Casablanca
Morocco'S Economic Capital And Largest City, Holding One Of The Densest Concentrations Of 1920s And 1930s Art Deco And Mauresque Architecture Anywhere, Much Of It Unrestored And In Daily Use · Casablanca, Casablanca-Settat
Casablanca is Morocco's largest city and its economic capital, and the reason to give it a day is architecture rather than antiquity. Laid out from 1912 under the French Protectorate, the downtown around Boulevard Mohammed V and Place Mohammed V carries one of the densest runs of 1920s and 1930s Art Deco anywhere, much of it in the local Mauresque hybrid that grafted Moroccan arches, zellij and carved plaster onto European frames. It is faded, lived in and largely unrestored, which is the whole point: these are offices, flats, pharmacies and banks, not a heritage quarter. Around it sit the Habous, a French-built new medina of the 1920s; the tiled Mahkama du Pacha; a small plain old medina; a covered central market dating from 1917; surviving picture palaces of the 1930s; and the Ain Diab Corniche with its sea-wall swimming pools. Most visitors come for the Hassan II Mosque and go the same day. Honest caveat: this is a working business city with Morocco's heaviest traffic and few set-piece sights, and two days is plenty.
Downtown around Place Mohammed V and the Boulevard Mohammed V Art Deco quarter, with the Corniche at Ain Diab to the west and the Habous quarter to the south, Casablanca, Casablanca-Settat, Morocco
The city itself has no hours: the downtown boulevards, Place Mohammed V, the Habous arcades, the old medina lanes and the Corniche are open street at any time, busiest from mid-morning to about 20:00 and quietest around Friday midday prayers. Museums and galleries keep a broad pattern of roughly 9:00 or 10:00 to 17:00 or 18:00 with at least one closed day a week, shorter hours through Ramadan, and some smaller collections shutting for lunch; the museum of Moroccan Jewish life keeps limited hours and may close on Saturdays and Jewish holidays, so confirm before crossing town for it. The central market works from early morning and thins out by mid-afternoon. The tram runs from roughly 6:00 to around 22:00. Getting there: Al Boraq high-speed trains come from Tangier in roughly 2 to 2.5 hours, the conventional line reaches Marrakesh in about 3 hours, and a direct train links Mohammed V airport with the downtown stations in roughly 40 to 50 minutes. Confirm all times locally.