The malls here are INSANE!  A  shopaholic dream come true and a great foodie getaway, not to mention the lifesaving air conditioning.

We haven’t purchased a single item in any of the malls (besides food and drink) but we have already spent countless hours exploring them.

Terminal 21

A 9 story shopping center with a different city theme on each floor – Rome, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo – just to name a few. This mall is not as large or fancy as some of the others but it does have a good mix of higher-end stores and boutique shops.

The top story is dedicated to nothing but food. It was here that we had our first papaya salad (som tam).

BTS: Asok station

MBK

This shopping center is 8 stories high and houses over 2,000 shops, a 4 story department store (Toyko), and a foodcourt with ridiculously cheap and good eats. It offers many Thai gifts, clothing, electronics, and jewelery shops. A good place to go for bargain shopping and buying souvenirs.

Also home to the MBK Food Island foodcourt and the insane beef noodle soup mentioned in a previous post (Getting our footing).

BTS: National Stadium station or a short walk from Siam station

Siam Paragon/Siam Discovery/Siam Center

You can spend an entire day at these three adjacent shopping centers and still not even scratch the surface.

Siam Paragon is the 3rd largest mall in Thailand complete with a wide range of specialty stores and restaurants, a multiplex movie theater (15 screens), the Sea Life Ocean World (largest aquarium in South East Asia), a bowling alley, karaoke center, and an opera concert hall.  It is the place to go for high class shops and gourmet food. The foodcourt was, by far, the busiest section of the mall with the longest line belonging to BAKE – known for their cheese tarts.

 

Siam Discovery looks more like a modern art installation than shopping center. It has an open floor plan with a clean, sleek feel unlike anything we’ve seen before. Cash registers are hidden to create more of a hang-out vibe. This is a great place to window shop and people watch.

Siam Center is the closest thing to your everyday US shopping center and the least impressive of the three malls. Here you can find Victoria Secret, Sephora, Bath&Bodyworks, etc.

BTS: Siam station

EmDistrict – EmQuartier/Emporium/Helix Quarter

This was my favorite of all the shopping centers – specifically the Helix Quarter. We spent hours drinking and touring the rooftop garden.

We also stumbled upon a BAKE stand with no line (!!!) so we tried on of their must have cheese tarts.

BTS: Phrom Phong station