Jazzablanca — Casablanca's International Music Festival

Founded in 2010, Jazzablanca began as a jazz festival and has since broadened into one of Morocco's leading international music events. While jazz remains its backbone and its name, the modern festival programmes widely across soul, funk, pop, world and electronic music, pulling in globally known headliners alongside African and Moroccan artists.

That evolution mirrors Casablanca itself: cosmopolitan, forward-looking and comfortable mixing high culture with popular appeal. The festival has become a fixture of the early-summer calendar, a few days when the country's largest city turns its attention to live music on a serious scale.

For visitors, Jazzablanca offers something many Moroccan festivals do not: a big-city setting with the full infrastructure of hotels, restaurants and transport, plus a line-up pitched at an international audience. It is an easy, rewarding festival to attend even if you are new to Morocco.

The festival is typically held in early summer, with recent editions falling in June or July, though the exact dates are set each year and can move, so confirm the current programme through official channels before booking. Early summer in Casablanca is warm but tempered by the Atlantic, with sea air keeping the evenings pleasant for open-air concerts.

This window sits just ahead of the hottest months and outside Ramadan in the mid-2020s, which suits the festival's outdoor format. It also overlaps with the start of the European summer, so the city is busy, and rooms near the festival area book up as the dates approach.

If you are combining the festival with wider travel, early summer is a good time for the Atlantic coast generally, and Casablanca connects easily by fast train to Rabat, Marrakech and beyond, making it a natural hub for a longer trip.

Jazzablanca runs on a two-tier model that is central to its character. The headline programme takes place on ticketed main stages within the festival site, where the biggest international names perform across the evenings. This is where you go for the marquee sets, and tickets, sold as single-day or multi-day passes, are the way in.

Alongside this, the festival has long run a free town stage, a public programme that brings live music to the city at no charge and keeps Jazzablanca open to everyone, not just ticket holders. It is a smart way to sample the festival's atmosphere for free and to see emerging and local acts.

As an approximate, indicative steer for mid-2026, expect ticketed passes to sit in a mid-to-premium price band typical of an international festival, varying by day and by seating or standing area (roughly 10 MAD to 1 USD, approximate). Confirm current pricing and pass types when the line-up is announced, and buy through official outlets rather than resellers.

Despite the name, this is not a purist jazz festival. Jazz and its relatives, blues, soul, funk and fusion, anchor the programme, but recent editions have ranged across pop, R&B, Afrobeat, reggae and electronic music, with headliners drawn from the international touring circuit.

The result is a broad, crowd-pleasing bill designed to appeal well beyond jazz aficionados. On any given night you might hear a legendary jazz instrumentalist, a global pop act and a rising African star, which is part of the festival's modern success.

The free town stage tends to spotlight Moroccan and up-and-coming talent, so between the two strands you get both big international names and a genuine sense of the local scene. It is a good festival for the curious listener who wants range rather than a single genre.

Casablanca rewards the time a festival trip gives you. The city holds one of the world's densest concentrations of 1920s and 30s Mauresque and Art Deco architecture, best explored on a self-guided walk around Boulevard Mohammed V and Place Mohammed V; our Casablanca Art Deco architecture guide maps the key facades.

The waterfront Hassan II Mosque, one of the largest in the world and open to non-Muslim guided tours, is the city's landmark and a highlight of any visit; you can read more in our Morocco grand mosques guide. The Corniche at Ain Diab, with its seafront restaurants and the famous Rick's Café, is where the city goes to eat and unwind after dark.

Add the old medina, the Habous quarter and the buzz of a real working metropolis, and Casablanca gives a festival visit plenty of daytime substance beyond the concerts.

Casablanca has the deepest hotel market in Morocco, from business towers in the centre to seafront addresses along the Corniche; our Casablanca luxury hotels guide covers the upper end, with plenty of mid-range options across the city for festival-goers on a budget.

The food is a genuine reason to visit. For a special dinner, the cosmopolitan upscale scene along Ain Diab and downtown is covered in our Casablanca fine dining guide, while the city's cheaper, livelier side, from Marché Central seafood to snail soup and sardine sandwiches, is laid out in our Casablanca street food guide.

Staying reasonably central or near the Corniche keeps you close to both the festival area and the best of the city's dining, with taxis and ride-hailing filling any gaps. Book ahead for festival dates, when demand climbs.

Casablanca is Morocco's main international gateway. Mohammed V Airport (CMN) sits about 30 km southeast of the centre and connects to the city by train and taxi, while frequent fast ONCF trains link Casablanca with Rabat, Tangier and Marrakech, making it easy to fold the festival into a wider itinerary.

As Morocco's largest city and one of the six 2030 World Cup host cities, Casablanca is at the centre of the country's stadium, rail and hospitality upgrades, covered in the Casablanca World Cup 2030 hub. Expect the city to grow busier and better connected in the run-up to the tournament.

For the festival itself, buy tickets early through official channels, plan which nights you want, and leave time for the free town stage and the city's sights. Casablanca's size means a little planning around transport pays off, but the payoff is a festival with a real metropolis behind it.