The latest artwork areas have fun younger, native expertise. DJs channel the sounds of AfrikaBurn (Africa’s regional Burning Man occasion).

And the markets are meant for locals shopping for groceries, moderately than vacationers shopping for prized Berber rugs.

That is Morocco in actual life — offering cultural context that’s important for understanding and appreciating the remainder of the nation.

The way to get there and easy methods to around Casablanca

Though Africa may appear distant, a direct flight from New York to Casablanca is just 6 hours and 45 minutes — about the same as flying to London. Royal Air Maroc affords reasonably priced direct flights between the 2 cities.

As soon as on the bottom, the easiest way to get around is in Casablanca’s taxis. “Grande taxis” go to and from the airport and “petit taxis” are for commutes inside the town.

Remember that taxi drivers in Casablanca usually attempt to hustle Western vacationers for prime fares. You possibly can’t at all times keep away from this, particularly in case you’re in the part of the city without loads of taxi visitors.

The perfect you are able to do is to ask the driving force to make use of the meter (“Le Comptoir” in French) as quickly as you get within the automotive.

A taxi from one finish of Casablanca to the opposite shouldn’t value greater than $5. Additionally keep in mind that petit taxis work like Uber Swimming pools, particularly throughout the rush hour — so don’t be shocked if yours stops to select another person.

The place to eat

A Lady vendor chats with a male buyer. On the show are trays of seaweed, clams, and crab. In the background is footage of seafood together with clams and langoustine plus an indication of the stand with ‘Seafood at Zoubida Zou Zou’s”

Breakfast: Dine al-fresco within the sheltering backyard of La Scala. Their full Moroccan breakfast consists of eggs, candy pastries, dates, and bread with ricotta, olives, and jammy condiments.

Lunch: The perfect lunch in Casablanca is just not present in a restaurant, however moderately among the many recent seafood stalls within the metropolis’s Central Market.

There, you should purchase seafood from any of the distributors within the indoor market and have the outside retailers prepare dinner for you.

Monstrously-sized lobsters will furnish a luxe meal for two to four folks. Don’t miss the ocean urchin vendor who will crack open recent ones so that you can eat proper out of the shell, priced at 5 for about one US greenback.

Dinner, drinks, and music: Le Cabestan is the town’s most notable nightclub and advantageous eating institution. Located properly on the water’s edge, this modern advanced appear like one thing you’d discover in Malibu or Cannes, however with a much more worldwide crowd.

Moneyed locals smoke over bottle service, whereas younger native DJs spin home information all night long.