Casablanca
~Overview~
Casablanca and Marrakesh are going to be the easiest cities for arrival to and departure from Morocco. I'd recommend structuring your itinerary around whichever combination of arrival/departure cities is cheapest for your dates. For us, it happened to be cheaper to fly into Casablanca, and — to be honest — I'm glad it was.
Marrakesh is, of course, a great place for its own reasons. That said, it was the most touristy — and consequently had the most street vendors — of any Moroccan city we visited, which would have been overwhelming for our first destination, not to mention almost certainly a blow to our budget. Casablanca, though larger, felt much more genuine, with less tourist-pandering and more room to breathe as you explore the city streets. There was something about it being on the ocean, too — maybe the breeze, the birds, or the sense of leisure — that made it feel all the more welcoming.
Though many people recognize its name from the classic Humphrey Bogart film, Casablanca deserves recognition for possessing what I would consider a modern wonder of the world — the Hassan II Mosque. The seventh largest mosque in the world, it is one of the most impressive structures I've ever seen. The main hall has capacity for 25,000 worshippers, and the sprawling outdoor plaza has room for another 80,000 in the shadow of its 60-story minaret, the second tallest in the world — and a tour (conducted in almost any language) costs about $12.
Beyond the mosque, the winding streets of the medina (which just refers to the old part of the city; almost every Moroccan city has a medina) are ripe for exploration. It was a completely different world from any I had ever encountered, so there was something to see on every street corner — a mule hauling a cart of melons, a flock of sheep bathing in the sun, an impromptu soccer match on the mosque steps.
Casablanca offers a beautiful introduction — to Morocco, to Africa, and to the Muslim World as a whole — and deserves a spot on any Morocco itinerary.
Accommodation
We were greeted upon arrival by Sam, our airbnb host — a Moroccan-Australian man who spoke perfect English, as well as Arabic, French, Spanish, and "a little" Hebrew for that matter. After picking us up from the airport, he proceeded to give us a lesson in navigating the crowded Casablanca streets, interrupting himself every so often to shout to neighboring drivers, as we made our way to his flat.
Though I obviously didn't stay anywhere else in Casablanca, I can say with the highest confidence that Sam's place offers the best value you will find in the city, especially in walking distance of the Hassan II Mosque.
I was admittedly a bit wary of the low price-point, but the majority of his 200+ reviews (one of which now is mine) were overwhelmingly positive, so we decided to give it a shot.
Saying farewell to Sam on our way to the train station as he was leaving to go surfing
A few things to note:
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The above listing is for a single room in Sam's three-bedroom flat, so not only will Sam also be staying there, but it's possible other travelers will have booked the other room as well (which is probably why the price is so low). Keep in mind that all three rooms also share a single bathroom, so you'll get pretty familiar with any other occupants fairly quickly. When we arrived, the other room was occupied by a couple from Athens, Georgia, just about an hour and a half from home.
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Assuming you enjoy your stay as much as we did, be sure to tip generously, as is customary for pretty much everything in Morocco. If I remember correctly, we tipped about 400 DH extra for our two-night stay, but this would be considered a bit high. We felt Sam had earned it, though, especially since he had paid for parking when picking us up from the airport.
Not only did he pick us up from the airport for no additional charge, but he also prepared breakfast each morning we were there and helped us navigate the bus and train systems, currency exchange, and local customs. Not to mention the roof of his building has an unbeatable panoramic view (refer to the top of the page).
Arriving to a new city, let alone a new continent and culture, can be daunting, so having Sam as a resource while we adjusted was beyond worth it.
Day 1 breakfast on Sam's patio — hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, bread, and mint tea -- with a view of the Hassan II Mosque
~FOOD~
3 main takeaways
Rick's Café wasn't worth it
Interior of Rick's Café
Rick's Café seemed to be at the top of every list of places to eat in Casablanca, but we weren't all that impressed. Designed in the image of the bar from the movie Casablanca (which, to be fair, I've never seen), Rick's is an upscale, midcentury style restaurant, a place you'd expect to find James Bond.
They offered mostly French cuisine, which I've come to find means small portions and high prices. Judging by the other diners, it seemed to be more a place to appease European tourists, most of whom are French since the language is so widely spoken in Morocco. In the end, we left feeling like we could have found much better food at a much lower price, not to mention we would have preferred to eat Moroccan since it was only our second night in the country.
I could see it being a nice change-of-pace if you've already been traveling around Morocco for awhile and have had your fill of tagine, couscous, and pastilla (though I never reached that point after 3 weeks there, for the record), but otherwise, I'd say you can afford to skip Rick's.
Duck confit and a manhattan. In all fairness, I remember it tasting very good, but I also spent upwards of $30 here.
But La squala was
Sam recommended La Sqala to us, and it proved to be a delicious introduction to Moroccan cuisine without diving headfirst into street food.
As we came to find at nearly every Moroccan restaurant, dinner was preceded by bread and olives. For the main course, I ordered my first tagine -- basically a stew, named for the clay pot in which it's cooked. A tagine can contain almost anything, but this one in particular was lamb and lentils. For me, tagine became synonymous with insanely tender meat.
This was also our first introduction to tipping in Morocco. As we came to find via panicked googling after our waiter returned with the checks, a 10% tip is considered appropriate for satisfactory service, though obviously more is always appreciated. Just be careful not to be too liberal in spending your cash, as it can be quite awkward if a tip is expected but you're low on dirhams. Speaking for a friend.
Lamb tagine with lentils
Street food takes the cake
What we ultimately came to find was that the best food -- at the best value --would just be what we happened upon in the street.
My favorite meal in Casablanca was a chicken and sausage bread pocket (I'm sure there's a word for it) that I got at a random stall in one of the many markets we passed through during our 19-mile walking expedition around the city, accompanied by freshly-squeezed orange juice from the neighboring stall.
These vendors invited us to sit in the shade in the chairs behind their stalls, offering extra plates and napkins.
The grand total for this lunch was about $4.
Delicious food, impeccable hospitality.
After polishing off that sandwich, I promptly deleted Yelp.
