Walking the Hassan II Mosque Waterfront in Casablanca

Booking the Hassan II Mosque tour

The minaret is green and zellige above all that marble. Inside, horseshoe arches carry the prayer hall under a cedar ceiling, the doors are titanium, and glass panels in the floor open onto seawater. Below the sea wall, swells break against the stone.

Tours run Saturday to Thursday at 09:00, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 15:00 and 16:00, with a reduced slate on Friday. Prayer times and Ramadan move the schedule, so check the day you plan to go. Book ahead and arrive 30 to 45 minutes early. Coaches and large parties come through all day, and the guides take them in their stride.

The mosque is why this stretch of seafront has anything on it at all. Come back at sunset for the esplanade, which costs nothing.

The 1770s ramparts and the old medina

The Old Medina of Casablanca (Boulevard des Almohades) keeps an ochre 18th-century rampart wall along the seafront, rusted iron cannons still sitting in their embrasures, whitewashed flat-roofed houses behind it. That seafront stretch of wall and the Sqala bastion are the last of the city's 1770s Portuguese-era fortifications. Behind the wall, narrow lanes of fabric and babouche stalls run under strung tarpaulins.

Access is free and nothing is gated. Go in the morning, and take a local guide if you are walking in a large party, because the lanes pinch tight. Watch your pockets in the covered souk sections.

Place des Nations Unies and the clock tower

The Tour de l'Horloge (Place des Nations Unies) is a 20-metre white tower built in the shape of a minaret, standing alone at the medina gate with tram rails curving past and palms behind it. Zevaco's balloon-like metal sculpture sits on the open square. The tower went up in 1908, came down in 1948 and was rebuilt in 1994, and it is still the symbol people quote first.

It stands 1.2km from the mosque, at the pivot between the waterfront, the medina and the Art Deco downtown. The square is public and open at all hours, and walking parties use it as the meeting point before heading into the lanes.

The marina promenade

Casablanca Marina & Marina Shopping (between Boulevard des Almohades and the ocean) is a flat five-minute walk from the mosque: a curved glass-and-white-canopy mall on the harbour edge, boats moored in the basin, a breeze-swept open promenade deck with the minaret rising behind it. The promenade is the useful part, for the sea air and the port views.

Entry is free and the doors open 10:00 to 21:00. Inside are two levels, 147 shops, a Marjane hypermarket and an ocean-view food court at 60 to 150 DH a head. It gives families somewhere air-conditioned between mosque tour slots.

West to El Hank Lighthouse

El Hank Lighthouse (Phare d'El Hank) stands 2km west of the mosque along the shore, 51 metres of cream stone from 1916 on black volcanic rocks, keeper's houses clustered at the base, Atlantic spray on the seaward side. Albert Laprade designed it. It is Morocco's tallest lighthouse and still an active navigational station.

The grounds are free and take any size of party. A 256-step spiral runs up the inside, and whether you climb it depends on the keeper. Treat the climb as a bonus. Tip 20 to 50 DH if they take you up.

Boulevard de la Corniche and Aïn Diab

Boulevard de la Corniche / Aïn Diab seafront carries on west from the mosque promenade past rock breakwaters and tide pools, beach clubs with blue pools and surfers in the swell. This is the city's sunset walk, and the sun burns orange straight down the Atlantic horizon. Walking it is free, and day passes at the beach clubs run 150 to 400 DH.

A 3.5km rebuild of the Aïn Diab corniche runs through 2026. Expect hoardings, diversions and closed sections.

Rick's Café and the tables under the ramparts

Rick's Café (248 Boulevard Sour Jdid) occupies an old medina mansion set against the sea wall, with brass lanterns, carved balustrades on the upper gallery, potted palms and a white grand piano in the middle of the arcaded courtyard under 1940s-style globe lamps. It opened in 2004 as a recreation of a film set that was never shot in the city, and it is the best bar in the neighbourhood, with a full drinks list and live piano. Lunch runs 12:00 to 15:00 and dinner 18:30 to 01:00, at 400 to 700 DH a head with drinks. Call or email ahead; walk-ins at dinner are a gamble.

La Sqala lays its tables inside an 18th-century bastion whose cannons still point over the parapet, in an Andalusian garden of orange trees with blue-and-white tiled fountains, low tented alcoves and wrought-iron tables in the shade. It is a classified monument you can eat inside, open daily 08:00 to 23:00, and a full meal runs 100 to 200 DH, the best value on this waterfront. Come for breakfast msemen, or book for the Friday couscous. No alcohol is served, so plan drinks elsewhere.

