Spécial Casablanca
Walking Casablanca Marina from Casa-Port to the mosque
The walk from Casa-Port station to the Hassan II Mosque is flat and all seafront: the medina ramparts, the marina terrace deck, an oyster bar in the fishing port.
Par Etienne DelmasReading Casablanca street by street
The minaret of the Hassan II Mosque rises 210 metres above the Atlantic, and the promenade below it runs back along the water to Casa-Port station, flat and lit the whole way. A guided tour inside costs 140 DH for a foreign adult, and the first one goes at 08:00. The esplanade outside costs nothing.
Casa-Port and the Sidi Belyout shrine
Casa-Port railway station (Gare de Casa-Port) is where most visitors arrive in the marina district, and it is worth a look even with no train to catch. AREP and Groupe 3 Architectes completed it in 2014, and it was shortlisted for the Aga Khan Award. The hall is hypostyle and huge, slender columns splitting into eight branches under a wood-and-steel canopy, and a giant fibre-reinforced-concrete mashrabiya screens the west facade. Walking through is free. The concourse was built to absorb crowds, and it holds cafés for anyone waiting on a departure.
A minute from the station, wedged between the port gates and the edge of the medina, sits the Koubba of Sidi Belyout (Sidi Belyout). The tomb is a small whitewashed dome behind a low enclosing wall, with a palm beside it. The saint inside, 'the father of the lions', gives the whole marina district its name. Non-Muslims see the exterior only, and it costs nothing. You can walk past it without noticing it, which most people do.
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The promenade on Boulevard des Almohades
The Casablanca Marina waterfront promenade (Boulevard des Almohades esplanade) is a wide pale-stone quayside with moored white yachts on one side and glass-and-sandstone marina towers on the other. The minaret closes the view west. It is the most useful modern seafront stretch in the city, flat and lit and free of charge, and it joins the station and the old medina to the mosque.
Walk it from Casa-Port towards the minaret and the whole district arranges itself in order along one boulevard. The last hour of daylight is the hour to do it, though the Atlantic gets up out here and the quay turns windy. Nothing is gated and there is no closing time, so it is the easiest place in the district to gather before a mosque tour or after one.
Hassan II Mosque tours and the esplanade
Hassan II Mosque (Mosquée Hassan II) is the one mosque in Morocco that non-Muslims may enter, and it is the single fixed appointment on this waterfront. Tours are fixed-time, last 45 minutes and are given in several languages, Saturday to Thursday from 08:00. Friday mornings are cut short and Ramadan hours shrink hard, so check the foundation site the day before you plan to go.
Entry is 140 DH for foreign adults and 70 DH for residents and foreign students. Children aged 4 and up pay 30 DH. The esplanade itself is free. You take your shoes off at the door, and shoulders and knees stay covered. Private tours take up to 10 people, and groups of 100 or more pay half price.
The minaret is faced in green-and-white zellij and the doors are titanium. The esplanade stands on a granite sea wall, with the waves breaking below the plaza.
Bab el-Kebir and the medina ramparts
The sea wall of the Old Medina of Casablanca (Boulevard des Almohades) is 18th-century ochre rubble stone, and Bab el-Kebir opens through it into whitewashed alleys hung with textiles and spice sacks. The quarter stands directly across the boulevard from the marina, a two-minute walk, and the wall and its gateway are the oldest things on this stretch of waterfront. The lanes are narrow and a big party stalls in them, so split into pairs. A local guide earns the fee on orientation alone, and the only other money that changes hands is what you haggle over in the souks.
Casablanca Clock Tower (Place des Nations Unies) stands alone at the medina gate, 20 metres of square white stucco carrying four round mechanical clock faces. The French put it up in 1908 as a statement of authority, demolished it in 1948 and rebuilt it in 1994. It is free, five minutes from the quay, and it marks the hinge between the medina, the marina and the Art Deco centre. It takes about as long as a photograph takes.
La Sqala (Boulevard des Almohades) occupies an 18th-century stone gun bastion inside the ramparts. You eat in shaded Andalusian courtyards among orange trees, around a tiled fountain, with blue-and-white tadelakt and cannon embrasures cut into the thick rampart wall. It opens daily at 08:00, and breakfast here beats anything else in the district. Mains start at 90 DH and a full meal runs 150 to 250 DH. No alcohol is served. Book ahead for weekend lunch.
Marina Shopping and the terrace deck
Marina Shopping (Boulevard des Almohades) opened in April 2019 with 147 shops over 43,700 square metres and a Marjane hypermarket, which makes it the practical centre of the marina. Two levels of glass curve along the quay, and the first floor gives onto an open terrace deck of restaurant tables looking across the basin to the ocean. The sea views and the better kitchens are out on that deck. Inside, the food court runs 34 outlets with mains at 50 to 120 DH, and there is no door policy at any hour the mall is open.
