Shopping in Malaysia: the best shopping malls of Kuala Lumpur

Mid Valley Megamall

One of our favourite shopping centers is the Mid Valley Megamall. The mall has over 500 shopping outlets which means you can spend the entire day here without having seen it all.

As typical for Kuala Lumpur there are an excessive amount of places where you can get something to eat or drink. From ice cream shops to waffles. From noodles to Starbucks to French pastries. And restaurants from cuisines like Japanese, Korean, Thai and American. If you can’t decide what to get then you could go to the Oasis Food Court on the second floor, which offers many little food shops with authentic local dishes and places to sit. A joy for your taste buds.

The mall has five floors filled with shops. The shops are very much aimed at locals, which means you can find almost any facility at the mall and they are offered at fair prices. The shops come in all forms, as you have outlets of international brands, like converse and esprit, and a lot of more general fashion outlet, like Bershka and Zara. There are Jewelry shops like Swarovski and even toy shops for the children like Toys ‘R’ Us. It stood out to us that a lot of electronic brands also have their own stores here, like Sony and Samsung. A lot of Malaysian shopping chains are also represented.

One interesting feature of the mall is that it has it’s own laser tag arena called Galactic Laser. Which can be a pretty fun and family friendly activity to do while you’re there. On the two top floors you will also find a cinema. If you want to reach out to home then you can also find an internet cafe at the mall.

The Mid Valley Megamall is located slightly outside of the city center. Luckily a KTM komuter train and bus station called Mid Valley Station is located right in front of the door. If you take the train from the city center you end up right in front of the door of this shopping center. So it’s easy to reach the mall with public transportation. If you prefer to use your own car then you’ll be glad to know there are two floors that serve as parking garages below the mall.

If you think you’ve seen it all, then you can just cross the street and go to the The Gardens Mall, which is in the building next to it. On the first floor you will find a bridge which connects the Mid Valley Megamall with The Gardens Mall. So you can truly spend the entire day here and be catered to all your shopping needs.

Starhill Gallery

Starhill Gallery is the most beautiful and chic shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur. On the outside you can already get a glimpse of the glamour you can expect on the inside. Both on the inside and outside Starhill Gallery is an unique architectural highlight that gives off a peaceful, luscious and stylish ambiance. The mall offers a luxurious shopping experience. It has seven floors with over a hundred luxury stores.

Starhill Gallery is world renowned as it is the biggest watch gallery in the world and offers boutiques from Patek Philippe, Rolex, Hermes, Jaeger-LeCoultre and many more. The mall also has flagship stores of premium clothing brands like Dior, Valentino and Louis Vuitton. Perfumeries, a cigar shop and relaxing health facilities like a wellness center and a foot spa are also there to pamper the visitor with the best life has to offer.

A fine dining experience can be held here as the mall offers a multitude of restaurants including ones with traditional Malay cuisine, Japanese buffet, premium steaks, Spanish tapas and exotic Indian. Delicious food in abundance. At Meet The Cities we find it well worth it to just come here in the evening hours for a lovely and surprisingly cozy dinner.

The mall is connected to two luxury hotels, the JW Marriott hotel and the Ritz-Carlton, so people who stay at those hotels do not have to walk far for their exclusive shopping experience.

Starhill Gallery can be found in the very heart of the city in the shopping and entertainment district called Bukit Bintang. It is located right across the street of the Pavilion Mall, so a visit to both shopping centers can easily be combined.

Pavilion Kuala Lumpur

The Pavilion shopping mall is often considered the trendiest shopping mall. This place also hosts the fashion week in Kuala Lumpur where the latest collections and trends are showcased. Located in the heart of the city it’s also the most popular shopping malls in Kuala Lumpur.

On seven floors, layer upon layer, you will find great shops. Popular clothing brands are well represented in the Pavilion. With fashion stores from Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Fendi, Zara, DKNY, Lacoste and lots more your wardrobe will be up to date with the latest trends.

Some areas of the mall have themed shops, such as the Tokyo Street on floor L6, where you can find stores with food and items inspired by Japan. The floors L2 and L3 have the biggest fashion brands that we have all grown to love. On L5 and L6 is the Golden Screen Cinema located for all the movie buffs. And as Asians love karaoke you can find a karaoke bar on floor L5. One of the coolest things in the mall is that you can become a virtual pilot and experience flying a Boeing 737 in the flight simulator on floor L2.

Great food and Kuala Lumpur go hand in hand. As we’ve come to love in Kuala Lumpur you can find many great places to eat in the mall. Restaurants and lunchrooms can be found on almost any floor, as on floor L1, L3, L6 and L7 have some nice food courts where they serve local delicacies and food from across the world. Taiwanese ice cream and desserts, Malaysian pastries, Italian restaurants, it’s all there.

