Siam Paragon Shopping center
 

No visit to Bangkok is complete without going to the Siam Paragon Shopping Center, adjacent to the BTS skytrain station "SIAM", right in the center of the city. I think it would be difficult to find a shopping center on this large scale, and high quality, anywhere else in the world.

The market in the basement is spectacular. There is an oceanarium, deluxe movie theaters, car showrooms, every possible designer shop, even an opera house. It makes anything in Singapore look like a dump.

Not far away is the Central World Shopping Center, which is worthwhile too, just completing renovations. The Emporium shopping center is nice too, with high end stores and a great market/food hall.

Re Siam Paragon -- in the words of a close expat friend of mine in BKK, "another soon-to-be-bankrupt shopping center!"

The Intercontinental Hotel, that used to occupy the area that is now Siam Paragon, was more to my liking.

The ground level ( food stalls/ restaurants/ supermarket) section of Siam Paragon is really worth a visit. I was most impressed. The rest of the complex is not that impressive, and certainly not that busy. The zen Central complex sounds good on paper, but it is strangely deserted. Simply do not know how they are going to survive. Quite nice and expensive food court on one of the upper levels.

I miss the old Inter-Con too. wow what a flash back. They had live peacocks in the garden too IIRC. The Zen Center is being renovated right? It's the one on the corner down from discovery with the beer garden in front? It had a great resto upstairs but was all under construction late last year. Hope it comes back it was Aroi.

The land is owned by the Royal Family. When the Intercontinental's lease expired a new lease was negotiated allowing Siam Paragon to be built. It is a joint venture between the group which owns Siam/Discovery and another group which owns the Emporium.

The movie theatre complex at Siam Paragon is impressive. Theatre #4 (Siam Pavalai) is one of the best venues I have ever seen.

On weekends all of these malls are crowded beyond belief.

I am not familiar with any bankrupt (soon to be or otherwise) shopping malls here so am curious to hear more details on that subject.

I agree Central World (ZEN, PKA World Trade) is really fantastic now that the renovations are complete. The 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival is underway presently at this facility. (It was held at Paragon last year.)

Is this the one with reclining sofas, ushers that show you to your seat and tuck you in with silk blankets and bring you drinks? Amazing place ...

No, those would be the Nokia Ultra Screens (1, 2 & 3). The Pavalai theatre is probably what the OP referred to as the Opera House, a huge theatre.

Siam Paragon seems to be pretty busy to me... I think some of the upper floors seem deserted because they are so spacious. I would guess most of the stores are doing o.k.

The Intercontinental was a spacious hotel, on expansive grounds, far too valuable for that location. It would be as if someone wanted to build a low rise hotel with 500 rooms, 2 stories, in midtown Manhattan... just doesn't make sense. There is a website, i think something like www.2bangkok.com which has lots of pictures of the old Intercontinental, including all of the tearing down pictures.

The Zen Central center seems quite deserted to me; they are located between two BTS skytrain stations, and foot traffic means a 10 minute walk, in the heat... the BTS stops right AT the Siam Paragon, so most people just go there. At the Emporium Center, the BTS also stops right there... and the Central Chit Lom store also has a BTS adjacent.

The movie theaters at Siam Paragon are probably the most deluxe anywhere in the world... private lounges, some seat ticket plans include champagne, hors d'ouvres, snacks, couches for two, electronic reclining seats, etc. And your neighbor might be at least 5 or 6 feet away from you in any direction. Tickets for that in Bangkok, cost LESS than a regular theater in L.A. or New York.

I thought the big theater on the very top, I think two levels ABOVE the theaters, is called "THE OPERA"... it is not near or connected to the movie theaters. There is also a convention center up there.

I happen to be in Bangkok right now on holiday, and I stumbled by chance right into the food court the Siam Paragon. This must be the biggest food hall that I have ever been to in any country. Everything from cheap Thai hawker stalls (satay about 10 baht each) to mid-priced American chains to pricey Italian restaurants all under one roof, all on the same floor.

I had a thrill trying out different items at many of the cheap Isetan-like stalls in the center area: satay, sausage-on-a-stick, fried bananas covered in sweet rice, and filled mini-pancakes. They put each in a plastic bag for you to take away. Grab a bench seat and start eating! One of my best experiences in Bangkok.

I find ZEN Central quite empty as well. And I don't really care for the layout. The Chitlom BTS is just about a 5 minute walk to ZEN. And the nice part about it is you don't need to go down to street level. There's a covered overhead walk way that connects Chitlom and Siam BTS stations. I wish they had more of those in between stations. I'd walk a lot more there.

I honestly think there are more food options at Central World but Paragon does offer a wide choice on the "G" level. The pre-paid food court is about average size for most malls here maybe a bit smaller than some, and the chains (MK, Oishi, Kobune, Fuji et al.) are universally represented. The post-paid food court is also quite good, almost equivalent to the ones at Central Chitlom and 'Fifth Ave. at MBK'. Just adjacent to the pre-paid Food Court there is an area that usually has weekly specials, focusing on a specific cuisine. Typically this is the best bet, IME. The supermarket at Paragon does seem to be the best.

Having spent the better part of the last four days at the cinema complex at Central World I'd have to say that it is as good as Paragon, with the exception of a massive theatre, but then the film festival is only using six of the theatres so the others are also crowded showing general release films. And I haven't checked out the other screens. Central World is not quite as chic (HiSo) as Paragon but it seems to be very popular. On Saturday and Sunday most restaurants seemed to have pretty long queues.

That covered walkway, above street level, is great. There's another one in the Victory Monument BTS area. But even that 5 minute walk from Chitlom BTS to ZEN, compared to the SIAM BTS being DIRECTLY CONNECTED to Siam Paragon, makes a HUGE difference in the number of people that will go inside. And I think it's a little more than a 5 minute walk, maybe 8 minutes. In Bangkok, even covered with the Skywalk, most foreigners/westerners will be DRENCHED with sweat by the time they get there.

I've also noticed that Bangkok's shopping centers are NOT aircondioned as low as the shopping centers in Singapore are... not sure about the ones in Kuala Lumpur.

I would love to know what the air conditioning bill at Siam Paragon is per month... must be $250,000 per month i'm guessing. Maybe more.

We are in Bangkok right now and spent the afternoon at Siam Paragon. How many shopping malls have you seen where there is a Lamborghini and Ferrari dealership??? It is amazing. Also, a nice branch of Jim Thompson....We loved the market and food court downstairs. We especially loved the bottles of fresh fruit juice right by the checkout in the front of the market. Delicious, and only cost a couple of dollars. Siam Paragon is a must see!

The dealerships are what did it for me. The mall is spectacular, but I've never seen anything like the car dealership floor anywhere else in the world.