Casablanca, Morocco

1. Hassan II Mosque (Grande Mosquée Hassan II)

Directions

Official website

Quick facts: Visitors often gasp at the prayer hall's vast cedar-beamed ceiling and the way sunlight filters through intricate zellij screens, casting patterned mosaics across marble floors. A towering minaret reaches about 210 meters and the sanctuary partly cantilevers over the Atlantic, so you can hear waves murmuring beneath the building during prayer.

Highlights: Step onto the prayer hall's glass floor and you can watch the sea curling beneath your feet while a 210-meter minaret fires a green laser at night to point the way to Mecca. Built by 6,000 craftsmen over seven years and completed in 1993, the complex holds 25,000 worshippers inside and another 80,000 in the courtyard, and the cedar ceilings along with zellij tiles smell faintly of resin and salt on warm afternoons.

2. Old Medina of Casablanca (Ancienne Médina)

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Quick facts: Narrow, sunlit alleys hide lively markets where traders hawk spices, brassware, and warm pastries while neighborhoods hum with daily rituals. Rooftop glimpses and weathered mosaic doorways turn aimless wandering into treasure hunting, rewarding photographers and snack lovers with unexpected scenes and flavors.

Highlights: Duck into a tangle of alleys barely a meter wide and you’ll find the air thick with cumin, smoked sardine oil, and the sweet resin of burning cedar, while the azan rings out five times a day and bounces off sun-worn plaster. Every evening a handful of stallkeepers still haggle using the same nicknames families have used for generations, calling one another by names like Haj Mohamed and Fatima while scribbling totals with a stub of green chalk on wooden cupboards, a practice some locals say dates back three generations.

3. Habous Quarter (Quartier des Habous)

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Quick facts: Cobblestone alleys smell of baking bread and spices, while shady arcades hide tiny bookshops and workshops where artisans polish brass and hand-embroider textiles. A surprising number of teahouses and galleries cluster around sunlit courtyards, offering a photogenic blend of Moorish arches, colorful zellij tiles, and French colonial lines that lure photographers and bargain hunters.

Highlights: Winding streets laid out in the 1920s by French planners hide tiny shops where artisans still hammer brass trays and stitch red-and-gold babouches by hand, the metal ringing faintly like a bell when a tray is set down. A local habit makes mornings feel alive: bakers pull warm msemen and honey-drenched chebakia from wood-fired ovens at dawn, the air thick with toasted sesame and orange blossom so strong you can smell it three streets away.

4. Place Mohammed V (Square)

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Quick facts: Underfoot, patterned stone and the spray of fountains create a cooling mist that mixes with the scent of nearby coffee carts, giving the plaza a lively, tactile charm even on hot afternoons. Architectural fans prize the mix of ornate judicial façades and art-deco detailing, and photographers gather at dusk to catch the golden light on sculpted stone.

Highlights: At sunset the square's honey-colored Art Deco facades glow and a shallow fountain throws thin silver ribbons of water across the paving, the light catching on pigeons' wings as they hop between the stone benches. Every Friday afternoon a ring of older men gathers with folding tables and card decks to play rummy while sipping mint tea from small glasses, a social ritual many say dates back to the 1950s and is as much about gossip as the game.

5. Ain Diab Corniche (La Corniche / Ain Diab Beach)

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Quick facts: Salt-sprayed promenades glow at sunset, where joggers pass lively cafés and cliffside pools plunge into the Atlantic. After dark the strip transforms with seafood kiosks and club lights, and weekend crowds can swell into the thousands so plan for traffic and long tables.

Highlights: At dusk the promenade's concrete terraces fill with people who leap into the churning Atlantic from waist-high ledges, timing their dives to the orange-pink sunset that bathes the water around 7:30 pm in summer. On the boardwalk a single blue tea cart draws small crowds every evening, the vendor calling out names as he pours mint tea from about half a meter up so the liquid froths and the air smells of sugar and sea salt.

6. Morocco Mall

Directions

Official website

Quick facts: A startling underwater spectacle awaits shoppers as a huge aquarium with a walk-through tunnel lets you watch rays and sharks glide just beyond the glass, making retail therapy feel oddly like an aquarium visit. Afternoon light spills through glass facades onto a lively promenade of boutiques, cafés, and occasional live performances, so you can go from designer windows to seaside views without stepping outside onto the street.

Highlights: Walk in and the air cools, a glowing cylindrical aquarium holding tens of thousands of liters of seawater presses up against the promenade so close you can spot neon reflections on a pufferfish's skin. At golden hour shoppers drift onto the sea-facing terrace to watch fountain lights bounce off wet marble while vendors circulate steaming cups of sweet mint tea that smell of lemon and clove.

7. El Hank Lighthouse (Phare d'el Hank)

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Quick facts: A dramatic white tower perches on a windswept headland, its rotating lantern painting rhythmic ribbons of light across the night sea that photographers chase. Climbing the narrow spiral staircase rewards visitors with an intimate lantern room, panoramic sea views, and the tangible roar of surf below.

Highlights: Climb 213 spiral steps inside the 51-meter tower to a cramped lantern room where a century-old Fresnel lens still rotates, casting a steady white beam out over the Atlantic every 15 seconds. On foggy nights locals tie small red ribbons to the iron railings as a quiet signal to returning boats, the ribbons rasping against rust and smelling sharply of salt and oil while elders point them out with a grin.

8. Mahkama du Pacha

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Quick facts: Inside, carved cedar ceilings and jewel-like zellij tiles scatter color across sunlit marble floors, making the place feel more like a palace than a courthouse. Echoing footsteps and the scent of polished wood remind visitors of its ceremonial use, while tiny brass studs and filigreed windows invite long, close-up looks.

Highlights: Step inside and a wave of warmed cedar and orange-blossom air meets you while jewel-toned stained glass scatters ruby and emerald light across carved wooden ceilings and honeyed zellij mosaics. Locals still whisper about the long, silent ritual of stamping official parchments in a dim back room, a practice that once required a single Pasha's signature and a brass seal the size of a dessert plate.

9. Villa des Arts de Casablanca

Directions

Official website

Quick facts: Walking through the airy galleries you notice a lively mix of contemporary installations and traditional crafts, with natural light and high ceilings making colors pop. Rotating shows arrive often, so visitors can find everything from avant-garde video art to intimate retrospectives in a building sprinkled with elegant Art Deco flourishes.

Highlights: On Thursday evenings the villa's mosaic courtyard lights up under warm lamps as about 15 local and visiting artists lay out canvases, trade sketches, and pass around steaming glasses of mint tea, creating a crackling, convivial studio that smells of paint and sugar. Upstairs an old 1950s typewriter sits on a sun-faded desk and visiting writers leave short typed poems in a wooden box, while the air carries citrus blossom and linseed oil so strongly you could sketch by smell alone.

10. Casablanca Cathedral (Sacré-Cœur)

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Quick facts: Sunlight pours through stained-glass windows, scattering jewel-toned mosaics across the nave and making the cool stone glow. Many visitors are surprised that the deconsecrated building now hosts art shows and concerts, where art nouveau flourishes and soaring arches form a dramatic cultural backdrop.

Highlights: Built in the 1930s, the church fuses Neo-Gothic vaulting with crisp Art Deco geometry, so broad concrete ribs curve into a cavernous white nave that reads more like a modern sculpture than a traditional house of worship. On sunny afternoons narrow stained-glass panels spill thin ribbons of blue and amber across dusty stone steps, and some locals quietly climb the tower after hours to watch the sunset and listen to the harbour breathe.