Casablanca-Settat
Hotels in Casablanca-Settat- Code:06
- Type:region
- Population:7.7M (2024)
- Area:19,448 km²
- Capital:Casablanca
Introduction
Casablanca-Settat is Morocco's most populous region and its economic powerhouse, spread along the central Atlantic coast and inland across the fertile Chaouia plains. At its heart is Casablanca — the country's largest city, chief port and business capital, a fast, modern, cosmopolitan metropolis of some 3.7 million people that looks out to the ocean and forward to the future far more than the imperial cities of the interior. The region gathers around it the historic Portuguese port of El Jadida, the beach town of Mohammedia, the agricultural hub of Settat and a coastline of surf breaks and fishing harbours, with a population of roughly seven million in all. This is the Morocco of commerce, industry and Art Deco boulevards rather than medieval medinas and desert kasbahs — but it still holds one of the largest mosques on earth, a UNESCO-listed sixteenth-century citadel and long Atlantic beaches, making it both the country's gateway and a rewarding destination in its own right.
Overview
Casablanca is the modern face of Morocco, and most travellers meet the country here first — a business city of wide boulevards, ocean-front promenades and a cosmopolitan energy quite unlike Marrakech or Fez. Its showpiece is the colossal Hassan II Mosque rising straight from the Atlantic, but the city rewards a slower look at its early-twentieth-century Art Deco heart, its markets and its seafood. The wider region draws you out along the coast: south to El Jadida, where a UNESCO-listed Portuguese citadel guards a famous echoing cistern, and to the beaches and surf of Mohammedia and Dar Bouazza, with the green cereal plains of the Chaouia rolling inland. Spring and autumn are the most pleasant seasons on this mild Atlantic coast, with warm, breezy summers ideal for the beaches.
Discover Casablanca-Settat
Casablanca's unmissable landmark is the Hassan II Mosque, one of the largest in the world and among the very few in Morocco open to non-Muslim visitors on guided tours. Completed in 1993 and built partly out over the Atlantic, it is a tour de force of Moroccan craftsmanship — hand-carved cedar, zellij tilework and marble on a colossal scale, crowned by a minaret soaring more than 200 metres, with a glass floor above the sea and a roof that opens to the sky. From the mosque the seafront Corniche curves southwest through the Ain Diab district, a strip of beach clubs, swimming pools, cafés and restaurants where the city comes to promenade at sunset, ending near the vast Morocco Mall and its indoor aquarium. Together the mosque and the ocean front make the natural first half-day of any visit.
Ways to Experience This Destination
One of the world's largest mosques, rising over the Atlantic with a 200-metre minaret and dazzling Moroccan craftsmanship — and one of the few in the country open to non-Muslim visitors on guided tours, the essential first stop in Casablanca.
Casablanca's early-twentieth-century centre, an open-air gallery of Art Deco and Moorish-revival buildings along Boulevard Mohammed V and Place Mohammed V — a modern, cosmopolitan side of Morocco few travellers expect.
The old medina and the arcaded Habous quarter, the grilled fish of the Marché Central, film-themed Rick's Café and the vast Morocco Mall — Casablanca at its most urban, diverse and seafood-rich.
The UNESCO-listed Portuguese citadel of Mazagan with its ramparts and famous mirror-floored cistern, wrapped in a relaxed Moroccan beach town ninety minutes down the coast — European fortress history meets Atlantic seaside.
The beaches and golf of Mohammedia, the surf breaks and beach clubs of Dar Bouazza, and the coves running towards El Jadida — the region's cooler, breezier Atlantic playground for swimming, surfing and seafood.
Inland to Settat and its weekly souk, the wheat fields and olive groves of the Chaouia breadbasket, and country roads through farming villages — an authentic, untouristed counterpoint to the coast for travellers with a car.
Frequently asked questions
Cities in Casablanca-Settat
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