Casablanca

The Hassan II Mosque is Casablanca's overwhelming highlight and one of the most remarkable buildings in the Islamic world. Completed in 1993, it stands partly over the Atlantic on a vast platform, its minaret soaring to 210 metres — for years the tallest in the world — and topped by a laser that points toward Mecca. The scale is staggering: the prayer hall can hold tens of thousands of worshippers under a retractable roof, with a glass floor section above the sea, while the craftsmanship is sublime, the work of thousands of Moroccan artisans in hand-carved cedar, sculpted plaster, marble and the intricate mosaic tilework known as zellij. Crucially for visitors, it is one of the very few mosques in Morocco open to non-Muslims, who can explore the interior on guided tours scheduled throughout the day (outside prayer times). Even from the outside, the great esplanade around it — popular with families at sunset, with the waves breaking below — is a magnificent place to take in the building against the ocean. For many travellers it alone justifies a day in Casablanca.

Casablanca grew rapidly in the early 20th century, and the result is one of the world's richest concentrations of Art Deco and Mauresque (Moorish-revival) architecture — a downtown of elegant facades, wrought-iron balconies, geometric motifs and stylish cinemas and apartment blocks that reward anyone who looks up. The hub is the grand Mohammed V Square (Place Mohammed V), ringed by monumental public buildings, with its fountains and palms, and the boulevards radiating from it — around the Marché Central, the old Lincoln building and the restored cinema Rialto — form an open-air gallery of the style. Walking tours and a growing band of restoration projects have revived interest in this architectural heritage, blending European Art Deco forms with Moroccan decorative detail in a way unique to the city. The cathedral of Sacré-Cœur, an Art Deco landmark no longer used for worship, and a number of restored villas add to the picture. For travellers, Casablanca's downtown offers a very different Morocco from the medinas of Fez and Marrakech — urban, 20th-century and architecturally fascinating.

Casablanca lives by the Atlantic, and the Ain Diab corniche is where the city comes to relax — a long seafront strip of beaches, swimming pools, beach clubs, cafés and restaurants that buzzes in the evenings and is the centre of the city's nightlife. Near it stands the Morocco Mall, one of the largest shopping centres in Africa, with an aquarium and fountains. For older atmosphere, the small old medina near the port offers a more workaday version of the Moroccan souk, while the Habous quarter (the Quartier des Habous, or “new medina”), built in the early 20th century, blends traditional Moroccan layout with planned arcades and is a pleasant place to browse for crafts, olives and the city's famous bookshops and pastries. The film-inspired Rick's Café, an elegant restaurant created as a homage to the 1942 classic “Casablanca” (which was filmed in Hollywood, not here), is a fun stop for fans. Between the corniche, the malls and the cafés, Casablanca offers a cosmopolitan, contemporary slice of Moroccan urban life.

More than any other Moroccan city, Casablanca is the country's gateway and engine. Mohammed V International Airport, just outside the city, is Morocco's busiest, the main long-haul hub and the arrival point for many visitors, with a direct train into the city and onward national network. Casablanca's port is the largest in the country, and the city is the financial and commercial centre, home to the Casablanca Stock Exchange, the headquarters of major banks and companies, and the Casablanca Finance City district. For travellers this makes it a natural hub: fast, frequent trains (including Africa's first high-speed line, Al Boraq, to Tangier) connect Casablanca to the capital Rabat in under an hour, to Marrakech in around three hours, and to Fez and Tangier, so the city works well as an entry or exit point bookending a wider Morocco trip. Business travellers, in particular, find here the country's deepest concentration of international hotels, conference facilities and connections. It is the modern, outward-facing face of Morocco.