OZU /MOROCCO /CASABLANCA /GUIDE
Casablanca in a weekend
48 h route3 stopsBest: Year-round: the Atlantic keeps it mildUpdated July 2026
Casablanca is good for one day, not two. So the ideal weekend is: one day for the city (mosque, Art Deco, Corniche) and the second, a train. Rabat is an hour away, it’s the capital, a World Heritage Site, and it has everything Casablanca lacks.
The advantage of this base: Casablanca has the country’s best airport and best rail hub, so everything leaves from here. And the Atlantic keeps it mild all year, even when Marrakech is an oven.
The route, stop by stop
3 STOPS- 01
Saturday: the whole city
One day is enough: the Hassan II Mosque first thing with a booked slot, the Art Deco centre on foot, the Central Market for lunch and the Corniche at sunset. It’s a full, orderly day. If you have time to spare, add the Habous quarter, the "new medina" the French built in the 1930s imitating a traditional one: fake by origin and still the pleasantest place in the city to shop.
- 02
Sunday: Rabat by train
An hour by train separates Casablanca from the country’s capital, a World Heritage Site and everything Casablanca isn’t: calm, clean, green and by the sea. The Kasbah of the Udayas is an entire quarter painted blue and white looking over the Atlantic.
And there’s the Hassan Tower: the minaret of a 12th-century mosque meant to be the largest in the world, left half-built when the sultan died.
What remains is the truncated tower and a roofless forest of 200 columns. It’s the sibling of the Koutoubia and the Giralda.
- 03
The alternative: El Jadida
If Rabat doesn’t appeal, El Jadida: a 16th-century Portuguese citadel ninety minutes away, walled and facing the Atlantic, a World Heritage Site. It was Mazagan and stayed Portuguese until 1769.
What you come for is the cistern: an underground hall of Gothic columns with a finger of water on the floor reflecting everything. Orson Welles shot his Othello here.
It’s small, calm and almost nobody goes.
Frequently asked
How many days do you need for Casablanca?
One is enough for the essentials: the Hassan II Mosque, the Art Deco centre, the Central Market and the Corniche. With two, spend the second in Rabat, an hour away by train and a World Heritage Site.
How long is Casablanca to Rabat?
Roughly an hour by train from Casa Voyageurs, with frequent departures through the day. It’s the country’s busiest rail link and needs no advance booking.
What to see in Rabat in a day?
The Kasbah of the Udayas, a blue-and-white quarter above the Atlantic, the Hassan Tower, the unfinished 12th-century minaret with its forest of columns, and the Mohammed V mausoleum next to it. All on foot, in one day.