Casablanca Audio Tours

The tram (Tramway de Casablanca) covers the city center and major districts efficiently. Petit taxis (small red taxis) are inexpensive and good for short hops -- meters are mandatory, though agree to use one. The Corniche (waterfront area) and the Place Mohammed V area are walkable from each other. The Hassan II Mosque is about 2 kilometers from the Place Mohammed V, walkable along the seafront.

The city center, the Corniche, and the Quartier Habous (also called the New Medina) are generally safe for visitors during the day. The old medina is smaller and less touristic than those in Fez or Marrakech and is straightforward to navigate. Take normal precautions with valuables and be aware of your surroundings in any crowded market area. Evening walks along the Corniche are popular with locals and considered safe.

Casablanca's seafood comes directly from the Atlantic and is excellent: the restaurants around the fishing port at the old medina serve grilled and fried fish from morning. Pastilla (a flaky pie with pigeon or chicken, almonds, and cinnamon sugar) is a Moroccan specialty available at traditional restaurants around the Habous quarter. For a quick stop, msemen (flaky flatbread) with honey and argan oil from a bakery is a Moroccan breakfast worth seeking out.

The Hassan II Mosque is open to non-Muslim visitors outside of prayer times on guided tours (typically morning and early afternoon except Fridays). Tickets must be purchased at the mosque itself rather than online. Appropriate dress is required: women should cover hair, shoulders, and knees; men should wear long trousers. The interior is genuinely extraordinary -- the retractable roof, the carved cedar, and the scale are unlike anything else in Morocco.