Green Black (Marina Shopping, Boulevard des Almohades) sets dark green panelling and brass against floor-to-ceiling glass, with tables on an open deck above the water and the Atlantic beyond. The cooking is Italian and French, mains 140 to 260 DH. Reserve the terrace side in advance for a weekend. It is the strongest dinner inside the marina.
Mood's Café-Restaurant (Rue Mourabitine) holds the corner of the marina deck in rattan and pale wood, with a wide terrace of umbrellas facing the yacht basin. It runs all day on steaks and brunch, and the terrace is the best-value view of the basin going. Breakfast and brunch are 80 to 150 DH, mains 110 to 200 DH. Brunch is the busy slot, so reserve.
Olive Tree Café-Restaurant (Marina Shopping) is a newer arrival on the deck. Olive trees in planters line a glass-fronted terrace of warm stone and greenery, musicians play live in the corner, and the ocean fills the window. The kitchen is Moroccan and Mediterranean, mains 120 to 240 DH. Book for dinner. Send anyone here who wants Moroccan cooking with a sea view instead of a medina courtyard.
Boulevard Sour Jdid
The View H2 (151 Boulevard Sour Jdid) angles its terrace tables straight at the minaret across the water, with the Atlantic swell below and mint tea arriving on a copper tray. It opens daily from 07:00 to 01:00. Juices start at 15 DH and breakfast sets reach 55 DH. The food is halal and no alcohol is served. For the mosque at sunset, this is the cheapest good seat in the district. Call ahead for the rooftop.
Rick's Café (248 Boulevard Sour Jdid) is a few minutes from the marina along the medina wall, and it is a 2004 recreation of the film set. The building carries it, with brass lanterns and carved screens around an arched courtyard and a grand piano under a palm by the curving staircase. It is licensed and the piano is played live. Mains are 180 to 320 DH, with wine on top. A reservation is required, and the desk takes calls from 11:00 to 00:00.
Oysters in the fishing port
Ostréa (port de pêche, immediately east of the marina) was opened in 1993 by a farmer from the Oualidia oyster lagoon, and the producers still run it. Oysters arrive on trays of crushed ice, and blue fishing boats and gantries sit in the windows. A dozen is 120 to 180 DH, and whole fish are sold by weight. Book for lunch. The grill stalls around it stop when the day's catch runs out, usually in the early afternoon.
Where to stay around Place des Nations Unies
Hyatt Regency Casablanca (Place des Nations Unies) is a pale modernist block on the square where the medina, the clock tower and the marina meet. The waterfront walk starts at its front door, and no other big hotel here is better placed. The five-star has 255 rooms from 1,500 DH a night, and an outdoor pool terrace above the traffic with medina rooftops and the clock tower in the sightline. The Living Room Bar pours from 11:00 to 00:00. An airport shuttle runs and parking is free.
Sofitel Casablanca Tour Blanche (Rue Sidi Belyout) is a white tower two minutes from the medina wall and next to Casa-Port station, so the marina is a short flat walk. Rooms start at 2,300 DH a night, the interiors are Moroccan-modern, and the upper floors look over medina rooftops to the Atlantic. It holds two restaurants, Brasserie Flâneur and Min Koy, plus a spa and an indoor pool. Its Le Cas'Art bar was shut for refurbishment into spring 2026. Confirm it has reopened if that is the reason you are booking.
Planning the walk
Confirm the mosque tour slot the day before you walk, because the schedule thins on Fridays and through Ramadan. Reserve Rick's Café by phone, and book the marina terrace tables and weekend lunch at La Sqala ahead.
See the Casablanca guide and the Casablanca hotel search.
Avant de partir
How much does it cost to go inside the Hassan II Mosque?
Entry is 140 DH for foreign adults, 70 DH for residents and foreign students, and 30 DH for children aged 4 and up. The tour goes at a fixed time and lasts 45 minutes. The esplanade outside is free.
Which days do the mosque tours run?
Tours run Saturday to Thursday from 08:00 in several languages. Friday mornings are cut short, and Ramadan hours shrink hard, so check the foundation site the day before you go.
Where can you eat in Casablanca Marina with a sea view?
The terrace deck at Marina Shopping has Green Black (mains 140 to 260 DH), Mood's Café-Restaurant (mains 110 to 200 DH) and Olive Tree Café-Restaurant (mains 120 to 240 DH). Inside, the food court does mains at 50 to 120 DH. Book the terrace side for weekends.
Do you need to book Rick's Café?
Yes. You need to reserve at 248 Boulevard Sour Jdid, and the desk takes calls from 11:00 to 00:00. Mains run 180 to 320 DH, wine on top, and the venue is licensed.
How far is the old medina from the marina?
Bab el-Kebir and the Almohades sea wall are directly across Boulevard des Almohades from the marina, a two-minute walk, free and open at all hours. The clock tower is five minutes from the quay.
