Casablanca day tours and city tour, with your own driver

Casablanca in one day: a plan that works

9:00. The Hassan II Mosque. Take the first guided tour, before the groups arrive. Completed in 1993, the mosque stands on a platform built partly over the Atlantic, and its minaret rises 210 m. It is one of the few mosques in Morocco that visitors of any faith can enter, on the mosque's own guided tours.

11:00. The Corniche and El Hank. Drive west along the ocean, past the El Hank lighthouse, the tallest in Morocco, to the Corniche of Aïn Diab: beach clubs, cafés and, at the end, the shrine of Sidi Abderrahmane on its rock.

12:30. Lunch. On the Corniche, or downtown at the Marché Central, the old covered market, where small restaurants cook the fish you choose at the stalls.

14:00. Mohammed V Square and the art deco centre. The administrative heart of the city, built under the French protectorate, with the courthouse, the post office and streets of white art deco facades. The former Sacré-Cœur cathedral is a few blocks away.

15:30. The Habous. The "new medina", laid out from 1916, with arcades, bookshops, olive sellers and pastry shops. The gates of the Royal Palace are next to it; the palace itself is not open to visitors.

17:00. The old medina and Rick's Café. The old medina sits by the port, smaller and calmer than those of Fès or Marrakech. On its edge, Rick's Café is a restaurant built to look like the bar in the film Casablanca.

The plan bends to your day. Your driver can swap the order, add the Museum of Moroccan Judaism or the stained glass of the Notre-Dame de Lourdes church, or end with the sunset on the Corniche.

Half a day or a full day?

Half a day is enough for the Hassan II Mosque and the Corniche, or for the mosque and the Habous. It suits a layover, an arrival day, or a morning before the drive to Marrakech.

A full day covers the whole plan above without rushing, with a long lunch.

Visiting the Hassan II Mosque

The mosque holds 25,000 worshippers in its prayer hall and 80,000 more on its esplanade. Inside, the guided visit shows the prayer hall with its carved cedar ceilings, plaster work and marble, and the ablution rooms below.

Times and prices are the mosque's own, checked in October 2026. They change on religious holidays, so we check them again for your date. You take your shoes off inside and carry them in a bag. The esplanade around the mosque is free and open to everyone.

The other sights, in more detail

The Corniche and Aïn Diab

The Corniche runs west from the El Hank lighthouse along the beaches of Aïn Diab, and it is where Casablanca comes to walk at the end of the day. The shrine of Sidi Abderrahmane sits on a rock off the beach, reached by a bridge since 2013. Only Muslims may enter the shrine itself, but you can walk through the small quarter around it.

The Habous quarter

Planned from 1916 by the French protectorate's architects as a new medina, the Habous mixes Moroccan arches with French town planning. It is the place in Casablanca for books, olives and pastries, and far calmer for shopping than the souks of Marrakech.

Mohammed V Square and the art deco centre

Casablanca grew fast in the first half of the 20th century, and its centre kept the buildings of that time: arcades, white facades, ironwork balconies and Moorish details. Mohammed V Square, with the courthouse and the post office, is the place to start.

The old medina

Squeezed between the port and the old walls, the medina is a small grid of lanes with everyday shops. It is not a monument like the medinas of Fès or Marrakech, but it is lived in, and close to the Hassan II Mosque.

The Museum of Moroccan Judaism

In the Oasis district, the museum was founded in 1997 and is the only museum devoted to Judaism in the Arab world. Objects, clothes and photographs tell the story of Morocco's Jewish communities. Check the opening days for your date.

How a day with your driver works

You choose the pickup time and place. The driver stays with you all day, waits while you visit and changes the plan when you want: more time at the mosque, a long lunch on the Corniche, a stop for pastries in the Habous. Parking near the sights is the driver's problem, not yours.

The price is per car, not per person. Every car is air-conditioned, with water on board, and child seats are on request. For a guided walk through the medina with a licensed local guide, ask us when you book.

Without a car, Casablanca is still possible: the tram runs to Aïn Diab, and petit taxis are everywhere. A driver for the day saves you the waiting and the bargaining, and links the sights that are far apart.

Day trips from Casablanca

Rabat, 90 km, about 1 h 15 each way. The capital, and a UNESCO World Heritage city since 2012. The Kasbah of the Udayas above the mouth of the Bou Regreg, the Hassan Tower and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, the Chellah ruins, and lunch by the ocean before the drive back.

El Jadida, 100 km, about 1 h 15 each way. A Portuguese fortified city on the Atlantic, the old Mazagan, on the UNESCO list since 2004, with its vaulted Portuguese cistern. Combine it with Azemmour, a quiet old town on the Oum Er-Rbia river on the way.

Marrakech, 240 km, about 2 h 45 each way. A long day, but it can be done: the Jemaa el-Fna square, the souks, the Koutoubia and a garden, back in the evening. If you can, stay a night instead: we also drive one way to Marrakech.

Rabat in a day: a plan

Leave Casablanca at 9:00 and you are in Rabat before 10:30. Start at the Hassan Tower, the unfinished minaret of a 12th-century mosque, and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V beside it. Then the Kasbah of the Udayas, its blue and white lanes and its garden above the river, with a mint tea looking out over the Bou Regreg. After lunch by the ocean, the Chellah, where Roman ruins and a medieval necropolis share a walled garden. You are back in Casablanca by early evening, about 90 km later.

Where to eat in Casablanca

• Fish at the Marché Central. Choose your fish at the stalls, and one of the small restaurants around the market cooks it.
• The Corniche. Cafés and restaurants facing the ocean, from simple terraces to the beach clubs of Aïn Diab.
• Pastries in the Habous. The Habous is the place for Moroccan pastries: buy a box for the road.
• Rick's Café. For a dinner in the setting of the film, book ahead.

Casablanca with children

Casablanca is easy with children in a car. The esplanade of the Hassan II Mosque is wide, with room to run, the Corniche has beaches and ice cream, and the Habous has sweets. The guided visit inside the mosque is free for children under 6, and 30 dirhams from 6. Child seats are on request in all our cars.

Coming in on a cruise ship

Cruise ships dock in the port of Casablanca, next to the old medina. A port day is short, so we plan it around your ship's times: the Hassan II Mosque first, then the Corniche, the Habous or the centre, and back at the port well before all-aboard. On a long port day, Rabat is possible too. Send us the ship's name and the times.

A long layover at Mohammed V

Mohammed V airport is about 30 km south of the city, 35 to 45 minutes by car. Citizens of many countries, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, can enter Morocco without a visa for a short stay; check the rules for your passport. With several hours between flights, you can see the mosque and the Corniche instead of the terminal. Your driver meets you in arrivals and has you back at the airport in time for check-in.

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