Le Gatsby Café & Restaurant (Boulevard Sour Jdid) has the closest proper terrace to the mosque, shaded and green, looking straight across at the minaret and the ocean. Behind it, a 1920s Art Deco room runs over two floors in brass, velvet and dark wood. Go before your tour slot, while the terrace is still quiet; it is also the easiest place to photograph the mosque. The kitchen is café standard, tagines, burgers and pasta, at 100 to 200 DH a head, and the view is the reason to sit. It opens daily 08:00 to 00:00, takes walk-ins, holds free reservations by phone and takes payment at the table.

Fish from the port

Restaurant du Port de Pêche is inside the working fishing port immediately east of the mosque, upstairs in a plain cavernous room with white paper tablecloths and trawlers and ice crates visible below. Platters of grilled sardines, prawns and paella arrive at 200 to 350 DH a head. The room fills at lunch and again at dinner. Drive or taxi in through the port gate. The grilled fish here is the best on this waterfront.

Taverne du Dauphin (115 Boulevard Houphouët Boigny) has been in the same family since 1957, and the menu changes with what the port lands that morning. Fried calamari and chilled Moroccan white come to paper-covered tables in a wood-panelled room with a zinc bar, a tiled floor and framed old Casablanca photographs. It serves Monday to Saturday 12:00 to 23:00 without a break and closes on Sundays and religious holidays. Book ahead, and expect 150 to 300 DH a head. The walk from the medina gate toward downtown takes 10 minutes.

Marina tables

Mood's Café-Restaurant (Rue Mourabitine) puts rattan seating under awnings on the marina basin, with moored boats and the minaret in the sightline and a live band in the evening. It is the dependable all-day option, breakfast through dinner, at 150 to 250 DH a head, with valet parking, vegetarian and vegan dishes and some tolerance for children. Reserve for evenings when the music is on.

Olive Tree Café-Restaurant (Marina Shopping Center) is the more polished of the two marina rooms, on the upper deck behind full-height glass onto the Atlantic, with potted olive trees, pale stone and linen and a small live-music stage. It runs Sunday to Wednesday 08:30 to 23:00 and opens Thursday only from 17:30, at 150 to 300 DH a head. Check the hours before you promise anyone a Thursday lunch. It is the smarter dinner that still does not need a taxi back from Aïn Diab.

Le Cabestan at the lighthouse end

Le Cabestan Ocean View (90 Boulevard de la Corniche) is built onto the rocks 2.5km west of the mosque, a glass-walled dining room in three linked pale modern spaces, El Hank framed in the windows, waves hitting the terrace wall below. It has been open since 1926 and has been renovated top to bottom. The kitchen is Mediterranean with seafood as the standout, at 400 to 800 DH a head, and it is the best Atlantic table within walking range of the lighthouse. Book by phone or WhatsApp (+212 522 39 11 90), dress smart, and know that it turns club later in the night.

Where to stay

Hyatt Regency Casablanca (United Nations Square) is the best-placed large hotel for this waterfront, with the medina gate, the marina and Rick's all on foot. It is a low-rise block facing the square, film memorabilia in the bar, a palm-shaded pool terrace lifted above the street noise, Moroccan plaster and dark wood inside. Rooms run 1,400 to 2,500 DH a night, and valet parking is on site. Ask for a higher floor, because the square is loud.

Four Seasons Hotel Casablanca (Boulevard de la Corniche, Anfa Place) opened in 2015 with 186 rooms: a white low-rise resort block in palm-filled gardens, a pool deck facing straight onto the Atlantic, most balconies over ocean or garden. La Corniche beach is three minutes' walk, and the hotel looks after families well. Rooms start at 2,800 DH a night. It sits 5km west of the mosque, outside walking range of the medina.

Hours, booking and closures

Taverne du Dauphin closes on Sundays and religious holidays, Olive Tree opens late on Thursdays, and the mosque keeps a reduced Friday slate with times moving for prayer and Ramadan. Book the mosque tour, dinner at Rick's, the Friday couscous at La Sqala and a table at Le Cabestan before you arrive.

See the Casablanca guide and the Casablanca hotel search.