Casablanca: Useful Information
- Tourist Offices and Guides
- Transportation
- Money, Banks
- Post Offices
- Consulates
- Health and Emergencies
- Warnings and Dangers
Tourist Offices and Guides
Délégation régionale du tourisme
55, Rue Omar Slaoui
022 27 95 33
Working hours: Open Monday-Friday from 8.30am-12pm and 2.30pm-6.30pm.
Transportation
Petit taxi
There are hundreds and hundreds of red petit taxis roaming around Casablanca. The possibility of getting ripped off exists, although it is not as high as in Marrakech. You must be careful around the Casa Port train station, especially if you are looking for a ride directly to the great Hassan II mosque. Just check if the driver has turned the counter on or not. If not, stop the cab, get out of it and look for another one, until you find a honest driver.
A small note: the minimal fare for petit taxis in Casablanca is 7 Dh (unlike in other Moroccan cities, where it's 5 Dh).
Grand taxi
The following destinations have grand taxis going from and to Casablanca: El-Jadida, Fes, Marrakech, Meknes, Rabat and Tangier. For Rabat, the departure station is located near the CTM bus station, on Boulevard Hassan Seghir.
Bus
The main Casablanca bus city terminal is located on the Place Maréchal, near the Place des Nations Unies. Warning: many bus lines are known to be frequented by pickpockets and sometimes even robbers. The petit taxi is recommended as a much better transportation option.
Money, Banks
All the banks in Morocco have their seat in Casablanca, the country's economic heart. The Moroccan stock exchange is here too. ATMs and bank offices are everywhere in Casablanca.
Post Offices
Main Post Office (Poste principale)
Place Mohammed V, on the corner of Avenue Hassan II and Boulevard de Paris
Working hours: 8.30am-4pm, Monday to Friday. Phone and cable services are available on every day, even on weekends.
Note: This is a beautiful colonial-era building, recently renovated. It is worth a look, even if you don't need any postal services.
Consulates
There are many consulates stationed in Casablanca, to make life easier for local and foreign businessmen needing consular and legal services in Morocco's business centre. Rabat is the political centre, while Casablanca is perhaps more important in that it makes more than 60% of Morocco's BDP! No wonder that so many foreign consular offices are here.
British Consulate General in Casablanca
Villa Les Salurges — 36, Rue de la Loire
022 85 74 00, fax: 022 83 46 25/26
Working hours: during winter, Monday to Thursday from 8am-4.30pm, on Fridays from 8am-1pm. During summer, Monday to Thursday from 8am-2pm, on Fridays from 8am-1pm.
US Consulate General in Casablanca
8, Boulevard Moulay Youssef
Fax: 022 20 41 27
Russian Consulate General in Casablanca
31, Rue Soumaya Maarif
022 25 18 73, fax: 022 98 93 57
French Consulate General in Casablanca
1, rue du Prince Moulay Abdallah
022 48 93 00, fax: 022 48 93 05
Spanish Consulate General in Casablanca
31, Rue d'Alger
022 22 07 52, fax: 022 20 50 49
Italian Consulate General in Casablanca
21, Avenue Hassan Souktani
022 43 70 70, 022 27 75 58 and 022 22 00 68, fax: 022 27 71 39, visas office fax: 022 22 38 80
Belgian Consulate General in Casablanca
9, Rue Al Farabi
022 22 30 49, fax: 022 22 07 22
Health and Emergencies
Night pharmacies
There are many pharmacies to be found throughout all of Casablanca, and they all have the timetable with the current night pharmacy displayed on the entrance.
Hospitals
Clinique des spécialités Al Hakim
On the corner of Rue Dalton and Rue Lavoisier
022 86 22 86
Note: Emergency dentist is available here.
Polyclinique Atlas
27, Rue Mohammed Ben Ali
022 27 40 39
Note: 24/24hr emergency service is available.
Medical Emergencies
Samu (health emergency): 022 25 25 25
S.O.S. Médecins: 022 44 44 44, 022 82 82 82
Warnings and Dangers
Being a big maritime port, Casablanca has its share of crime. After the sunset, prostitutes and drunks are not uncommon on the streets of Casa, more so if you get away from the centre a little bit.
A lot of beggars can be encountered in Casablanca: This is nothing unexpected, since the city is enormous, with much of its population being people who came to the metropolis from the countryside, villages and small towns in hope of finding a job. This has in turn spawned bidonvilles, skidrows where hundreds of thousands live, without current water or electricty. Avoid these dangerous makeshift neighbourhoods, because there is nothing to be seen there, except extreme poverty. Unfortunately, this situation has led to the spread of islamic extremism in these places.
Ignore anyone who approaches you on the street, trying to sell you something, especially in the medina.
If you are going out to a club or bar, make sure that you have transportation back to your hotel available.