In front of the mall you can often find tourists taking a picture of themselves next to the eye catching crystal fountain, which is the tallest Liuli Crystal Fountain in Malaysia. At night this luck bringing fountain turns into a small light show as this quirky fountain constantly changes colours.

The Pavilion is not the cheapest place to shop, but it is the center of the shopping life so you have to go there at least once. In the same street as the shopping mall the Pavilion, located in the popular shopping district Bukit Bintang, you will also find the luxury shopping mall Starhill Gallery and Fahrenheit88 which you cannot miss. In the near vicinity you have a total of eight shopping malls, including the tech and gadget mall Low Yat Plaza. So even if you just come for a cup of coffee, the lively ambiance and some window shopping you will be engaged for the entire day because there is so much to see and do.

Suria KLCC

Next to the Petronas Towers, the most popular attraction of the city, you will find the shopping mall Suria KLCC. As many expats and tourists walk around in this area many shops in this mall are aimed at international travelers.

On the lowest floor at concourse level you will find banking services, a pharmacy, supermarkets, convenience and takeaway food, perfumeries like Dior, jewelries and mainstream fashion shops like the Zara. All the essentials for the international traveler who are passing through.

As you go up the more interesting shops start appearing. On ground level you will find luxury brand stores such as of Gucci, Versace, Chanel, different jewelry and watch shops, such as Hublot and Tiffany and Co. On the first floor you will find more affordable luxury shops such as United Colors of Benetton, DKNY and a more casual Ralph Lauren shop.

A food court called Signatures can be found on the second floor. This food court is aimed at easy and tasty meals that you can order at the dozens of small and affordable food stalls where you can order noodles, nasi, chicken, thai, sushi, sandwiches, pizza and other dishes and quick bites. There are also tables and chairs where you can just sit down and relax with your meal, as you take a break from your shopping spree.

The offering of stores also becomes more diverse at the second floor, as you have several clothing stores with fashion for children, a boutique where you can order custom fit suits and more sportive fashion.

Technical and gadget shops can be found on the third floor, with shops from Sony, Samsung and there is even a cinema. More casual clothes, which are especially appealing to teenagers, such as converse, Levi’s, bershka and Harley-Davidson retail shops. This floor also has a postal office, which might be interesting for people who wish to send a card home.

The fourth floor is partially dedicated to wellness services, beauty treatments and health products. Skin products, nail parlours, and a hair salon can be found here.

An abundance of restaurants can also be found on the fourth floor. Malaysian, Taiwanese, Japanese, Indian, Chinese and other Asian cuisines are represented here, so this is the place where you come to enjoy a great variety of dim sums and delicious local and Asian dishes. A perfect place to end your day with a lovely meal.

On the fourth floor you can also find Petrosains. Officially it’s an interactive science center where kids can learn and play with oil related science. In reality it’s just a fun little playground for young children. Where kids can play with a wind tunnel, a formula 1 car simulator, see a mini volcano and other fun things.

It should be noted that from the shopping mall Suria KLCC you can walk straight to the Pavilion Mall through a walkway, which offers a nice view over the busy streets below. This can be done as follows. On the lowest floor of the mall there is a tunnel that connects this shopping mall with the KLCC Convention Center. Right outside the Convention Center there is a walkway above street level, which brings you straight to the Pavilion Mall and the shopping district of Bukit Bintang. By following this path you can go from Suria KLCC to the busy shopping center of the city within minutes.

In the abovementioned Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, which is connected to Suria KLCC, you will also find one of our favorite family friendly attractions in Kuala Lumpur. The Aquaria KLCC, which is an extensive oceanarium where you can see rays, sharks, fish and turtles and more in thematic areas. Guaranteed fun with the family.

Another great attraction that’s right next to Suria KLCC is the KLCC Park. Which is a park with wonderful fountains and an impressive view of the Petronas Towers. So after a day of shopping in Suria KLCC you still have plenty of things to do nearby.

Berjaya Times Square

The Berjaya Times Square is the building with the 9th largest floor area in the world, which means a lot of shops can be housed here. Within the building is a large shopping mall covering 13 floors, of which 10 are effectively used for shopping, and over a thousand stores and dozens of food venues. So this is one of the largest malls that can be found Kuala Lumpur.

This mall separates itself from the others by having lots of welcoming local boutique shop with very reasonable prices. You can find both branded and unbranded clothing here. Of course there are also megastores where all brands are represented. So this mall is suitable for any budget.

There are also themed shopping areas. On the third floor for example you can find Tiny Taipei, which is decorated as a Taiwanese night market. In general you will find higher floors will have more specialized shops.

