An Evening That Starts at Sunset in Casablanca
The light goes gold over the Hassan II Mosque and the streets empty out. Then, at the call to prayer, the city exhales: shutters roll up, café chairs scrape onto the pavement, and the smell of harira — tomato and lentil, sharp with coriander — drifts out of the kitchens that have been quiet all day. By nine, Casablanca is fully awake again. Families walk the corniche, pastry shops sell chebakia by the box, and the evening stretches well past midnight. This is what Ramadan looks like in Morocco's largest city, and if your visit falls in February or early March 2027, you will land in the middle of it.
Break the Fast the Way the City Does
Iftar is the anchor of the day, and in Casablanca you can join it at every price point. The meal traditionally opens with dates, then moves to harira, then to the pastries that define the month: chebakia, the sesame-and-honey coils made in quantity only during Ramadan, along with briouats, msemen and baghrir flatbreads, hard-boiled eggs, fresh dates and sellou, the toasted flour-and-almond sweet.
- Look for pastry and bread stalls in the hours before sunset — chebakia and sellou appear in neighbourhood bakeries and market stalls across the city through the month.
- Hotels and riads serve all three meals to guests throughout Ramadan, so iftar and suhoor are available even where local cafés have closed.
- Tourist-oriented restaurants in Casablanca stay open through the day, and licensed hotel bars and some tourist restaurants serve alcohol discreetly to non-Muslim guests.
- Carry cash for evenings. Smaller shops and food stalls reopening after sunset often prefer dirhams over cards.
Time your evening carefully: from about thirty minutes before sunset to an hour after, the country pauses. Taxis are scarce and restaurants fill with staff and family. Plan to be where you want to eat before that window opens, not travelling through it.
Spend Your Mornings, Sleep Through Your Afternoons
Ramadan reorganises the clock, and the smartest way to see Casablanca is to move with it. Mornings are unusually quiet at major sites — the same holds at the country's monuments, and Casablanca's own attractions keep adjusted hours, many opening later and closing earlier in the afternoon. Offices, banks and government buildings run roughly 09:00 to 15:00, so anything administrative should happen early.
- Front-load your day: monuments, markets and photography are best before midday, when the streets are still empty and the light is clean.
- Rest in the afternoon, when many local cafés and neighbourhood restaurants are shut between dawn and sunset.
- Eat and drink discreetly during daylight — indoors, on hotel terraces, in riads or at clearly tourist-oriented venues rather than in the street or on public transport.
- Dress modestly through the month, with shoulders, chest and knees covered.
February and early March is Morocco's mild shoulder season: pleasant daytime temperatures, genuinely cold evenings, fewer crowds than the summer or autumn peaks, and lower flight and riad prices. Daylight fasting hours run roughly twelve to thirteen hours. Pack a warm jacket and scarf for after dark, and closed shoes for the evening circuit.
Join the Late-Night City
Once iftar is finished, Casablanca turns into a different place. This is the rhythm the whole country follows through Ramadan: after the meal, cities become active late into the night, and families walk, shop and visit until the small hours. You do not need a ticket or a programme to be part of it — the celebration is the street itself.
- Walk the corniche and the central boulevards after iftar, when crowds are at their thickest and cafés stay open late.
- Shop the evening markets, which reopen after sunset and run late — the busiest hours of the commercial day.
- Accept an invitation if one comes. Visitors are sometimes invited to break the fast in family homes, particularly in smaller towns and the Atlas, and the same generosity runs through the month in the city.
- Ask before photographing anyone breaking their fast. It is the one etiquette rule people notice.
Tip more generously than usual during Ramadan. It is expected, and it is noticed.
Know the Dates — and Know They Can Move
Ramadan 2027 is expected to begin on approximately Sunday 7 or Monday 8 February 2027, and to end around Monday 8 March 2027, with Eid al-Fitr falling approximately Tuesday 9 March 2027. The month runs twenty-nine or thirty days, and Ramadan moves back ten to twelve days each year against the Gregorian calendar.
Those dates are projections. Morocco's Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs confirms the official start only after the crescent moon is sighted, with the moon search beginning after sunset on 7 February 2027, and the official date may shift by a day. Build a little flexibility into the start and end of your trip rather than booking tight connections around either edge.
Eid al-Fitr is a major family holiday. Some shops and museums close for a day or two around it, so plan your last days accordingly.
What Still Runs, and How to Plan Around It
Ramadan does not close the country to visitors. Hotels, riads and guesthouses operate normally and serve all three meals to guests. Tourist-oriented restaurants in Casablanca — along with those in Marrakech, Fes, Essaouira, Chefchaouen, Tangier and Agadir — stay open through the day. Major monuments and gardens open on adjusted hours. Tour operators, drivers, guides and desert camps run full programmes, and trains, buses and flights keep regular schedules.
- Alcohol sales largely pause in most supermarkets, and many local restaurants remove it from menus; licensed hotel bars and some tourist restaurants serve discreetly to non-Muslim guests.
- Fasting is not required or expected of tourists, and there is no law against non-Muslims eating in public — but discretion during daylight is the courteous default.
- Museum and monument hours vary through the month, so confirm the day before rather than assuming a standard schedule.
Set your dates around the tentative 7–8 February start, book a riad or hotel where breakfast and dinner are covered, and leave your evenings free — because in Casablanca during Ramadan, the evening is the whole point.