Why this ride
From Casablanca it runs 184 km to Casablanca; allow about 2 h 25 of riding. On the way it passes Quartier Habous de Diour Jamaâ, Ville nouvelle, Rabat and Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Casablanca day out · Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 184 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 25
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Casablanca
Casablanca is the economic engine of Morocco, a sprawling Atlantic port of more than three million people, and it is the opposite of a postcard town. The name, meaning white house in Spanish, goes back to Portuguese and later Spanish settlers, but the modern city grew mainly under the French in the early twentieth century, when it was laid out with broad boulevards and Art Deco and neo-Moorish buildings, many of which survive in the centre, a little shabby and very handsome.
Read the complete Casablanca write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Casablanca is where the day begins. Next is Quartier Habous de Diour Jamaâ.
2. Quartier Habous de Diour Jamaâ
Diour Jamaa is a district of Rabat, the capital, built in the early twentieth century under the French Protectorate as a planned neighbourhood for Moroccans, and its character is calm and well proportioned. Houses stand in low blocks around small squares and gardens, with arched doorways, tiled courtyards and a feeling of order that sets it apart from the crowded old medina. It is one of the places that led UNESCO to inscribe Rabat as a modern capital and historic city in 2012.
Read the complete Quartier Habous de Diour Jamaâ write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Quartier Habous de Diour Jamaâ comes up about 88 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ville nouvelle.
3. Ville nouvelle
When France took control of Morocco in 1912, Marshal Lyautey decided to leave the old cities alone and build new ones beside them, and Rabat's Ville Nouvelle is the best-known result. Laid out by the architect and planner Henri Prost on a grid of boulevards, the district has wide avenues shaded by palm and orange trees, white buildings with green-tiled roofs and a calm, elegant style that mixes European Art Deco with Moroccan details. Rabat has been the capital since 1912, and these avenues were built as its seat of government.
Read the complete Ville nouvelle write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least about 95 km into the recorded legs you reach Ville nouvelle. Next is Rabat.
4. Rabat
Rabat is the capital of Morocco, and it has an easy, civilised feel compared with the bigger rush of Casablanca. The city sits on the Atlantic coast where the Bou Regreg river meets the sea, facing the old pirate town of Sale across the water. The Kasbah of the Udayas, a fortress with a blue-and-white village inside it, stands on a bluff above the river mouth. Its gardens and narrow lanes are a quiet place for tea and a look at the sea. In the twelfth century the Almohad ruler Yaqub al-Mansur started to build a huge mosque here, and it was never finished.
Read the complete Rabat write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Rabat, about halfway. Next is Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V.
5. Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V
Rabat's great unfinished monument stands on a bluff above the Bou Regreg river, and its story is one of ambition cut short. In 1195, the Almohad caliph Yaqub al-Mansur began building a mosque that was meant to be the largest in the world, with a minaret to match, and when he died in 1199 the work stopped. The Hassan Tower, a square shaft of red sandstone, rose only to about forty-four metres, half the planned height, and around it stand rows of broken columns that were meant to hold up the roof. The earthquake that flattened Lisbon in 1755 did more damage, but the tower still stands, a beautiful stump.
Read the complete Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V sits at 118 km, about halfway. Next is back through Rabat.
6. back through Rabat
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rabat write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Rabat comes up about 98 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Ville nouvelle.
7. back through Ville nouvelle
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ville nouvelle write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 99 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Ville nouvelle. Next is back through Quartier Habous de Diour Jamaâ.
8. back through Quartier Habous de Diour Jamaâ
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Quartier Habous de Diour Jamaâ write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Quartier Habous de Diour Jamaâ, late in the day. Next is Casablanca.
9. Casablanca
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Casablanca write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 184 km.
Leg by leg
Casablanca to Quartier Habous de Diour Jamaâ
Casablanca → Quartier Habous de Diour Jamaâ is 88 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Quartier Habous de Diour Jamaâ to Casablanca
back through Quartier Habous de Diour Jamaâ → Casablanca is 88 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
More motorcycle rides nearby
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