What are the best areas to stay in Casablanca?

Casablanca is a city you stay in for convenience rather than romance, so I choose the area by what you actually need. For most short stops — a night before a flight, or a day to see the mosque — I recommend the downtown Centre Ville. It puts you within reach of the Hassan II Mosque, the Art Deco architecture, the Marché Central for seafood, and crucially Casa-Voyageurs and Casa-Port stations if you are training on to Marrakech or Rabat. It is practical, central, and well served by hotels at every level.

If you want the sea, the lounges, and the city's real nightlife, base yourself on the Corniche in the Aïn Diab district. This is the seafront strip where Casablancans go to relax — beach clubs, bars, restaurants, and the breezy promenade — and it is also where many of the upscale resort-style hotels sit, including some big international names with sea views and pools. It is a 15-minute taxi from the centre, so it trades sightseeing convenience for atmosphere and a holiday feel.

For a luxury splurge, the city has a couple of genuine landmark hotels — grand five-stars near the centre and along the coast that deliver the polished service and rooftop pools you would expect of a business capital. Casablanca is Morocco's corporate city, so the high-end hotel stock is strong and modern, unlike the riad-led scene inland. If you want a sleek hotel rather than a traditional courtyard house, this is the city for it.

One honest steer: do not stay in Casablanca's old medina expecting the magic of Fes or Marrakech. It is small, rundeveloped, and not the draw here — there is little of the riad culture that defines those cities. Casablanca is fundamentally a transit and business hub, so I tell clients to keep their stay short, pick downtown for sights or the Corniche for sea and nightlife, and save the atmospheric riad nights for the imperial cities and the coast.