The mall also has plenty of great places to eat. On the lower ground floor for example you will find the food court called Taste of Asia. A great place to sit down for a satisfying meal with local ingredients or get some traditional sushi instead.

On the tenth floor there is a large movie theater called GSC Maxx (Gold Screen Cinema), which is the very first IMAX cinema in Malaysia. A lot of movies are shown in English with Malay subtitles, so if you want to catch a nice 3D movie this is a good place to check out.

On the seventh floor you can play laser tag at Laser Battle. A pretty fun thing to do for everybody and especially appealing to teenagers. If you prefer real projectiles then you can do archery on the fifth floor. If you want to have fun with the entire family you can find one of the largest bowling alleys in town called Ampang Superbowl on the fifth floor.

One of the main attractions of this shopping mall is the largest indoor theme park of Malaysia. On the fifth (and seventh) floor you will find Berjaya Times Square Theme Park. This theme park is divided in two areas. One is aimed at younger kids with fun calm rides like a safari jeep, but also things like bumper cars. The other part is more aimed at teenagers and is aged restricted to 13 years and older. For the thrill seekers it has a roller coaster that goes 80 kilometer per hour. Overall there aren’t that many attractions as it’s still indoors, but in general the attractions remind us of fun and accessible street fair. So it’s still undeniably fun to go.

The easiest way to reach Berjaya Times Square is by taking my personal favorite form of public transportation, the monorail. From KL Sentral you can take the monorail to Imbi Station, which is located right in front of the the mall. From Imbi Station you can also walk straight into the mall by taking the footbridge.But if your hotel is in the shopping area of Bukit Bintang you can also walk the distance.

Sunway Pyramid

The Sunway Pyramid is gigantic shopping mall with a pretty stylish – and ever so cheesy – Egyptian themed architecture. The entrance of the building is a sphinx-like statue that looks like a lion. And through this entrance you enter the shopping pyramid located in the center of the mall.

Inside the building you have four shopping areas that are not really that themed, but do have a themed touch to them. One generic shopping area, which forms the majority of the mall, one area with a Moroccan theme, one with an Egyptian theme and one with an Asian theme. In total this mall has over 900 shops, divided over four floors, making it one of the largest shopping malls of Malaysia.

The types of shops in this mall is very diverse, but it seems they are going for a mainstream audience. With countless fashion stores like Zara, Only, Marks & Spencer and Calvin Klein Jeans. Dozens of shoe stores. Gift shops where you can buy something for the homefront. Anything from hair salons to Chinese medicine shops. Jewellery shops, sunglasses, leather bag shops, book stores and banks where you can exchange currency. Toy shops like the Lego store Box of Bricks, Gamer’s Hideout and Toys R Us. Tech stores like from Samsung, Microsoft and Radioshack. Hundreds of restaurants and food shops, from vegan restaurants to barbeque, Thai and Teppanyaki and from starbucks to confectionary shops. Cosmetic stores like from Dior and Bobbi Brown.

One defining feature of the Sunway Pyramid shopping mall is that it has a professional Ice Skating Rink called Sunway Pyramid Ice on the lowest floor where people from all ages are welcome to practise their skills. Ice skating lessons are also available. Recreational ice skating is a great way to be able to spend some time with your family so at Meet The Cities we certainly recommend this activity. You can’t really miss the ice rink as you can see it from all floors. Afterwards you’ll be happy to know the ice rink is surrounded by restaurants where you sit down and relax and enjoy a nice and fulfilling meal.

Other fun recreational activities you can participate in at the Sunway Pyramid shopping mall are laser tag, karaoke, archery and bowling. There is also an indoor playground for young children with harmless attractions and an IMAX cinema.

Behind the shopping mall you can find the Sunway Lagoon attraction park. This is one of the biggest attraction parks of Malaysia. Sunway Lagoon contains multiple sub-parks that are part of the experience including one of the highest rated water parks in Asia. The water park for example contains the largest water attraction on the planet. It also contains one of the largest artificial surf beaches in the world where beginners and experts can surf its waves. At the moment of writing it’s wild life park contains exotic animals like the white tiger. It’s scream park contains live horror shows. More about this awesome park can be found on the things to do in Malaysia page.

The best way to reach this shopping mall is by taking the taxi. Sunway Pyramid is located in a city right next to Kuala Lumpur called Petaling Jaya. It’s not really far away, so from the Kuala Lumpur Sentral railway station you can also just take a RapidKL bus straight to the shopping mall.

