Sightseeing Casablanca-Settat: 5 Views
Point a camera anywhere in Casablanca-Settat and you’ll eventually land on one of five views, and knowing which five ahead of time saves a lot of wandering between sights that don’t actually reward the walk.
View one: the minaret from the water’s edge
The Hassan II Mosque’s 210-meter minaret, one of the tallest anywhere until Algeria’s Djamaa El-Djazair overtook it in 2024, is best photographed from the rocks below the esplanade at dusk, when the last light and the sea spray both hit it at once. Getting past the exterior view requires an official guided tour, since non-Muslim visitors cannot enter on their own. A guided mosque tour with hotel pickup covers both the view and the interior in one booking, and the foundation’s own visitor page has the current tour schedule and pricing.
View two: Place Mohammed V, best in soft morning light
The Mauresque facades around Place Mohammed V, the Wilaya’s clock tower, the Grande Poste, Bank Al-Maghrib, photograph better in the flatter light of mid-morning than at midday, when the square’s own shadows get harsh. It’s an ensemble view rather than a single-building shot, and it works best with some of the square’s actual foot traffic in frame rather than waiting for it to empty out. All three buildings still function as working government offices, not museums, which is part of why the square reads as a living civic center rather than a preserved colonial relic.
View three: a beam of light underground in El Jadida
The Portuguese Cistern in El Jadida, about 100 kilometers southwest, is the region’s most distinctive interior: a Gothic-vaulted 16th-century chamber where a single shaft of sunlight through the ceiling oculus hits shallow water and throws a mirrored reflection back up onto the stone above it. The effect is strongest within a few hours of midday, weaker on an overcast morning when the beam loses most of its definition. A full-day private tour to El Jadida covers the cistern along with the surrounding ramparts, part of the town’s UNESCO-listed old fortress.
View four: La Sqala’s cannons against open water
La Sqala’s 18th-century sea bastion still carries its original brass cannons, aimed out at the same Atlantic the mosque faces from further down the coast. It’s a smaller, quieter frame than the mosque or the cistern, easiest to fit into a short stop rather than a planned excursion, and the restaurant built into the fortification walls means a slow coffee can stretch that stop into an hour without anyone minding.
View five: Oualidia’s lagoon from higher ground
Two hours southwest, the emerald channels of Oualidia’s lagoon separate from the open Atlantic behind a long golden sandbar, a view that reads completely differently depending on the tide and the time of day. Late afternoon light tends to bring out the color contrast between the lagoon and the ocean beyond it more than a midday visit does, and the sandbar’s exact shape shifts with the season as the tides rework it year to year.
Verdict: the mosque and Place Mohammed V cover Casablanca itself in half a day; the Portuguese Cistern is worth the full day trip on its own merits, distinct enough from anything in the city that it shouldn’t be treated as optional. For how to sequence all five views against travel time, the day trips guide lays out realistic timing for each.
Bring a wide lens for the Portuguese Cistern; the chamber is lower and more enclosed than photos of it usually suggest, and a standard lens crops out most of the vaulting, leaving only the reflection and none of the architecture around it.