Casablanca🇲🇦

The undisputed headline sight. Built on a promontory over the Atlantic, its 210-metre minaret — the tallest in the world — is laser-topped and visible for miles at sea. The interior, which can hold 25,000 worshippers, is finished in hand-carved cedar, zellij tilework, and marble from Agadir. Non-Muslims enter on one of four daily guided tours (morning tours typically best light). Photography is permitted inside. 120 MAD admission (~$12). Arrive 20 minutes early — tours fill fast and the security queue is genuine.

The 5-kilometre oceanfront promenade running west from the Hassan II Mosque toward Ain Diab. It is not a quiet boardwalk — this is where Casablancans actually live their weekends: beach clubs, fish restaurants stacked above the rocks, young people on motorcycles, families walking. La Sqala and the old ramparts anchor one end; the Miami Beach-style Ain Diab clubs anchor the other. The strip at golden hour on a Friday afternoon is one of the better people-watching scenes in North Africa.

Built by the French in the 1930s as a planned medina for the growing Muslim population — a rare example of French colonial planners actually engaging with traditional Moroccan urbanism rather than simply building over it. The result is a quarter that looks genuinely old but has wider streets, more logical layout, and better craft shops than the Old Medina. Excellent for leather goods, embroidery, Moroccan slippers (babouches), and argan oil at prices below Marrakech. The royal palace is adjacent; the surrounding café-lined square fills with older men in djellabas playing cards from mid-morning onward.

The main axis of the French Ville Nouvelle and one of the most concentrated Art Deco streetscapes outside the Americas. The arcaded buildings lining the boulevard — from the Central Market at one end past the main post office, the Hotel Lincoln, and the Palais de Justice — were built between the 1920s and 1950s in styles ranging from pure Art Deco to Mauresque (Art Deco fused with Islamic geometric ornament). Most are unrenovated and slightly shabby, which makes them more atmospheric, not less. Walk the full length on a weekday morning before the heat builds.

A covered market hall built in 1917 at the foot of Boulevard Mohammed V, still functioning exactly as intended. The seafood section at the back is the reason to come: stalls piled with sardines, sea bass, red snapper, prawns, and lobster at prices that will seem absurd to anyone from Northern Europe. Several small restaurants around the perimeter will cook your purchase on the spot for a service fee of 30-50 MAD. The spice stands along the main corridors are excellent for ras el hanout, saffron (check it's genuine — rub a little on wet skin to test colour), and preserved lemon.

The stretch of private beach clubs west of the Corniche is Casablanca's answer to the beach-club culture you find in Beirut or Barcelona. Clubs like La Réserve, Miami Plage, and Le Cabestan have pools overlooking the Atlantic, day-bed rentals, DJs on weekends, and restaurants serving grilled fish and mezze. Entry runs 80–200 MAD depending on the club and day; beach chairs extra. The Atlantic here has a reliable swell — actual surfers use the breaks south of Ain Diab. A genuinely local experience, not a tourist construct.

Casablanca's original medina is smaller, less labyrinthine, and less polished than Fez or Marrakech's — which makes it more approachable. The ramparts date to the 18th-century Alawite fortification; the streets inside still have working craftsmen, neighbourhood hammams, and hole-in-the-wall restaurants serving harira (tomato-lentil soup) and brochettes. The Place Jemaâ has good photo lines toward the minaret of the Grand Mosque. Less tourist infrastructure than other Moroccan medinas but also no carpet-shop pressure.