Things to do in Casablanca on foot: self-guided walking tours

Walking Casablanca

Casablanca rewards walkers more than it looks like it should from a taxi window. United Nations Square marks the old seam between the French new city and the walled medina, and from there narrow lanes lead past the Mausoleum of Allal al-Qairawani and Rick's Café to the working synagogue of Temple Beth-El and the vast white bulk of the Sacred Heart Cathedral. A bus shows you these places from behind glass; walking puts you at the doorway of each one, which is where most of this city's history actually happened.

Walk & Tell turns these routes into a self-guided audio walk: GPS finds each stop as you arrive, and a figure from Casablanca's own past narrates it in your ear, from a French marshal who drew the new city's lines to a mellah seamstress who watched her street get redrawn. Each walk runs about fifty minutes over under two kilometres, free to try, and the audio downloads for offline use, so no data is needed on the ground. It suits a first visit, a spare afternoon, or Casablanca in one day on foot, whether you're on your own or walking with someone else.

Things to see in Casablanca on foot

• United Nations Square — The great open square where the French new city met the old walled medina, once known as Place de France.
• Sacred Heart Cathedral — A vast white 1930 former cathedral in concrete neo-Gothic style, no longer used for worship, viewed from its forecourt.
• Rick's Café Casablanca — A restaurant opened in 2004 recreating the bar from the 1942 film, free to see outside any time but serving only from evening.
• Casablanca Clock Tower — A 1993 reproduction of the 1909 French clock tower that once gave the square its name.
• Temple Beth-El — A working Orthodox synagogue in Sidi Belyout, long a centre of Jewish Casablanca life, seen respectfully from the pavement.
• Mausoleum of Allal al-Qairawani — An active shrine and prayer lodge in the medina, sacred to the port's fishermen, viewed quietly from the doorway.
• Church of San Buenaventura — A Franciscan church of about 1890, now a cultural centre for the medina, seen from the lane.
• School of Fine Arts of Casablanca — An art school founded in 1919 that became the cradle of the modernist Casablanca School movement.
• Abderrahman Slaoui Foundation Museum — A small ticketed museum of paintings, posters and jewellery in a townhouse, worth entering if you have time.
• Arrondissement de Sidi Belyout — The working administrative townhall on Boulevard d'Anfa, told from the pavement outside.

Questions people ask about Casablanca

What can I do in Casablanca in a few hours on foot?

You can walk from United Nations Square into the old medina, passing the clock tower, a Franciscan church turned cultural centre, a fishermen's shrine, and Rick's Café, in under an hour. A second route covers the mellah and new city, from Temple Beth-El to the Sacred Heart Cathedral and back to the same square, in about fifty minutes.

Is Casablanca walkable?

The core described in these walks is compact, under two kilometres each, and centres on United Nations Square where Tramway Line 1 also stops. Lanes in the medina and the forecourt of the cathedral have little shade, so walking is easier early or after five.

What are the free things to do in Casablanca?

United Nations Square, the clock tower, the Sacred Heart Cathedral forecourt, and the outside of Rick's Café, Temple Beth-El, and the Mausoleum of Allal al-Qairawani can all be seen without paying anything. The Walk & Tell app itself is free to try before you decide to buy the full walk.

Do I need a guide in Casablanca?

Not a human one for these routes. The app uses GPS to find each stop automatically while a narrator from the city's past, such as the marshal Hubert Lyautey or a mellah seamstress, tells its story in your ear as a self-guided audio walk.

Does the walk work without data?

Yes. Download the walk in advance and the audio plays offline, which matters in the medina lanes where a signal cannot always be relied on.

What is the best time of day to walk in Casablanca?

Early morning or after five o'clock, since United Nations Square, the medina lanes, and the cathedral forecourt all lack shade around midday. Rick's Café is only serving food and drink from the evening, though its exterior can be seen at any hour.

What is closed or off-limits along these walks?

Temple Beth-El and the Mausoleum of Allal al-Qairawani are working places of worship seen only from outside, and the synagogue should not be expected to open on a Saturday. The Sacred Heart Cathedral no longer holds services and its interior opens only irregularly for exhibitions, so the walk is told from its forecourt.

Can I visit the Abderrahman Slaoui Foundation Museum during the walk?

The walk itself is narrated from the museum's street door, but the small private collection of paintings, posters and jewellery is ticketed and open to enter if your schedule allows the extra time.