13 Best Places to Go Shopping in Siam

Siam Paragon provides mainly upmarket brands for well-heeled Thais and international visitors with cash to splurge. This glass-and-steel luxury megamall has over 250 shops, one of Southeast Asia's largest aquariums, a 16-screen cineplex, and plenty of gourmet cafés and restaurants.

You'll find flagship stores of Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Versace on the ground floor, while IT stores and Thai bespoke stores occupy the 4th floor. You can also catch a movie at the luxurious Paragon Cineplex. The mall is in front of the Siam BTS Skytrain Station and within walking distance of popular malls such as Siam Center, Siam Square One, and Siam Discovery.

CentralWorld has everything from brand-name clothing boutiques, funky fashion, high-tech gadgets, bookshops and designer furniture to imported groceries, and even an ice skating rink. It offers a well-rounded collection of shops and entertainment centres catering to the modern lifestyle. The mall is always buzzing with life, hosting live events and concerts on special occasions such as Christmas and Songkran (Thai New Year). You can also find the 15-screen SF World Movie theater, Zen and Isetan department stores, and over 100 restaurants and cafés.

MBK Center is known as a haven for all things affordable, with some 2,000 shops occupying 7 floors of retail spaces. One of its main selling points is its extensive range of products, particularly mobile phones, photo equipment, video games, luggage, streetwear, and gold ornaments.

Prices are negotiable – MBK is probably the only mall in Bangkok where you can put your bargaining skills to the test. The top floor comprises of an entertainment complex boasting plush movie theaters, modern karaoke facilities, a computer games arcade, and plenty of restaurants and fast food choices.

Siam Center is one of Bangkok’s trendiest fashion malls, attracting mostly young and fashion-forward shoppers. There are dozens of boutiques by up-and-coming and renowned Thai designers, along with international fashion brands such as Steve Madden, Adidas, Victoria’s Secret, and Pull & Bear. The mall is quite fun to explore – you’ll find branches emerging from canvases and trees made from blonde wooden blocks, as well as LEDs, TV screens, and stairways that light up in a series of bright colors.

Siam Discovery is less about glitz and glam, and more about sophistication. It offers a pleasant and leisurely shopping experience in Bangkok, thanks to a cool concept of how it presents the items on display. Each floor, or "Lab", follows a specific theme like women’s fashion, digital appliances, and homeware. Goods are laid out naturally, as you expect to see them in someone’s home. Head to the highest floor of Siam Discovery to find the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, a stylish food hall with multi-national outlets, and the Virgin Active fitness center.

Siam Square is an open-air shopping boulevard where you can find plenty of independent boutiques, market stalls, trendy cafés, and tailor shops. This area stretches from Rama 1 Road down to the Chulalongkorn University Campus and from Phayathai Road over to Henri Dunant, making it a popular hangout spot for university students and young travelers. Siam Square also houses some of the city’s oldest picture houses, including The Lido and the beautiful, Art-Deco designed Scala Theatre, both of which feature art-house movies.

Gaysorn Village is a luxurious, upmarket shopping complex housing exclusively high-end luxury goods and designer labels. Its contemporary design and an innovative retail concept create a very exclusive shopping experience. Expect to find a wide range of highly desirable international brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada and Hugo Boss, as well as Thailand's most innovative designers such as Fly Now, Senada Theory and Kloset Red Carpet. There’s also some of the best Thai beauty brands here, such as Thann and Panpuri.

Siam Square One is a 7-storey shopping mall in Siam Square, just opposite Siam Paragon Mall. One of the best places in the city to find trendy fashion, this mall also has digital technology outlets, along with an enormous space on the upper floors that are reserved for restaurants and cafés. The top floor has a Sky Hall and Roof Garden that combines Thai cultural performances with an urban garden overlooking central Bangkok. Like most malls in Bangkok, a skywalk directly links it to the nearest BTS Skytrain Station – Siam.

Amarin Plaza is a 5-storey shopping mall on Phloen Chit Road, close to Bangkok’s iconic Erawan Shrine. The mall is directly linked to the Chidlom BTS Skytrain Station and Erawan Bangkok Shopping Mall via a skybridge. Stores include high-street and upmarket brands, as well as fitness centres, spas, and beauty salons. The 4th floor is dedicated to food – the ‘Best Street Food of Bangkok’ food court spans over 3,000 sq m, with vendors selling affordable and authentic Thai cuisine.

Erawan Bangkok is a 5-storey shopping space with direct access to the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok Hotel. This boutique mall offers a selection of only the most elegant lifestyle brands. On the ground level, you’ll find little eateries collectively known as Urban Kitchen. Throughout the 1st and 2nd floors are stylish boutique shops featuring the likes of Burberry, Helmut Lang, Comme des Garcons, and Stella McCartney.

Center Point Siam Square is a 4-storey IT mall with a futuristic design that’s part of its owner’s vision to create a digital lifestyle center. It displays the latest IT gadgets and hosts IT-related events and activities. Besides big technology labels such as iStudio, True, Samsung, Fujitsu and Sony, you'll find a line-up of independent shops offering accessories, sunglasses, computer games, cameras and lenses. You can also find an entire floor dedicated to Japanese eateries.

The Hard Rock Shop adjoining Hard Rock Café in Siam Square offers a wide range of shirts and souvenirs imprinted with its famous logo. Most designs are exclusive to the Bangkok branch, though you might find items that are available at outlets worldwide. To suit the tourist schedule, both the gift shop and the restaurant stay open until midnight – long after other venues in Siam Square have stopped cooking.