Casablanca-Settat Activities by Sub-Region
“Casablanca-Settat” names an administrative region, not a city, and treating the two as the same thing is the single fastest way to plan a bad trip here, one that misses everything worthwhile outside the city limits.
Sub-region one: Casablanca proper
The Prefecture of Casablanca is Morocco’s largest city and commercial capital, though not its political one; that’s Rabat. The Hassan II Mosque anchors it, a 210-meter minaret over the Atlantic accessible to non-Muslims only on an official guided tour, 140 MAD adult admission, running Saturday through Thursday. Downtown, Boulevard Mohammed V carries a dense run of 1920s and 1930s Art Deco and Mauresque buildings, and the Habous Quarter offers a calmer, planned “New Medina” alternative to a traditional old town. A Casablanca city tour by car or minivan covers the mosque, downtown and Habous in a single organized day if self-navigating on day one doesn’t appeal.
Sub-region two: El Jadida province, 100 km southwest
This is where “Casablanca-Settat” stops being a synonym for Casablanca. El Jadida is a separate coastal town built around a 16th-century Portuguese fortress, UNESCO-listed as the Portuguese City of Mazagan, with sea ramparts and the Gothic-vaulted Portuguese Cistern as its centerpiece. It sits roughly 1h15 by car or 1h25 by train from Casablanca, a genuine day trip rather than a suburb. A full-day private tour to El Jadida covers the ramparts, the cistern and a stop at the harbor market.
Sub-region three: Oualidia’s oyster lagoon
Further south along the same coast, Oualidia is a sheltered saltwater tidal lagoon, Morocco’s oyster-farming capital and a Ramsar wetland for migratory birds. Its calm water, protected from open-ocean rip currents, makes it the region’s one reliable swimming spot for anyone put off by Casablanca’s rockier open beaches, and the oyster shacks lining the water’s edge do a steady trade in fresh Belon and cupped oysters straight from the lagoon beds.
Sub-region four: Benslimane, Mohammedia and Settat
Inland and northeast, Benslimane’s rolling hills and cork oak forest (Forêt de Ziaïda) host some of Morocco’s most prestigious equestrian centers; Mohammedia is a coastal port town with a 17th-century kasbah and wide surf beaches; Settat, the Chaouia plain’s historic center, is known for traditional Tbourida equestrian games and agricultural heritage. None of these three get anywhere near the visitor numbers Casablanca or El Jadida do, which is part of why they’re worth knowing about by name rather than lumping them into “the Casablanca area.” A traveler asking a Casablanca hotel desk about Settat’s Tbourida traditions will usually get a blank look, since it belongs to a different day-trip circuit entirely, one built around Benslimane’s riding centers rather than the coastal towns most itineraries default to.
Getting between the sub-regions
The Casablanca Tramway (8 MAD a ticket, two hours of free transfers) covers the city itself; ONCF’s regional and Al Boraq high-speed trains, timetabled on the operator’s own site , connect Casablanca to Mohammedia, El Jadida and Rabat without needing a car. Visit Casablanca’s official tourism site is a reasonable starting point for anything this list doesn’t cover in enough detail.
Verdict: treat Casablanca-Settat as at least two separate trips inside one region, a Casablanca city stay plus a coastal day or overnight, rather than trying to compress the whole area into a single rushed day. For the specific views and vantage points across all four sub-regions, see the sightseeing guide .
Book any El Jadida or Oualidia day trip a day ahead in peak season; the region’s small stock of licensed guides and drivers fills up faster than Casablanca’s own tour capacity does, especially on weekends when Casablanca residents make the same coastal drive themselves.