Pavilion Kuala Lumpur occupies a prime block of Jalan Bukit Bintang at number 168, and since opening in 2007 it has anchored the Bukit Bintang shopping district as its cleanest, most high-end mall. The facade is a wall of glass and steel that rises above the older, scrappier shopping centres nearby, and inside you find a six-level retail mix of luxury fashion, high-street staples and a food court that locals actually use. Hours run daily from 10am to 10pm, matching Suria KLCC across town.
The main mall is laid out around a Centre Court that hosts pop-up events and seasonal installations, with wings radiating out from it. The Couture Pavilion on the first floor is the luxury floor, where Hermès, Prada, Versace, Burberry and Jimmy Choo sit in marble-lined boutiques. The Tokyo Street section on Level 6 is themed as a Japanese precinct, with mock wooden facades, mochi stalls and ramen counters, and it is one of the most photographed parts of the mall because of the staged street-market feel. Pavilion Elite, the newer extension that opened in 2017, adds another 250,000 square feet of retail and connects directly into the main building via the Connection bridge.
The Connection Walkway
Pavilion's most useful feature is the covered elevated walkway that runs from the mall to Suria KLCC and the Petronas Towers, opened in January 2012. It is air-conditioned for most of its length and lined with travelators, so you can walk from Pavilion to KLCC in about 10 minutes without breaking a sweat or dodging traffic. Along the way the walkway passes Fahrenheit 88, where a rooftop bar and fashion boutiques share the upper levels, and it terminates at the Starhill Gallery junction. Starhill is the smallest of the three but the most opulent, with a jewellery floor dedicated to watch boutiques like Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet. For anyone planning a Bukit Bintang-to-KLCC shopping crawl, this walkway is the spine that ties the whole route together.
Food Court And Dining
The Gourmet Emporium on Level 1 is Pavilion's main food court, and unlike the tourist-trap food courts elsewhere in the district, it is genuinely good. Stalls serve Penang char kway teow, Hakka noodles, Korean bibimbap and Taiwanese fried chicken, with most plates in the RM 15 to RM 25 range. For finer dining, the Tokyo Street level has a cluster of Japanese restaurants including Menya Hanabi and Tsuruhashi Fugetsu for okonomiyaki, while the seventh floor hides a row of bistros and a Golden Screen Cinema complex with 12 halls. Red Box Plus karaoke sits next to the cinema for anyone wanting to belt out Mandopop after dinner.
Getting There
The fastest route is the KL Monorail to Bukit Bintang station, which drops you a two-minute walk from the mall's main entrance at the junction of Jalan Bukit Bintang and Jalan Sultan Ismail. The Green and Purple lines of the free Go KL City Bus also serve the area. If you are coming from KLCC, walk via the elevated Connection walkway rather than braving the street. Plan a weekday visit if you want the boutiques to yourself, since weekends draw school-holiday crowds and the food court queues can stretch 20 minutes for popular stalls.