Sungei Wang Plaza

Sungei Wang Plaza is a shopping mall in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. It’s located in the shopping district Bukit Bintang between many other shopping centers. Sungei Wang Plaza is very popular among the locals as it is known for it’s affordable boutiques with both branded and unbranded clothes that usually sell at cheaper prices than the other shopping malls.

The mall has eight floors with hundreds of stores. When you look at the vendor composition of the mall it becomes quite clear that the bargain hunters among us can shop to their heart content. If you are looking to treat yourself with new shoes, affordable bags or new clothing then this plaza is where you’ll be. This place is also excellent for gift shopping for the people back at home.

Sungei Wang Plaza is also an excellent place to visit if you are looking for a beauty treatment. But as with many services in Kuala Lumpur it’s always smart to discuss the prices up front. There are countless of hair salons, places for beauty and facial treatments, nail salons and pedicure shops. For the bold ones among us there are also plenty of tattoo and piercing shops.

The mall has plenty of affordable restaurants, which can be found on the concourse floor, where you can also find some mainstream fast food chains, the third floor and on the fourth floor, which almost exclusively has delicious Asian food.

Plaza Low Yat

Low Yat Plaza is the technology and electronics haven of Kuala Lumpur. As locals know well Plaza Low Yat is actually the biggest digital lifestyle mall in Malaysia. In this digital lifestyle shopping mall you can find countless electronics, camera, gaming and IT stores, which makes it an excellent place to get a few vacation items, like a proper camera, a music player or a budget phone.

On the ground floor you can find the large phone brands like Samsung, HTC and Sony. Their prices often aren’t set in stone, so you can often haggle the prices down. Because there are many hundreds of tech stores here it’s also a good idea to compare prices between them. When it comes to phones you cannot always be sure they are real though, so if you buy one it’s better to stick to budget phones for on vacation.

If you are looking for a tablet, or something heavier like a laptop, you will find many computer stores here from ASUS, Lenovo, Acer, Dell, HP and others. As every traveler loves to take pictures you’ll also be happy to know they’ve got a Canon store here.

A food court can be found on the lower ground floor, which is dominated with little Asian flood restaurants. On the ground floor you can find flagship stores of all major brands, while if you go up a couple floors you will find more general stores with better prices. So if you’re looking for a nice gadget feel free to go up a couple floors. In total there are seven floors of tech stores you can explore, so you can compare items at your own leisure.

The mall is located in the busy shopping center of Kuala Lumpur called Bukit Bintang, which means there are plenty of other shopping malls within walking distance. And Low Yat Plaza is right next to the Imbi monorail station, so it’s also easy to reach by public transport.

1 Utama

One Utama, also known as 1 Utama, is the biggest shopping mall of Malaysia. In fact, this mega mall is so big it belongs to the top 10 biggest shopping malls of the world. It has a very diverse array of products, as you can find pretty much everything you can wish for here.

The shopping mall covers an impressive 465.000 square meters, which is 5.000.000 square feet. It has ten floors, including the rooftop, with an impressive array of over 700 shops. The stores are mostly concentrated on five floors, with the other five floors filled to the brim with sport and recreational activities.

The fashion stores in this mall tend to focus on affordable and mainstream fashion, with brands like Calvin Klein, DKNY, Esprit having their own shops here. And classy sportive brands like Fred Perry and Lacoste. And the ever familiar Zara. Shoes from Converse, Pierre Cardin and others can be found in the retail shops here. If you enjoy health and beauty you can find venues from Bobbi Brown, Chanel and dozens of other perfume and makeup brands at the mall.

People who aren’t into fashion can enjoy the many tech stores, like from Garmin and HP, the video game and toy stores for children and specialized stores like for guitars and hobby crafting.

When you’re hungry you can find plenty of good bakeries at the mall, places where you can sit down for a hearty doughnut and a coffee and an abundance of open restaurants where you can get anything from local Malay dishes, Thai, Indian curry, to seafood and burgers. There’s plenty to pick from. And if you can’t decide you can always check out the food court at the second floor for a lovely warm dish.

When it comes to recreation then this mall has some pretty awesome features. One Utama has an impressive indoor rainforest rooftop garden that you can explore, which is often considered the largest of South East Asia. As you might have guessed this Secret Garden is a tourist favorite. The shopping center has the largest indoor rock climbing facility in Asia. It has it’s very own diving academy where you can learn to dive. The mall has a gigantic bowling alley. A large playground for children. Multiple karaoke bars and cinema’s. It has batting cages where you can practise your baseball swing. And much more. So you can be entertained here for days.

One Utama is located in the city right next to Kuala Lumpur called Petaling Jaya. When you are at KL Sentral you can simply take the bus to One Utama. The bus will stop right in front of the building. It’s also possible to take the taxi here.