Casablanca airport

April 1, 2009 11:37 PM

I have several hours to spend in the Casablanca airport before I meet my boyfriend, who is arriving on a separate flight. Does the arrivals hall have any cafes/places to sit? Will I have a problem waiting there?
posted by anonymous78 to travel & transportation (10 comments total)

Rick's Cafe
posted by watercarrier at 12:51 AM on April 2

Rick's Cafe

"Set in an old courtyard-style mansion built against the walls of the Old Medina of Casablanca"—that is not helpful, watercarrier.

anonymous78, this page says that "There are restaurants and cafés throughout the airport." This page says that "Passengers delayed at the airport for a few hours can go to one of the restaurants and have something to eat or drink. Another option would be to go and browse through the shops that are at the airport, some sell a range of interesting locally crafted items. Other than that you can go and surf the web and check your emails in the business centre." I haven't been to the Casablanca airport myself, so I can't testify to the accuracy of this information.
posted by Orinda at 7:49 AM on April 2

Searching "casablanca airport" at Flickr will net you a few interior shots (among other results) and give you some idea what to expect. It looks to me like a large, modern airport with all the usual airport facilities; this guy seems to be sitting in an airport cafe.
posted by Orinda at 7:55 AM on April 2

Several? Say, five or so? If you do, just take the train straight into Casa, it leaves right from the main terminal, and takes about a half hour to get to the city. Get off at Casa Voyageurs - there's plenty of little cafes in the area around the train station.

The train station staff are fairly used to tourists, so don't worry about having to ask them questions, not being able to speak French/Arabic, etc...

The airport is OK, but the seats are uncomfortable, and the food poor, of course. I've done it, but only when waiting on a flight. Sometimes there's an issue getting into the departures area, where most of the restaurants/shops are - they want to see a ticket, etc...

And Rick's Cafe? No.
posted by HopperFan at 7:59 AM on April 2

Duh—just re-read your question and saw that you are asking about the arrivals hall, specifically. Does that mean you'll need to exit the secure area and collect checked baggage at the start of your wait? If that's the case, my answers may not be so helpful, either; the airports of the world are really variable in the level of services that they provide outside the security zone.
posted by Orinda at 8:05 AM on April 2

According to the website there's a bar on the arrivals level called bar cafe Atasa. There's a cafe in the public arrivals level 0 (ground level, most likely) called New West Rahal.

If this airport follows a vaguely Euro standard, there will be at least one crappy restaurant near the front entrance. Every airport/rail station I've been to in Italy, France or Spain has something.
posted by fiercekitten at 8:26 AM on April 2

I was just in this airport last week. There is a small cafe serving coffee, tea and light snacks (pizza i believe) after you exit the baggage claim and go through customs. I also saw snack/coffee stands inside the terminal prior to going to baggage claim. You're gonna be pretty damn bored regardless, but I'd say exit through customs and go to the cafe.
posted by spicynuts at 8:48 AM on April 2 [1 favorite]

You could watch the arriving and departing trains, which come right into the airport, or calm any travel nerves by petting one of the many cats that wander the airport.
posted by QuakerMel at 9:06 AM on April 2

Cats?? What?? I was stuck there for 2 hours waiting for a Moroccan (get used to that) and I didn't see a single cat. Maybe they took the day off. Casablanca - tons of cats. The airport though??
posted by spicynuts at 9:42 AM on April 2

Well, I was there 7 years ago. Maybe they've kicked all the cats out? Too bad.

After a short search I found only one other reference, from 2000, to cats at the Casablanca airport. Too bad. But there is no shortage of street cats elsewhere in Maroc.

If Liosliath is around, perhaps she'll chime in.
posted by QuakerMel at 10:37 AM on April 2